About Richy

Abstract geometric design with interlocking loops and rectangles in shades of brown and beige, with some light blue accents.
A smiling man with a beard and short hair wearing a light-colored button-up shirt outdoors
Family of three taking a selfie outdoors in a forest, smiling and enjoying the moment.
A man tending a small campfire on a sandy beach at dusk, with several people sitting in the background and silhouettes of palm trees on a hillside against a cloudy sky.
Two women in colorful traditional clothing and a man with a child are sitting on the ground at a market stall with handmade crafts, in a natural outdoor setting with trees in the background.

Richard Wade Willis is dedicated to applying powerful methods like Compassionate Inquiry and traditional healing modalities to help his clients move through challenging spaces of addiction and psychological suffering toward liberation and well-being. His experiential knowing has been well-earned throughout his own journey of healing and awakening.

He began working with plant medicines in the Peruvian Amazon in 2013, after recovering from many years of severe addiction, and found their capacities for healing to radically shift the course of his life. His subsequent commitment to plant dieta with Ayahuasca, and awakening to the vast healing potential of spirit medicine, reached new heights when he began his apprenticeship with Don Agustin Machacca Florez of Q’eros Nation in 2016. His skillful approach and keen insights into psycho-spiritual integration are nourished through sustained study with Jennifer Welwood and Dr. Gabor Mate. In recent years, he has committed to a long-term initiatory path with the Lakota people, and the Sundance.

Each year, he teaches courses on dreamwork and Peruvian Shamanism that culminate in an in-person group journey to the high mountains of Peru or sacred location in the United States, and he consistently offers ceremonies, workshops and gatherings focused on supporting humans in returning to the life-nourishing gifts of Earth and her medicines.

Through his personal experiences of suffering, missing the mark, and righting his aim to become more of who he is, he found strength to turn towards the pain and transform it, so that he could access the compassion, love, interconnection, and joy, which is the innate foundation of every human life.

His private practice is open to support those who wish to receive honest reflections and skillful guidance from an experienced practitioner.


  • B.A. in Psychology (Sonoma State University) with concentrations in Transpersonal Psychology + Dreamwork, Spanish, and Behavioral Sciences

  • Certified Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner (18-Month advanced training in somatically oriented, and trauma-trained, psychotherapeutic methodologies)

  • 10+ years – Traditional Indigenous Medicine Training

  • consistent Shipibo lineage plant dietas over a decade

  • 7 years of advanced studies + apprenticeship with the Q’ero

  • currently committed to the Lakota Sundance apprenticeship (4+ years)

  • 10+ years- meditation + psycho-spiritual integration practice with Jennifer Welwood

  • student of Aikido and Conscious Martial Arts, Bluff Park Dojo

  • Fluent in Spanish, alongside ceremonial familiarity in Shipibo, Q’ero and Lakota

Education + Apprenticeship