David’s passion is to integrate his knowledge of psychotherapy and transpersonal psychology with the shamanic practice. He believes that Ayahuasca and natural plant medicine can be used successfully as a therapeutic means for emotional, physical and spiritual healing. David completed his initial shamanic apprenticeship over a period of six months when he was doing the Traditional Plant Diet in Ashi Meraya, under the guidance of Shipibo master shamans Don Walter Martines, Don Mariano Silvano and Don Leoncio Garcia Sampaya. He lives between Iquitos and London with his wife Esther, a Peruvian of Shipibo descent. 
David comes from a longstanding and broad academic background in the Social Sciences, and has worked in the U.K. for mental health charities for ten years. In 1998 he gained his honours degree in anthropology (Goldsmith College, University of London) for which he wrote his final year dissertation on shamanism and mental illness. Following this he studied for masters degrees in Psychology, having trained at the Metanoia Institute (London) and via the British Psychological Society independent training route. David has extensive experience working as a counselor with clients suffering from severe health mental health disorders, depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol addiction, and has practiced in clinical settings and therapeutic communities, with both individuals and groups.
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