Shannon Dames (maiden Magnus) is a third generation immigrant with mixed ancestry from Britain, Norway, and Germany. She is a descendant of GT Magnus and Lianne Telnes, the proud mother of Piper and Beckett Dames, and the life partner of Phil Dames.  She lives and serves as a Health Professional Investigator and Professor on Vancouver Island, situated on the unceded territory of the Stz’uminus (in the town of Ladysmith) and Snuneymuxw (in the city of Nanaimo) People.

Dr. Dames was the spearheading founder and current team member of the Roots to Thrive program, Vancouver Island University’s (VIUs) Psychedelic-assisted Therapy Graduate Certificate education program, and VIUs Naut sa Mawt Centre for Psychedelic Research.

She is a published author with expertise in nursing practice, resilience development, and psychedelic-assisted therapy research and education. Shannon works across agencies and disciplines to develop collaborative service delivery, education and research in psychedelic medicine. Her current work focuses on the development of research infrastructure that supports psychedelic service delivery and education development with Vancouver Island University.

Her innovative research promotes resiliency and reconciliation by collaborating across cultures and silos. Her work acknowledges multiple ways of knowing, with a specific interest in collaborating to understand how Western and Indigenous ways of knowing might be shared for the healing benefit of all.