My name is Justine Lee, and I am the co-founder of the Autistic Psychedelic Community. I’m writing to introduce myself more clearly, clarify APC’s current leadership, and share where this work is headed.

My background is in neurobiology, pharmacology, and neuropharmacology research. I came to this work through a deep interest in psychedelics, autism, and the question of what altered states might mean for people whose brains may have followed different developmental paths. Over the past several years, I have worked as a consultant and educator at the intersection of neurodivergence, psychedelic pharmacology, peer support, and clinical education.

I am also autistic myself. When I co-founded APC, I did not yet know that. I sought a formal autism evaluation and received a diagnosis in 2023. Looking back, I believe listening to the lived experience of our community was critical in helping me understand myself more clearly. That is why this work remains deeply personal to me.

A clarification about APC’s current leadership.

The Autistic Psychedelic Community is no longer associated with my other co-founder. He does not hold an advisory, representative, operational, or financial role of any kind. He is not authorized to speak for APC’s current programming or organizational direction, or to collect funds in APC’s name.

I remain grateful for the work that helped APC reach many people in its early years. At the same time, APC’s next phase requires clearer structure, more accountable stewardship, and a more stable organizational home.

Why I created Spectrum Peer Support.

Spectrum Peer Support is a California public benefit corporation I founded to house this work responsibly. APC’s peer support and community operations now run through SPS. As such, contributions related to this work are processed through SPS accordingly.

Some older materials, including prior logos, links, and media, reflect an earlier phase of the project and should not be understood as representing my stewardship, Spectrum Peer Support, or APC’s official structure today. Our new visual identity is part of that shift: a marker of the work now being carried forward through SPS.

I created Spectrum Peer Support because of what was becoming increasingly clear: psychedelics are only one part of a much larger need. Again and again, what I saw were people who had lost community, or never had access to it in the first place. A psychedelic experience may open something in a person, but if there is no community, no continuity, and no relational structure to support that opening, something essential is missing.

This feels especially important for autistic and neurodivergent people. Much of the conversation around psychedelics and autism focuses on social capacity, social motivation, or connection. But connection means very little in the abstract if people do not have real spaces where belonging can be practiced and sustained.

I am currently undergoing clinical training in order to better understand the systems, scope-of-practice boundaries, and professional training contexts that shape mental health care. As someone who teaches and consults with mental health professionals and psychedelic practitioners, I believe it matters to understand the complexities of what I am speaking into. That is how I try to operate: by studying the structures around the work, not only the ideas within it.

Why this work matters now.

We are now at an important moment culturally and politically. Psychedelics are gaining visibility quickly, and autistic and neurodivergent voices need to be part of that conversation from the outset. Our needs and experiences should help shape the future of this work, not be added afterward as an accommodation or afterthought.

That is the work I remain committed to.

APC helped reveal the need. Spectrum Peer Support is the structure I created to continue the work with more clarity, accountability, and care.

I also want to acknowledge that there are messages I was not able to return during this period. I was stabilizing APC, creating Spectrum Peer Support, beginning clinical training, and carrying more behind the scenes than I could easily communicate at the time.

Thank you to those who have stayed connected through a complicated transition. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue this work in a way that can better protect, sustain, and grow what this community has made possible.