Recently, mushrooms have made news after being studied extensively and are showing great promise in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, mental health disorders (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders), post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder (including tobacco and alcohol), suicidal ideation and trauma as well as improve cognitive function, memory, mood, energy, and immune function. Erica Messinger, Registered Nurse and owner of Dium Mushrooms, will offer a brief glimpse into the healing world of mushrooms. She will discuss the research-based health benefits of the most studied mushrooms for health and the difference between functional, medicinal, and adaptogenic mushrooms. She will bring several recommended books from her library for attendees to browse after the talk.

Erica Messinger is a Registered Nurse with a strong passion for preventative health and a background in managing complex medical conditions. She always looks for nonpharmacological options to help patients heal from mild to moderate illness.

After many years of foraging in the woods, in 2018 Erica began a deeper dive into understanding the healing power of mushrooms as medicine for physical and mental health. She has studied under Dr. Christopher Hobbs, an internationally renowned herbalist, licensed acupuncturist, author, clinician, botanist, mycologist, and research scientist as well as many other experts of how fungi heal and prevent illness. This education led Erica to start Dium Mushrooms, a culinary and medicinal mushroom cultivation company in 2022 to offer fresh, dried, extracted, and powdered lions mane, shiitake, cordyceps, five different types of oyster mushroom, reishi, and turkey tail.

Erica is an active member of the American Nurses Association, the Colorado Nurses Association, the American Holistic Nurses Association, the North American Mycological Association, and the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association, and serves on the Dolores High School Agricultural Committee. She is a Colorado Master Gardener and is completing the certification process to become a Colorado Wild Mushroom Identification Expert. Erica enjoys sharing her knowledge by giving educational talks on mycology, mushroom cultivation, mycoremediation, and fungi for the health of your body, mind, the soil, and the planet.

Erica volunteers as a psychedelic medicine risk reductionist, holding space and keeping safe those who choose to embark on a self-guided journey. Upon request, She lends her voice to a psychedelic-assisted therapy focus group consisting of approximately 70 medical professionals, offering expert guidance via position papers to the recently appointed Colorado Natural Medicine Advisory Board who have been tasked with promulgating the rules of the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 (NMHA) (Proposition 122). Erica plans to become certified and licensed as a Psychedelic-Assisted Facilitator, within the legal boundaries of the NMHA of 2022.