Our Team

We emphasize collaborative preparation and integration between patient and therapist. Our diverse experience and training allows us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach. 
MD

Ben Mati

Dr. Benjamin Mati is the owner and medical director of Horizon Healing. After graduating from New York University with a degree in anthropology, environmental science and philosophy, he lived and worked in rural Japan for 2 years. Inspired by the work of physician, anthropologist, and social activist Paul Farmer, Ben returned to the United States to study medicine. He attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and then completed a family medicine residency at Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC). After residency, he completed both an acute care fellowship and a point of care ultrasound fellowship. Since then, he has been working in the emergency department, intensive care unit, and at critical access hospitals while also teaching procedural medicine and point of care ultrasound across the country.

Through this work, Ben has become familiar with our deepening mental health crisis; seeing the growth of mental illness, addictions, trauma, depression, anxiety, and social disconnect in his patients. The inability of our medical system to understand and treat this suffering inspired him to complete ketamine assisted therapy training at The Ketamine Training Center, enroll in the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy certification program at Naropa University, and create Horizon Healing.

Ben is dedicated to the safe, effective, and therapeutic use of ketamine to help people discover their own healing potential. He has seen KAT facilitate healing and transformation not possible in our conventional healthcare settings, let alone busy emergency departments. He is honored and humbled to work with the team at Horizon Healing to help enable these transformations in his clients.

Ben balances his emergency medicine, critical care medicine, and work at Horizon Healing with time surfing, hiking, camping, swimming, reading, cooking, and playing music.
PhD, EMT-Paramedic

Charlie Walton

Charlie is a therapist for Horizon Healing. He in a licensed clinical psychologist, PSY31756, who has worked in private practice in Ventura and Ojai since finishing his schooling at Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2017. Prior to his career as a psychologist, Charlie worked as a paramedic in New York City, Los Angeles, and Ojai.

Charlie currently teaches as an adjunct professor in the clinical psychology program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is MAPS trained to treat PTSD with MDMA assisted psychotherapy. He previously taught at the Synthesis Institute’s inaugural psychedelic practitioner training program.

In addition to his experience working with trauma and non-ordinary states of consciousness, Charlie has a twenty-year yoga practice which helps inform the way he works with both mind and body.
MA, LMFT, APCC, ACC

Colleen OBrien

Colleen is a licensed marriage and family therapist whose practice focuses on trauma, assault, addiction and recovery, eating disorders, intimate partner violence,and child abuse.  Colleen has been practicing Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) for several years with an emphasis on treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma resolution. Colleen trained at the Ketamine Training Center in San Rafael, California with Phil Wolfson and his team. She also studied under the direction of Jeffrey Becker, MD and is an active member of Ketamine Providers Association and American Society of Ketamine Physicians, Practitioners, and Psychotherapists.
L.Ac, MSAOM

Jiling Lin

Jiling Lin is a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac), herbalist, and yoga teacher who cultivates thriving health through nature, art, movement, and ritual. Jiling’s integrative medical practice in Ventura, CA nourishes wellness for all people, specializing in sports acupuncture, women’s health, and chronic illness. Her gentle yet powerful acupuncture and herbal treatments center accessible lifestyle medicine solutions for creating profound transformation over time.  

Jiling is faculty for the Esalen Institute, Balanced Rock Foundation’s Yoga Teacher Training, and Artemisia Academy’s Herbal Apprenticeship Program. She writes for Mountain Rose Herbs and various publications, runs “Tea Talks with Jiling” on the Herbal Radio podcast, and teaches classes ranging from seasonal wellness to multi-day backpacking adventures.   Jiling broke both wrists in a major mountaineering accident in 2006. Acupuncture, yoga, and herbs helped restore her mobility, stability, flexibility and strength. She's back in the mountains hiking and backpacking, along with surfing, biking, and climbing. Jiling now supports other injured athletes through recovery, with direct personal experience from her own healing journey.  

Jiling holds a B.A. in Art, M.S. in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine, and is certified as a 500-hour Yoga Teacher, InterPlay Leader, and Morning Altars Practitioner. A first generation Taiwanese-American woman, Jiling bridges eastern and western botanical medicine traditions, wilderness awareness education, expressive arts, and contemplative spiritual practices.   A passionate teacher, clinician, artist, and adventurer, Jiling is devoted to reconnecting humans with the wild beauty of their inner and outer landscapes. By providing the best integrative medicine and experiential education, Jiling helps empower thriving health and environmental stewardship in our bodies, communities, and world.

Learn more about Jiling at JilingLin.com, or follow her on Instagram @LinJiling and Facebook @JilingLAc.
DC, MSN, RN

Brenda Parsons

Brenda brings over 3 decades of multidisciplinary professional experience and passion for promoting true healing to her role as clinic director at Horizon Healing. She is also part of the clinical and integrative team which gives her on-going opportunities to use her background in psychology, her personal experiences with multiple consciousness-expanding modalities, and her years of professional work as a massage therapist, chiropractor, RN and practice manager. 

Having had deep interests in spirituality and holistic approaches to health from a young age, Brenda chose to get her bachelor’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in consciousness and transpersonal growth. She went on to become a Doctor of Chiropractic and massage therapist, and worked in integrative, multidisciplinary practices for over 20 years. She also has a master's level nursing degree in case management and has worked in acute care hospitals, neurotrauma centers, and primary care practices. She has held leadership and management positions in both large and small organizations, most recently at Stanford Healthcare. She has also been an instructor at Life Chiropractic College, a guest lecturer at Samuel Merritt University, and co-founder and facilitator for From the Heart personal growth workshops.

Brenda’s work is grounded in her strong conviction that true healing happens from within— from understanding, supporting and nurturing mind, body and soul. Her personal journey has included utilizing multiple alternative medicine modalities, holotropic breathwork, meditation, compassionate inquiry, movement therapy, and psychotropic medicines. Her specific areas of interest include the effects of psychotropic-assisted therapy in improving overall quality of life and performance, as well as the use of ketamine and other entheogens as part of palliative and end-of-life care.
MSs

Stephanie Karzon

Stephanie Karzon Abrams is a clinical pharmacologist with an established and evolving interest in neurology and psychedelics, as well as extensive career experience in business development and operations in the medtech industry.