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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Robert Rhatigan struggled with alcoholism for over ten years. When numerous attempts to overcome addiction through will-power and conventional treatment failed, he traveled to the Peruvian Amazon for treatment from local shamans. After four challenging ceremonies with a purgative, psychedelic plant medicine his desire for alcohol dissolved and a quest to understand his transformation began.

A New York City native, Rhatigan is a Research Scientist with the Geospatial and Population Studies Department at the University of New Mexico. He holds a Master's Degree in Applied Geography from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor's in Environmental Science from the State University of New York. After starting a career on Wall Street, Robert helped build a successful tech start-up, worked as an environmental consultant, published non-fiction writing and delivered mail for the US Postal Service. Sober and craving free for over four years, he still contends with an incurable case of wanderlust.

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