My Story
People often ask me how I found Iboga. The truth is, I believe Iboga found me only after I had been preparing for it for years.
Long before I ever encountered this sacred sacrament, my life was a journey of searching, unraveling, and remembering. Like so many others, I carried wounds that began in childhood. Those wounds shaped the way I saw myself, the choices I made, and the ways I tried to escape my pain.
Professionally, my path began in healthcare. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Radiation Oncology and spent more than a decade walking alongside individuals facing cancer before moving into healthcare leadership and consulting. Those years taught me the importance of compassion, presence, and caring for the whole person - not just the diagnosis. They also awakened a deeper curiosity about healing and the remarkable capacity we each have to transform.
That curiosity eventually led me to study energy medicine, Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed practices, yoga, sound healing, mindfulness, mediumship, deliverance, and spiritual formation. Each experience offered another piece of the puzzle and deepened my understanding that true healing is about far more than the body. It is a journey of remembering who we are beneath fear, conditioning, trauma, and the stories we’ve carried.
I believe that every person carries within them the capacity to heal, to grow, and to live a more joyful, aligned, and wholehearted life.
My Journey to Freedom
My journey to freedom, my story, isn’t one of perfection.
It’s one of transformation.
Over the years, I have found healing and freedom from many of the places that once held me captive, including:
Childhood trauma and abuse
Rape
Sexual Abuse
Alcohol addiction
Tobacco addiction
Food addiction
Shopping addiction
Sex and relationship addiction
Depression
Anxiety
Suicidal thoughts
Negative self-talk and shame
The grief of abortion
Divorce
The loss of faith
Living from fear instead of truth
Believing I wasn’t enough
None of This Happened Overnight
My healing began the moment I became more interested in truth than in being comfortable.
It required me to ask difficult questions, challenge long-held beliefs, take responsibility for my choices, and courageously study myself with honesty and compassion. Healing became a lifelong practice of self-inquiry, forgiveness, surrender, accountability, and releasing what no longer aligned with my soul.
Along this journey, I also became the proud mother of two incredible children. Becoming a single mother deepened my understanding of love, resilience, and responsibility. It reminded me that healing isn’t something we pursue only for ourselves. Every step toward greater freedom has the potential to change not only our own lives, but the lives of our children and the generations that follow.
Deep Stirrings
PHOTO CREDIT: My Bwiti family in Gabon, Africa.
When I encountered the Bwiti tradition and the sacred sacrament of Iboga, there was a remembering that stirred deep within me. It wasn’t a remembering of facts, but of something ancient - something sacred that felt both unfamiliar and strangely like home. When I was welcomed into the Bwiti family, I was given the Bwiti name “Moumba” meaning opener of doors and wayshower.
While I was born in the American South and show up in white skin in this lifetime, I believe that is exactly as it was meant to be. I believe each of us is born into our own unique circumstances with purpose. My calling has never been to become someone else or to borrow another people’s identity. Rather, it has been to faithfully steward the gifts, experiences, and opportunities I have been given while honoring the wisdom of those who have walked this path before me.
I do not seek to become African.
I do not seek to Westernize the Bwiti tradition.
I do not seek to create a competing lineage.
Instead, I seek to faithfully honor the Bwiti tradition while remaining authentic to the unique path I have been called to walk. I continue to learn through apprenticeship, mentorship, and deep respect for the elders and teachers who have entrusted me with their wisdom.
My Work Today
PHOTO CREDITS
Above: Ground Iboga bark.
Right: My mentor, Levi, and me in Costa Rica.
Today, my work is not about fixing people.
It is not about creating dependence on me or on a medicine.
It is about creating safe and sacred spaces where people can courageously study themselves, release what no longer aligns with their soul, reconnect with their deepest truth, and remember who they have always been.
I believe that transformation begins when we are willing to tell ourselves the truth - with honesty, humility, and compassion.
I believe freedom is something we co-create.
I believe every person carries within them the capacity to heal, to grow, and to live a more joyful, aligned, and wholehearted life.
If my story offers you hope, then every chapter has served a purpose.
Welcome to the journey.
Bassé ,
Heather
Let’s Stay Connected
Receive upcoming offerings, reflections, writings, and invitations from Iboga Freedom House.