Mind Medicine Australia to host summit on psychedelic therapies

The non-profit Mind Medicine Australia will be hosting the summit that will bring together leaders in the field of psychedelics to discuss the benefits of the compounds for mental health.

Mind Medicine Australia will hold the summit in Melbourne, which will feature a world-class lineup of talks, workshops, hot spots, panel conversations and creative moments.

Chair of Mind Medicine Australia, Peter Hunt AM, commented: “Health experts are suggesting that one in three Australians currently have a chronic mental illness as a result of the pandemic. Yet the standard treatment of ongoing psychotherapy combined with taking pharmaceutical medicines only adequately helps 35 per cent of patients suffering with depression and only 5 per cent of those suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Over 160 studies show that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies are highly effective for 60 to 80 per cent of patients after only two or three medicated sessions combined with a short course of psychotherapy, when conducted in a clinically-controlled environment.

“The medicines involved are proven to be safe and non-addictive. I believe that the impact of the information that’s shared about these treatments at the International Summit on Psychedelic Therapies for Mental Illness will spark a much-needed paradigm shift in the approach to mental health solutions in Australia.”

Key themes at the event will include: the current state of mental health in Australia, existing treatments and the need for innovation; the Science of Psychedelics: therapeutic mechanisms and clinical outcomes for a range of mental illnesses and other conditions.

The event will also explore: indigenous wisdom and expanded states of consciousness for healing and growth; depression, trauma, addiction and suicide: prevention is better than cure; living until you die: the promise of psilocybin-assisted therapy for end-of-life; the way forwards for Australia: ethical, legal, and implementation frameworks for psychedelic treatments and a new paradigm for treatment of mental illness; and creating the Future: what the psychedelic industry will look like five years out?

Ambassadors of the event include: Professor David Nutt, head of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and Chief Research Officer at Awakn Life Sciences; Dr Gabor Maté, renowned trauma and addiction physician; Professor Robin Carhart Harris, Ralph Metzner distinguished professor, Weill Institute for Neurosciences and University of California San Francisco, and many more.

For more details and to register for tickets, please visit: https://summit.mindmedicineaustralia.org/