Mind Medicine Australia Webinar Series - Expanding the paradigm for treatment of sexual abuse - psychedelics and plant medicines MDMA, psilocybin and Ayahuasca

Don’t miss out - Get your tickets early!

Join this free, 60-minute online webinar to gain access to insights and learn about ground breaking treatments to chronic mental health conditions.

Although many therapies are effective for a range of trauma survivors many victims continue to live with unbearable pain. Sexual trauma survivors exhibit a very narrow therapeutic window which can make therapy unbearable, resulting in avoidance and low treatment compliance. 

The reality is that there is an epidemic of sexual abuse in Australia with 1 in 5 women having experienced sexual abuse. Research trials investigating medicinal psilocybin and medicinal MDMA have shown significant results and both have been labelled “breakthrough therapies” by the FDA.

MDMA has been shown to be effective in both single event and complex PTSD with high completion rates compared to other trauma-focused therapies. Although medicinal psychedelics have not been directly studied for trauma, psilocybin may help by reducing negative changes experienced due to PTSD leading to increased openness to experience and sense of connection. Psilocybin and ayahuasca have been shown to reduce activity in the default mode network (DMN) which is known to be the neurological seat of our self-story.

These experiences are visceral and embodied and may provide sexual trauma patients a new experience of their bodies in this flexible mind state.
Further research is needed.

WEBINAR SESSION

Date: Wednesday 3 June 2020
Time: 7:25pm for 7:30pm start – 8:30pm (incl Q&A) (AEST)

The presentation WILL BEGIN AT 7:30pm.

Location: Online. A link will be emailed to you with the viewing details.

Following the presentation there will be a Q & A panel with Peter Hunt AM, Tania de Jong AM, Dr Alana Roy and Melissa Warner. This will be an opportunity to engage in a discussion about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies for mental illness broadly, and what Mind Medicine Australia and other local organisations are doing here in Australia.

More about medicinal psychedelic treatments:

Psychedelic-assisted treatments offer enormous potential in providing a meaningful alternative to current treatments for mental illness. PTSD is a debilitating condition that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, with many more trauma victims diagnosed with comorbid conditions such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders. In recent clinical trials, MDMA has been shown to produce reliable clinical improvements, restoring patient safety and self-agency even for individuals who have suffered with PTSD for many years, and for whom many treatments have failed.

The wave of clinical psychedelic research and regulatory support is rapidly building, with experts forecasting the availability of psychedelic-assisted treatments in the US and EU within the next 2 to 5 years, subject to positive clinical outcomes in large trials that are currently underway. 

More about the presenters

Peter Hunt AM 
B.Com, LL.B 
Founder & Chair of Mind Medicine Australia

As an investment banker Peter Hunt AM advised local and multi-national companies and governments in Australia for nearly 35 years. He co-founded and was Executive Chairman of one of Australia’s leading investment banking advisory firms, Caliburn Partnership (now called Greenhill Australia) and continued as Chairman of the Firm after its sale to Greenhill Inc in 2009. Peter is an active philanthropist involved in funding, developing and scaling social sector organisations which seek to create a better and fairer world. Peter was made a member of the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2010 for services to the philanthropic sector.

Tania de Jong AM
LL.B (Hons), GradDipMus
Founder & Deputy Chair of Mind Medicine Australia

Tania de Jong AM is a trail-blazing Australian soprano, award-winning social entrepreneur, creative innovation catalyst, spiritual journey woman, storyteller and global speaker. Tania is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs and innovators developing 5 businesses and 3 charities over the past 3 decades. She is Founder and Executive Producer of future-shaping events series, Creative Innovation Global. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 and named one of the 100 Women of Influence and the 100 Australian Most Influential Entrepreneurs in 2018.

Dr Alana Roy
Ph. D Psychology, B. A Social Work (MHSW)
Practice Manager

Dr Alana Roy is the Practice Manager of Mind Medicine Australia, a Psychologist and a Social Worker. She is also a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and teaches and supervises students across multiple universities.

Alana has also worked in frontline sexual assault services for 13 years providing therapy to children, women and men working with victims, police and forensic doctors. She is passionate about emotion focused therapy, EMDR and trauma informed practices. Although these therapies are effective for a range of trauma survivors many victims continue to live with unbearable pain.

The reality is that there is an epidemic of sexual abuse in our world and we require radical treatments to tackle this global issue. Alana's own experiences of trauma and burnout lead her to seek out legal psychedelic assisted treatment overseas. It truly was 10 years of psychotherapy (insights) in one night. However, it wasn't 10 years of change in one night. Alana came back to Australia and was unable to locate a professional to help integrate these experiences. She realised that Australia needed a skilled mental health sector to help support victims who use psychedelics to overcome their trauma to process and integrate these transformative and healing experiences. Australia is falling behind in the global psychedelic renaissance.

Since this treatment, Alana has dedicated her life to researching and developing clinical services in the field of psychedelic and plant medicines. Mind Medicine Australia is a ground-breaking NGO advocating for the responsible use of psychedelic-assisted therapies.

Alana hopes to help make history in supporting legislative and policy change so that victims and all people with mental health issues have access to these medicines.

Melissa Warner 
B.Sci
Education and Communications Officer of Mind Medicine Australia

As an advocate for innovative solutions for mental health, Melissa is Education and Communications Officer at Mind Medicine Australia, Secretary of Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine, co-founder of the Australian Psychedelic Society and is a member of the UK-Australian Young Leaders Forum. 

After graduating in Neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, Melissa travelled to leading international centres of psychedelic research, transformative technology and Buddhist meditation to forecast next-generation mental health treatments.

Melissa traverses the divide between research and therapeutic practice through her lived experience in healing from PTSD after a sexual assault with psychedelic-assisted therapy. Melissa is passionate about creating innovative systems to resource survivors of sexual assault and other traumas.

With a background in digital art, programming and performance art, Melissa brings a creative and future-focused outlook to her pursuits. Melissa is currently a post-graduate student at the University of Melbourne on the path towards clinical psychology and is creating therapeutic virtual reality programs to support psychedelic-assisted therapies and enhanced wellbeing.

Support psychedelic research and therapy development

By donating to Mind Medicine Australia, you will be helping us to accelerate the availability and best practice of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in Australia. We are a small organisation doing big things – we need your support.   

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Disclaimer

Mind Medicine Australia does not encourage or facilitate illegal use of psychedelics or plant medicines. MMA focus is focused on clinical and legal use only supported by the emerging science and legislative processes. Mind Medicine Australia reserves the right to record and publish webinars on various social media platforms. You agree that you will not discuss any names, locations or specific details of illegal use of psychedelics both verbally or via any written forms of communication via Mind Medicine Australia social media platforms (for example facebook, instagram and zoom private and public chat forms during the webinar). Breaches of these guidelines may result in not being able to participate in the event. We thank you for support and cooperation on these matters.