By popular demand, Mind Medicine Australia is thrilled to welcome you to our first Sydney screening of Trip of Compassion, an acclaimed Israeli documentary on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Trip of Compassion follows a number of patients participating in clinical trials in Israel, and is the first feature documentary to show footage from within psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions.

“I felt like I went through 15 years of psychological therapy in one night.”
–  Patient featured in Trip of Compassion

Following the screening there will be a Q & A panel with Peter Hunt AM, Tania de Jong AM & Dr Simon Longstaff AO. 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.

"Trip of Compassion is the most compelling movie I've seen in the last  year!"
– Tim Ferris, acclaimed author and podcaster

Director: Gil Karni,
Producers: Zafrir Kochanovsky & Miri Ezra - ttv Productions
Distributors: GO2FILMS

More about medicinal MDMA

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.

Results from Phase 2 clinical trials over the past decade have been so compelling that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States recently designated MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a ‘Breakthrough Therapy’. This designation highlights the FDA’s anticipation that these therapies may offer substantial advantage over current treatments. If forthcoming Phase 3 results confirm these treatments are effective, MDMA-assisted treatment of PTSD may become a prescription medicine as early as 2021 in some jurisdictions.

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 panel

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 Simon Longstaff AO
B.Ed., Ph.D
Dr Simon Longstaff commenced his work as the first Executive Director of The Ethics Centre in 1991. He undertook postgraduate studies in Philosophy as a Member of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Simon is a Fellow of CPA Australia and in June 2016, was appointed an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University – based at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies. Formerly serving as the inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics, Simon serves on a number of boards and committees across a broad spectrum of activities. He was formerly a Fellow of the World Economic Forum.

Simon’s distinguished career includes being named as one of AFR Boss’ True Leaders for the 21st century. In 2013 Dr Longstaff was made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to the community through the promotion of ethical standards in governance and business, to improving corporate responsibility, and to philosophy.”

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

Melissa Warner is an advocate for innovative solutions for mental health. Melissa is Education and Communications Officer at Mind Medicine Australia and Secretary of Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine. Melisssa has been recognised as a young leader by her appointment to the UK-Australian Young Leaders Forum. After graduating in Neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, Melissa travelled to leading centres of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, positive technology and Buddhist meditation internationally to forecast next-generation mental health treatments.

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Contact the host of Trip of Compassion: A window into psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy- Syd