Fantastic Fungi – Gold Coast

John Hannan is a registered psychologist and also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He is a lover of the outdoors and when not surfing or mountain bike riding, he is working on a PhD in evolutionary psychology, focussing on validation in communication. Prior to this he worked as a manager and clinician with the Royal Flying Doctor Service operating out of Cairns in Far North Queensland. John spent over a decade flying weekly to remote Indigenous communities where he provided clinical service to some of the world’s most traumatised individuals. During this time, he managed a series of Wellbeing Centres as an adjunct to the Cape York Welfare Reform Trial and worked with communities in the development of Community Suicide Response Plans. He was the first mental health responder to a number of critical incidents such as cyclone Yasi, and the 2019 western Queensland flood disaster.

John has over twenty years’ experience as a manager. In a prior work iteration he worked as a whitewater rafting guide and managed operations in Australia and Indonesia and also spent time working in Japan. His passion is communication training and working with clients with Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT). He has a long-standing interest in capacity building and improving the health literacy of the community with regards to mental health and regularly conducts Mental Health First Aid Training for organisations. For the past eighteen months he has been the co-chair of Mind Medicine Australia’s Brisbane Chapter and retains this interest as a member of the newly formed board.

Tania de Jong AM is the co-Founder and Executive Director of Mind Medicine Australia. She regularly presents on psychedelic-assisted therapies, mental health and wellbeing at major conferences and events around the world and to Governments, regulators, clinicians, philanthropists and the general public.

Tania is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs and innovators developing 6 businesses and 4 charities including Creative Universe, Creativity Australia and With One Voice, Umbrella Foundation, Creative Innovation Global, Pot-Pourri and The Song Room.

Tania was named in the 100 Women of Influence, the 100 Australian Most Influential Entrepreneurs and named as one of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics globally in 2021. Tania’s TED Talk has sparked international interest. Tania has garnered an international reputation as a performer, speaker, entrepreneur and a passionate leader for social change. Her mission is to change the world, one voice at a time!

As an investment banker Peter Hunt AM advised local and multi-national companies and governments in Australia for nearly 35 years.  He co-founded one of Australia’s leading investment banking advisory firms, Caliburn Partnership and was Executive Chairman of Greenhill Australia. Peter was a member of the Advisory Panel of ASIC and chaired the Vincent Fairfax Family Office.

Peter is an active philanthropist involved in funding, developing and scaling social sector organisations which seek to create a better and fairer world.  He is Chairman of Mind Medicine Australia which he established with his wife, Tania de Jong, in 2018. He regularly presents to Governments, regulators, clinicians, philanthropists and the general public on psychedelic-assisted therapies and the legal and ethical frameworks needed to ensure these treatments can be made accessible and affordable. He was the lead author of Mind Medicine Australia’s successful rescheduling applications for MDMA and psilocybin, which made Australia the first country in the world to reschedule these medicines.

He founded Women’s Community Shelters in 2011. Peter is a Director of The Umbrella Foundation. Peter also acts as a pro bono adviser to Creativity Australia.  He was formerly Chairman of So They Can, Grameen Australia and Grameen Australia Philippines.

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.