Fantastic Fungi Screening in Brisbane

Dr Nikola Ognyenovits is a Hungarian born Australian Addiction Medicine Specialist Physician living in Brisbane, Australia. He works in public alcohol and drug services and in private practice. After graduating as M.D. in 1987, he trained and worked in psychiatry, rural general practice, emergency medicine and aero-medical retrievals.

He was introduced to non-ordinary states of consciousness through Holotropic Breathwork and had the privilege of learning from Stanislav Grof and Tav Sparks. Dr Nikola has co-facilitated numerous breathwork sessions, trained with the Foundation of Shamanic Studies and participated in shamanic healing traditions globally.

After training in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with The Ketamine Training Center, he has incorporated ketamine treatment into his private practice. He sees great potential in the application of ibogaine for addictions and has supported clients pre and post treatment. Dr Nikola is an advocate of the ethical and controlled use of psychedelic assisted psychotherapies in the treatment of addictions and associated mental health conditions.

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.

Victor Chiruta has over ten years experience working in the health industry. He is in his final year of a Bachelor of Health Science and organising a proposal for an Honours in Biomedical Research at the University of South Australia. He has further completed study and certification in youth work, biochemistry, naturopathy, homeopathy, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, biology, and medicinal cannabis consulting. Victor is a Certified SMART Recovery Australian Facilitator, a Professional Interpener (cannabis sommelier), registered internationally as a naturopath and homeopath, a TGA sponsor administrator and a member of several professional bodies.

He is one of Mind Medicine Australia’s key researchers, scientific writers, and a board member of the Brisbane chapter. Outside of Mind Medicine Australia, Victor provides hospital equipment to public hospitals, is involved with the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and develops health and medical foods utilising his rich passion for pharmacology, medicinal and biochemistry. His particular interests lie in psychedelic medicines, phytocannabinoids, disability rehabilitation, and anabolic phytosteroids.

Cassie Causton holds a Bachelor of Social Work, a Master of Mental Health Practice and has 13 years experience in the mental health and disability sectors; spanning across both government and non-government, not-for-profit and profit-for-purpose, and clinical and non-clinical service environments.

Cassie is passionate about reconceptualising how we understand and respond to mental distress, reforming our broken mental health system, and is deeply curious about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for those that are currently failed by existing mental health treatments and service responses.

Cassie is a current student of Mind Medicine Australia’s first Certificate of Psychedelic Assisted Therapy.