With Dr Ben Sessa (UK), Dr Eli Kotler and Peter Hunt AM
Date: Thu 27 April 2023 @ 6:00pm
Location: Webinar (online)
On 3 February 2023, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced that, from the 1st July 2023, the medical use of MDMA and Psilocybin will be rescheduled from Schedule 9 (prohibited substances) to Schedule 8 (controlled medicines) of the Poisons Standard. This will enable authorised psychiatrists to prescribe these substances for treatment resistant depression and treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder. The decision acknowledges the enormous number of Australians who lodged their submissions in support and the fact that treatment resistant patients aren’t benefitting from currently available treatments. Australia can be very proud of the fact that we are the first nation in the World to reschedule these medicines for medical purposes and Australia is now an innovative leader in the treatment of mental illness.
Mind Medicine Australia is receiving hundreds of enquiries about the way this program is likely to work in practice, as well as enormous interest in medicine supplies, clinician training and costs to patients.
As a result, we are thrilled to announce that renowned psychiatrist, Dr Ben Sessa (UK) together with Dr Eli Kotler will share a special presentation on psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT) for psychiatrists and other clinicians. They will provide a high level overview of the use of PAT and its application for your patients from a trauma-informed perspective.
Chairman of Mind Medicine Australia, Peter Hunt AM will discuss next steps for Australia including the opportunities emerging for psychiatrists and clinical sites to deliver these treatments, affordable medicine supplies, the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Course (CPAT) and updates on the global Faculty and other support offered, clinical reporting obligations and access to Real World Evidence and outcome data.
Date: Thursday 27 April 6pm Melbourne AEST
Time: 5:55pm for 6:00pm start – 7:30pm (incl Q&A) (AEST)
The presentation will commence at 6:00pm and conclude by 7:30pm
Location: Online. A link will be emailed to you with the viewing details
In this session, Dr Sessa (UK) will explore how psychedelic-assisted therapies works by explaining:
Following the presentation there will be a Q & A Panel with Dr Ben Sessa (UK), Dr Eli Kotler, Peter Hunt AM and Tania de Jong AM.
The event is free of charge. However, we welcome donations (tax deductible) to advance our critical mission towards ensuring these therapies become available and accessible to medical practitioners and their patients. This may be done at the time of reserving your ticket.
Due to the nature of this presentation, ONLY verified psychiatrists and clinicians will be admitted into the session.
At a time when mental illness is increasing across the population, we all need to work together to encourage innovation in treatments to support and heal the millions who are suffering immensely.
Please do let us know any questions.
Looking forward to you joining us for this unique, educational event.
MBBS MPM FRANZCP Cert. Old Age Psych. AFRACMA
Eli is a consultant psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist. He is the Medical Director of Malvern Private Hospital, an addiction and trauma hospital in Melbourne. Eli completed the inaugural CPAT course, and has since been on its faculty. He was appointed as the course’s Australian Course Director in 2023.
As a psychiatric trainee, Eli was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists Trainee Prize for his Scholarly Project on Depression, as well as a Research Committee Trainee award for his work on Philosophy of Mind. As an adjunct lecturer at Monash University, he oversees medical students on their addiction medicine rotation, and sneaks in lectures on Philosophy of Mind, Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychedelic Assisted Therapies (PAT). He has been invited as a key-note speaker by the RANZCP and International Psychoanalytic Association to lecture on PAT. He has been invited by the Victorian Government to design new addiction programs and works with the AFL players association.
Eli is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, and is a member of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs. He also has extensive research experience with novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. He sits on the Victorian Medical Panels, and is an expert witness in historical abuse cases.
Clinically, Eli works in a psychodynamic framework, and attempts to help his patients find freedom from their addictions and trauma through relational experiences, and experiential self-awareness. He is actively treating patients in Australia with MDMA-assisted therapy.
MBBS, B.SC, MRC PSYCH
For over 15 years Dr Ben Sessa has been at the forefront of psychedelic and cannabis research and clinical medicine in the UK through his affiliations with Imperial College London. Ben qualified as a medical doctor from UCL in 1997 and went on to specialise in psychiatry. For 25 years he has worked as a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with young people and adult patients in the field of addictions and trauma-related psychiatry.
Ben started studying psychedelics as a junior doctor and has taken part in research projects at Bristol University, Cardiff University and Imperial College London with LSD, psilocybin, DMT, ketamine and MDMA – receiving and/or administering all of these compounds in legal research settings.
One of the first doctors to develop the field of contemporary psychedelic research in the UK, he was the former co-founder, former CEO, and subsequently the former Head of Psychedelic Medicine at Awakn Life Sciences, a Bio-Tech company carrying out psychedelic research into addictions. Awakn opened four clinical centres in the U.K. and Europe, providing psychedelic psychotherapy with ketamine, for a wide range of psychiatric indications, as well as an extensive R&D psychedelic research program.
Ben was one of the first Medical Cannabis psychiatric prescribers in the UK.
Ben is a trained MDMA, ketamine and psilocybin therapist. He has led research into MDMA-assisted therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder and is published widely in the academic and medical press.
Ben is the co-founder and past president of the Breaking Convention conference. He is the author of The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012/2017), the novel ‘To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic’ (2015) and Altered States (2021). Ben lives and works in Bristol, UK.
Website: www.drsessa.com
B.Com, LL.B
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.
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 or Zoom private and public chat forms during a 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.
