Reimagining Effective Mental Health Care with Sara Reed

Women’s Month Greetings Glocal Citizens!

If it’s March then it’s all about herstories here on the podcast and first up we’re in London by way of Hopkinsville, Kentucky with mental health futurist, Sara Reed. She is an empathic leader, mental health futurist, and practitioner in psychedelic-assisted therapy. I came across Sara’s work when listening to a session the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Global Summit last year, and my curiosity was piqued hearing Sara describe her work and it’s impact. She has spent her early career examining the ways culture informs how we diagnose and treat mental illnesses. As an advocate for health equity in psychedelic medicine, Sara hopes to make treatments more safe, affordable, and effective to those in need.

Before joining the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College in London as a the lead Psychedelic Research Therapist in Psychopharmacology, she participated as a study therapist with the MDMA therapy for PTSD clinical trials sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). While working with MAPS, she advocated for health equity in psychedelic therapy and co-led the first ever MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy training for clinicians of color.
In addition to her appointment at Imperial College, she is Co-founder and Curriculum Development Specialist with the Women’s Global Empowerment Initiative. As well as founder and creative executive at Minds iHealth Solutions, where she co-facilitates psilocybin truffle retreats in the Netherlands and works in private practice with patients with mood and anxiety disorders using ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy. She lectures on topics fusing culturally sensitive practices with psychedelic-assisted therapy and advises organizations on anti-oppressive and inclusive practices.

Where to find Sara?
www.sarajreed.info
On LinkedIn

What’s Sara singing to?
Jennifer Hudson
Whitney Houston

Other topics of interest:
About Hopkinsville, Kentucky
South Croydon
Tabitha Brown
What is a Skilled Workers visa?
Hinge
Dr. Monica Williams
On Ketamine
On MDMA and Sassafras
Plant origins of LSD
On Australia’s Psychedelics Policy
On Oregon’s Decriminalization of Psychedelics
Dr. Gabor Maté
On 12-Step Programs for mental health
Breathwork techniques
About The Peach Cobbler Factory

Correction Note: In our conversation about plant derivatives of some synthetic medicines Sara mentioned that DMT is present in Ibogaine. She wanted to be sure that listeners are aware that it is not. While they are close relatives, DMT is not in Ibogaine. Read more about it here.