Date
September 13, 2022
On September 13, 2022, NYHealth hosted a webinar with Jesse Gould, Founder and CEO of the Heroic Hearts Project, to discuss the history of psychedelics as medicine, their impact on military veterans, and what modern research has revealed about their potential.
Mr. Gould is a former Army Ranger and veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He founded the Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 and is best known for his own inspiring battle with post-traumatic stress disorder and recovery through ayahuasca therapy.
As our country continues to grapple with record overdose deaths and rampant shortages of mental health providers, more Americans are turning to non-pharmacological treatments to address their mental health challenges. Psychedelics in particular have gained widespread popularity in recent years—especially among returning war veterans—which has pushed a growing number of cities and states to pass laws decriminalizing these substances.
Similar to the growing acceptance of cannabis use over the past decade, psychedelic use has become less taboo, which has opened up opportunities to invest in research to better understand how these substances can be used to heal those suffering from trauma. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs alone has five studies underway aimed at better understanding the potential impact of these substances, but much more is needed to understand where psychedelics fit into the larger mosaic of mental health care resources.