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- ☁️🍄 Issue No. 038
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Good morning, Headlines family. It’s great to see you again. Some big psychedelic stories this week. Let’s get to it.
QUICK HITS
Lunch break. The latest mental health work perk: on-site therapists.
Ready to roll. Awakn has completed its MDMA/Zydis® feasibility study.
Medi pod. Deepak Chopra wants to bring $30K meditation pods to the workplace.
Stealth health. Small changes to prison food and nutrition drastically improved inmate mental health and reduced violence. [Re-read Issue No. 023: Gut Feelings]
The long run. Researchers say running clubs could be as effective as antidepressants.
Now hiring. MAPS is on the hunt for marketers ahead of the rollout of MDMA-assisted therapy.
Senti shift. Over 80% of psychiatrists say they see promise in psychedelics, a significant shift from attitudes in 2016.
Depressed docs. Doctors across the country are stressed out, burnt out, and suicidal.
Pea brain? Motif Neurotech is designing a pea-sized neurostimulator for mental health.
NEWS & TRENDS
1) $16M for psychedelics beyond medicine
Harvard University is receiving a first-of-its-kind gift to take the psychedelic renaissance “beyond medicine.” The Gracias Family Foundation has donated $16M to fund research and projects across the university, including:
An endowed professorship on human health and flourishing
A new set of fellowships between Harvard and UC Berkeley
Funding for the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at Harvard Law School
Funding for the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School
This marks a significant milestone in the world of psychedelics. Indeed, most funding in this space has, to date, been funneled towards medical and therapeutic research. But, as folks have pointed out in the past, a narrow focus on therapeutic settings could undermine the vast potential these substances could have across many other dimensions of well-being.
(Portrait by Alex Grey)
2) RIP Roland
It’s a sad week for psychedelic science. Last Monday, the community lost one of its most regarded and beloved visionaries, Dr. Roland Griffiths. As the founding director of Johns Hopkins’ Psychedelic Research Center and a world-renowned psychopharmacologist, Griffiths’ work—in particular his pivotal 2006 paper—is largely credited with resurrecting and ushering in the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy as we now know it.
Griffiths leaves behind an unparalleled legacy of groundbreaking clinical trials, trailblazing research, and an inimitable courage — courage which he carried through to his final years battling terminal cancer. After being diagnosed in 2021, the researcher spoke at length of his journey coming to terms with his mortality and learning to see the diagnosis as a gift, a way to truly grasp the preciousness of life. Rest in peace to a giant.
DEALS & DEBUTS
💚 Greenbrook TMS, a provider of noninvasive electromagnetic stimulation and nasal ketamine for depression, raised $1.5M in debt financing.
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🍄 Small Pharma, a psychedelic biotech company, secured a final endorsement from the Supreme Court of British Columbia for its acquisition by psychedelic biopharma Cybin.
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✍ Florida Blue Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate for the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, awarded $3.1M in grants to ten nonprofits to enhance mental health support.
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🎭 Feinstein Institutes, the research arm of healthcare provider Northwell Health, received a $6.1M grant to fund a bipolar disorder patient and research hub.
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💼 Spring Health, a workforce mental health platform, announced Atlas, a first-of-its-kind recommendation engine for employee mental and behavioral health.
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🎓 Virtua Health, an academic health system in South Jersey, teamed up with AI chatbot company Woebot Health to provide adjunctive tools for its members.
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🎧 Endel, a functional sound startup, teamed up with Warner Music Group’s EDM label Spinnin’ Records to launch 50 AI-generated mental wellness-boosting soundscape albums.
→ source, Re-read Issue No. 011: Of Sound Mind
🛀🏿 Soaak Technologies, a sound frequency therapy startup, is partnering with spiritual author Michael Beckwith on a 21-day Limitless Living Immersion Program.
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🏋 Gotcha4Life Foundation, an Australian mental fitness foundation, unveiled an online mental fitness gym.
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🤝 Centerstone, a nonprofit mental health provider, is working with health tech company Lyssn to build AI-based training for behavioral health clinicians.
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💻 Modern Health, a workplace mental health platform, announced the expansion of its family care offering through a new Pathways Collection designed to support parents and families.
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🧭 ATMA Journey Centers, a psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) training provider, is joining forces with clinic Cena Life to establish industry standards for Canada’s PAT infrastructure.
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🎗 Hightop Health, a mental health outpatient platform, launched in collaboration with mental health practice Psych Atlanta and with the backing of JLL Partners and SV Health Investors.
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WHAT I’M READING
AI 🤝 IFS. Many therapeutic modalities don’t come with a user manual — Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a bit different. One experimenter documents his findings after over six months of prototyping an AI-powered practice partner for self-therapy. → X
‘Til next Sunday,
-Mel