The Heroic Hearts Project UK (HHPUK) helps UK military and emergency services veterans gain legal access to psychedelic therapy. The organisation connects veterans to trusted retreat centres around the world where such practices are legal, and conducts research during the retreats into the effects of psychedelics in ceremonial settings.
HHPUK is headed by myself, a former paratrooper and a beneficiary of psychedelic therapy after combat tours of Iraq and Afghanistan left me struggling with my mental health. Like many other veterans, I used NHS services and sought help from charities but with limited success. That’s why I started HHPUK.
After so many failed attempts at using conventional methods, my first two ayahuasca ceremonies in the Peruvian Amazon proved immediately successful at resolving my PTSD symptoms, and I understood the potential for psychedelics to also help those I‘d served with and the wider community.
Psychedelic plants and fungi have been used throughout human history and across almost all major civilisations. Their influence on our collective history and society is hard to deny and we now find ourselves in the early years of a psychedelic renaissance after decades of unethical and harmful prohibition. Research into these plants and fungi is once again booming and studies examining the effects of psychedelics like ayahuasca, psilocybin and MDMA on PTSD, major and treatment-resistant depression, and anxiety have proved very successful. There’s also very promising evidence to suggest disorders such as problematic drug and/or alcohol use can be effectively treated using psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP).
The NHS is buckling under the weight of a mental health crisis and is unable to meet the soaring demands placed upon it, even as the conventional methods offered to treat mental health disorders are found by too many not to work. There’s a desperate need for novel treatments that are safe and effective, and it appears increasingly likely that psychedelics can provide much needed relief where pre-existing offerings have so often failed.
The veterans’ community is in desperate need of support, with conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan leaving many British veterans scarred and traumatised. With effective treatment options unavailable, many turn to alcohol to self-medicate their symptoms of PTSD and its co-morbidities. PTSD rates in this community are likely to be even higher than reported, as veterans are less likely to seek support for mental ill health than the general public, and veterans are also more likely to have complex needs when seeking support.
The prevalence of alcohol misuse is also higher in veterans and is often accompanied by increased levels of anxiety and depression, or anger in treatment settings. These factors reduce the effectiveness of current treatment for veterans and it’s not surprising that people experiencing such complex and comorbid psychiatric symptoms have poor long-term PTSD treatment outcomes.
Using psychedelics to treat PTSD has been shown to provide therapeutic benefits over and above that of standard treatment for veterans, and clinical trials exploring the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) are now underway. Recently, Australia provided access to psilocybin and MDMA via prescription to treat psychiatric conditions. Following this, the Biden administration approved clinical trials of psychedelics for mental health conditions in military veterans, and it’s possible that such developments will influence a future rescheduling of psychedelic substances in the UK. While clinical trials continue, HHPUK is responding to veteran need and delivering psychedelic therapy to UK veterans.
Since April 2022, HHPUK has conducted three retreats and seen incredibly positive results in reduced symptoms of PTSD. With ethical approval already granted through Imperial College London for research into the effects of psilocybin on traumatic brain injuries and plans to research psilocybin’s effects on gambling disorder, HHPUK hopes to research substance/alcohol use too. If any organisations would like to discuss opportunities for collaboration, you can contact the HHPUK team at info@heroicheartsuk.com and follow our work on social media @heroicheartsuk.
Keith J Abraham is CEO at HHPUK