Psilocybin London Symposium (In-Person & Live Streaming)

In celebration of picking season, join us this October through a collective journey of presentations, conversation, and live sounds to explore the extraordinary potentials of psilocybin mushrooms and their role in healing and culture.

With the continued expansion of psychedelic research, psilocybin is moving closer to the forefront of global attention. As such, it's critical we discuss how to harness the healing capabilities of this powerful compound through safe and sustainable means. 

What have we learned about the therapeutic possibilities and challenges of psilocybin so far? And in what ways might its mainstreaming shape not only healthcare but the cultural paradigms of our society? Key players in the psychedelic research field will uncover these questions as they share their fascinating knowledge and experience. 

Intertwining the talks and the panel will be live folk music, enchanting sounds from the mushrooms themselves using biosonfication technology.

After a year of online-only communication, we are delighted to host the psychedelic community back together in person as we connect through shared interests and a web of mycelial roots under our feet!

Financial contributions from the event will go toward increasing our harm-reduction education and finishing the final edit stages of The Psychedelic Renaissance - a not-for-profit documentary feature capturing the scientific and cultural shifts within the psychedelic movement. 

Talks & presentations*

Maria Papaspryou and Tim Read - Psilocybin Therapy: Shaping Best Practice

Maria and Tim are co-founders of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy - an organisation offering psychedelic therapy training and supporting practitioners to deepen their understanding of altered states. 

Maria and Tim will be sharing their extensive expertise working within the field of human psychology and altered states to consider best practices within psilocybin therapy. By addressing things like set and setting, training of therapists, and ethical implications - they will explore models and methods of psilocybin therapy aimed to maximise its healing capacity and reduce potential harms. 

Maria is a trained integrative psychologist and currently works as a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and systemic family constellations facilitator. Since 2013 she has been giving talks on psychedelic integration and therapy and actively supporting the re-introduction of expanded states.

Tim is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author based in London. He is qualified in medicine and neuroscience and has headed the crisis intervention service at the Royal London Hospital, developing psychological treatments. He is a certified holotropic breathwork facilitator and is involved in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy clinical research.

Biz Bliss - Weaving the Spiritual and Clinical: Insights from a Psilocybin Guide

Biz Bliss is the Co-founder and Lead Facilitator of Alalaho - a psilocybin-assisted psychospiritual retreat centre in the Netherlands. Biz will be sharing her insights from five years of experience working as a psilocybin guide, addressing how modern, western psychotherapeutic models may be interwoven with spiritual and somatic practices to support participants through expanded states of consciousness, and psychedelic integration. 

Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner - The Association for Psychedelic Studies (APT)

Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner will be speaking on behalf of the Association for Psychedelic Therapies (APT) - an organisation committed to building safe and ethical practice in psychedelic therapies.

In her role on the Psilocybin for Depression clinical trial at Imperial College in London, she co-guided participants through their psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy treatments and led mindfulness-based aftercare sessions to support participants' longer-term integration. 

Ashleigh's experience with Imperial encouraged her to co-found the APT with Anya Oleksiuk and a committee of clinicians and scientists as a means to ensure ethical, person-centred care is at the heart of psychedelic therapy. 

Timmy Davis - The Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) Rescheduling Psilocybin Project

Timmy Davis is the head of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) Psilocybin Rescheduling project. He will be joining to discuss the urgency and ongoing efforts to move psilocybin’s current licensing away from a Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 drug, as well as actions we can take to collectively dissolve the regulatory barriers to psilocybin treatment research and development.

As well as working for the CDPRG, Timmy is a trainee at the SITE for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, a contributing member of Drug Science's Medical Psychedelics Working Group, and a guide on the King's College London psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression trial.

Leonie Schneider and Ian Roullier - The Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN)

Speaking on behalf of the Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network will be Leonie Schneider and Ian Roullier, both of whom were participants in Imperial'sImperial's Psilocybin for Depression trials.

PsyPAN is a non-profit that aims to give a collective voice to all patients receiving psychedelic therapy to help improve participant safety and wellbeing by building best practices across all levels of the global psychedelic sector. 

Leonie Schneider has represented psychedelic medicine patients and helped shape future psychedelic therapy programs across several different organisations, including Drug Science, Alalaho, and Synthesis Institute. 

Ian Rouiller's journey fighting his battle against depression and anxiety with psilocybin has been featured on Oprah, the BBC, and in Micheal Pollen'sPollen's bestseller ''How to Change Your Mind.'' His current advocacy work aims to destigmatise and normalise safely supervised use of psilocybin to treat depression.

Panel: The Future of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: Ethics, Accessibility and the Community with Dr Rosalind Watts, Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner (APT), Timmy Davis (CDPRG) and Leonie Schneider and Ian Roullier (PsyPAN)

Our speakers will be joined by the leading therapist for the former Imperial College London's Psilocybin for Depression trials, and Synthesis Institute Clinical Director Rosalind Watts in an interactive panel discussion and audience Q&A. With their combined extensive knowledge and experience of therapeutic psilocybin use, our mushroom experts will explore how psilocybin is shaking up psychiatry and what open-access psilocybin therapy could entail for the future of human culture.

Live Music and Sounds

Mushroom bio-sonification sounds

We will hear from the mycelial network itself as Katya Sykes exhibits her experimental art project - using bio-sonification technology to transform the natural bio-rhythms of fungal life into audible patterns and melodies.

Acoustic folk

There will be live acoustic folk music from the Bristol-based songwriter and performer Sophie Munger. Her music comprises story tale lyrics and unique, enchanting vocals, capturing the whimsical nature of psilocybin and its role in folklore.

Venue

A vibrant fringe theatre in Marylebone, the Cockpit Theatre was built in 1970. Notable as London's first purpose-built theatre since the Great Fire of London - the auditorium is now part of the City of Westminster College. 

The theatre stages international plays, classic works, home-grown provocative theatre, monthly children and family shows, and hosts the annual Camden Fringe festival.

Details on how to access the venue can be found here.

*this event lineup previously included Francoise Bourzat. Unfortunately, due to recent allegations related to her work, we made a difficult decision to replace her in the program to allow space for a review of the issues raised. Thank you for understanding and please contact us if you have any questions.

If you would like to attend this event but are unable to afford the ticket price, please do get in touch with us by emailing martha@psychedelicsociety.org.uk, giving the reason for your request for waivered ticket prices. At the Psychedelic Society, we believe that everyone should be able to access our events regardless of employment or health circumstances, so we will do our best to accommodate where we can.

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

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