An organization dedicated to therapy for veterans through the use of ceremonial and clinical psychedelics has now teamed up with a public benefit corporation (PBC) to establish an extensive catalogue of evidence for clinically valid outcomes data pertinent to psychoactive therapy.
On Thursday, the Heroic Hearts Project (HHP) announced a new partnership with Maya PBC, a data platform designed to connect psychedelic suppliers, investigators and participants.
Maya says it is helping to chart a knowledge base that will help promote safe and accessible practices involving psychedelics.
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Heroic Hearts believes that psychedelic medicines can help veterans to overcome hardships associated with PTSD, substance use disorder and even suicidal thoughts. The healing power of these substances can also help them to reintegrate into every-day civilian life and many claim that psychedelics can facilitate accelerated therapy which couldn’t be accomplished by other means.
Programs created by the Heroic Hearts Project primarily utilize ayahuasca to help heal veterans, a natural psychoactive medicine used by Indigenous cultures in the Amazon Rainforest that has been steadily gaining interest in western society for its therapeutic value. Ibogaine, ketamine, 5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin are examples of other psychedelics used by the organization for healing purposes.
The HHP says that it has now funded over US$700,000 for veterans to access these kinds of psychedelic treatments in countries where those psychoactive substances have not been outlawed. For example, ayahuasca is legal in Peru and psilocybin is legal in Jamaica.
The organization was established in 2017 and its programs serve over 100 veterans on a yearly basis. According to the HHP, that number is anticipated to double next year.
“We are beyond thrilled to partner with Maya in this game-changing endeavour. Data tells stories and Maya’s platform will enable us to tell our story in a way that will help save lives by educating veterans, providers, and legislators on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicines,” said Zach Riggle, Chief Operating Officer of Heroic Hearts.
Heroic Hearts says that the Maya platform will enable the psychedelic community to collaboratively chart best practices for the use of these medicines. The product suite offered by Maya will contain a “Real World Data Platform” for scholarly and commercial investigators, a purpose-constructed “Companion App” for individuals and a “Measurement Based Care Platform” for suppliers.
“We believe that the only way to accelerate safe and effective, legal, psychedelic practices – for those in need of alternative solutions to some of the most urgent mental health challenges of our time – is to look beyond controlled studies and to the growing landscape of real-world psychedelic practices,” said David Champion, CEO of Maya.
“By inviting participants to contribute their journeys to a well-structured, anonymized, and secure dataset, we hope to support amazing organizations like Heroic Hearts Project, to create the body of evidence needed to establish credibility for these treatments, to inform sensible legislation, and to garner greater funding for their communities. We couldn’t be more proud of and excited for this collaboration.”
