Unconventional Minds
Missed the BWF Summit? Don’t worry! Check out this guest post by wellness copywriter, Octavia Hartland, which captures our second panel - Unconventional Minds: Where Neurodiversity meets Psychedelic Science
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With an estimated 1 in 7 people in the UK thought to be on the neurodiverse spectrum, our definition of ‘normal’ is changing. Practices which were once ridiculed are being explored in clinical trials, and our understanding of the neurodiverse brain is evolving and opening up new opportunities of how we support mental health, embrace difference, and expand our sense of what it means to be human.
The penultimate panel talk at Brighton Wellness Festival, addressed all this in: Unconventional Minds: Where Neurodiversity meets Psychedelic Science.
Self-image coach, Laura Phelan, hosted the event and was joined by Jess Rad - Founder of The WomenHood, driving gender equity and neuroinclusion; Dr Sandeep Singh-Dernevik - Consultant Psychiatrist and Founder of the Autism and ADHD Centre; Oli Genn-Bash - Mycology Consultant; Liz Lilley - Psycho and Psychedelic Therapist.
Laura began proceedings by asking: What does ‘Unconventional’ mean to you?
Liz was quick to answer this, saying she wants to “rebel against conventional. To me it means individualism against community.” Liz’s work with psychedelics is considered controversial by many, despite the fact that plant medicines have been used for thousands of years by most cultures.
Oli, like Liz, sees an enormous untapped potential in psychedelics: “We are forced to fit into a world that doesn’t serve us. Mushrooms have such a potent ability to show us new patterns of behaviour.”
Jess also uses psychedelics. Half Persian, she grew up as the eldest of 6 in Norwich and says she always felt different. In recent years she has been through a divorce, premature menopause and late-identified autism and ADHD. “I've reflected that I've been conforming to who I thought I had to be, who people wanted me to be.” She credits her revelation in part to psychedelics and discovering her neurodivergency. “It’s the most extraordinary opportunity, discovering your own neuro type, who you are and how your brain works.”
Jess runs The WomenHood, an organisation that partners with others to advance gender equity across women's health, financial wellness, neurodiversity, and relationships. “I raise awareness in businesses because it [neurodiversity] affects your work, family, parenting, energy, mood, education, friendships, sexual relationships…”
Sandeep took an unconventional route of Ayurvedic student and yoga teacher before becoming a consultant psychiatrist. Despite also being married to a psychologist, getting a neurodiversity diagnosis for their son was not easy. She’s therefore unsurprised that the rest of the population face such barriers to diagnosis. She knows that people with ADHD have a higher risk of suicide, substance abuse and road-traffic accidents. “If you get diagnosed and treated, you can live better.”
So what is the latest research telling us about how we can better support mental health?
Liz says that lots of people are not responding to mainstream treatments, we need other avenues. Liz uses breathwork and psychedelics and says the evidence of their benefits is starting to come through.
“We are in chaos and pain. We need something to counteract it. We need to build wisdom and understanding about these ways of expanding our consciousness. Reducing stigma, we can ground them [psychedelics] in reality and then they can have an impact on our lives.”
Oli, frustratingly, sees companies trying to diminish the spiritual side of psychedelics in favour of reaching the masses.
“It’s amazing how much potential we can get by using psychedelics in a holistic way. Not just curing but life enriching for ourselves and our entire communities… mushrooms can provide little lifelines, little practical ways to make life easier when the mind isn’t syncing with pressures you have.”
Oli shared his own anecdote, about how psychedelics can affect the way we see the world.
“The last place I lived, there was a crow that made a noise every morning. Through my experience with psychedelics I saw it as greeting me and so I'd greet it back. It made me feel joy and engaged with the world. It's all about healing, but it should be fun too.”
For Liz, psychedelics are: “a way of being, not a belief… Indigenous cultures tell us that we are part of a living, breathing, eco system. Our ancestors were animists and if we can remember and embody that, we stop thinking in this individualistic world, we can stop poisoning the world.”
Jess understands that psychedelics might not be an easy sell for everyone, having first resisted them herself. After experiencing lots of trauma over the last 5 years, a friend of hers suggested trying psychedelics. When she finally came round to trying them, she found the experience a catalyst for better understanding herself. “You have to work with what comes up from psychedelics which can be difficult.” Now, Jess is “forever grateful to that friend for introducing me to them. We need more magic in our lives.” We hear ya on that one Jess.