Episode 6: Standing in the Circle with Cancer Week 2: Psychedelic Researchers, Katherine MacLean and Yvan Beaussant
Stand in the Circle Month 2, Episode 6
This is the third episode of our month of standing in the circle with cancer.
Katherine MacLean and Yvan Beaussant are psychedelic researchers. Katherine was a guide in the early psilocybin trials at Johns Hopkins, where she found that the personality trait of openness, thought to be ‘immovable’, sometimes increased after psilocybin assisted therapy. After her sister Rebecca died of breast cancer, Katherine left academia, wrote her book 'Midnight Water', trained as a hospice volunteer, and built a sanctuary in the Vermont woods called Being Ground.
Yvan Beaussant is a palliative care physician at Dana-Farber in Boston. He leads their psychedelic research with people who are seriously ill.
We talk about some of the circles of care that hold people through serious illness and through losing someone.
MENTIONED:
Katherine MacLean: https://www.katherinemaclean.org Midnight Water, her memoir: https://www.katherinemaclean.org/midnight-water Being Ground, the forest sanctuary in Vermont: https://www.katherinemaclean.org/being-ground Yvan Beaussant at Dana-Farber: https://www.dana-farber.org/find-a-doctor/yvan-beaussant The Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies programme he leads: https://labs.dana-farber.org/psychedelics The Watts Connectedness Scale, on connectedness across self, others and world: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-022-06187-5
Also mentioned: being trained as a guide by Mary Cosimano and Bill Richards, moving at the speed of trust, medical aid in dying in Vermont, the early research at Spring Grove and in Chicago, and Kim's trial from last week's episode.
LINKS
ACER runs free live drop in sessions online: join us, you don't have to say anything, you can just listen: https://acerintegration.com/acer-live-events
ACER applications https://acerintegration.com/apply-now
Submit a question for Ros to answer: https://forms.gle/jVcGniTN3uS1bjz18
Looking for a trial in your area: https://clinicaltrials.gov (US), https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk (UK), https://www.anzctr.org.au (Australia)
SUPPORT LINES
Living with cancer, or caring for someone who is, or grieving someone.UK: Macmillan Cancer Support, 0808 808 00 00, https://www.macmillan.org.uk Marie Curie, 0800 090 2309, https://www.mariecurie.org.uk Cruse Bereavement Support, https://www.cruse.org.uk US: CancerCare, 800 813 4673, https://www.cancercare.org .If you are in crisis: Samaritans 116 123 or text SHOUT to 85258 (UK). Call or text 988 (US).