New York City schools commit to nurturing mental health through mindful breathing
Every student in the city will engage in two to five minutes of daily mindfulness, a tactic that has shown positive effects in schools around the world.
Mental health & addiction
Michigan bans conversion therapy for minors
The law prohibits state-licensed providers from engaging in the psychologically-damaging practice. Michigan is now the 22nd state in the United States to ban such “therapy.”
41 countries implement mental health and resiliency training for healthcare workers
Project HOPE has created and implemented a training program on mental health and resiliency that has reached over 100,000 healthcare workers since the start of the pandemic.
First-of-its-kind study reveals how psilocybin helps treat alcohol dependence
“Participants reported that the psilocybin treatment helped them process emotions related to painful past events and helped promote states of self-compassion, self-awareness, and feelings of interconnectedness,” the authors wrote.
Oregon licenses U.S.’s first-ever legal psilocybin facilitators
Oregon regulators announced on April 18 that they have approved the nation’s first state-licensed psilocybin facilitators to administer the psychedelic to adults at regulated facilities.
Oregon approves the U.S.’s first legal psilocybin mushroom farms
Oregon is gearing up for the first legal U.S. psilocybin journeys outside of medical trials later this year: The state just licensed its first legal growers and facilitators, who graduated from approved training programs.
U.S. FDA approves over-the-counter sale of overdose reversal drug Narcan
Naloxone is a life-saving drug that rapidly reverses or blocks the effects of opioids, restoring normal respiration, especially when given within minutes of the first signs of an overdose. Narcan is now the first naloxone-based drug available without a prescription.
Brain circuit breakthrough paves way for opioid addiction treatments
Scientists at the Texas A&M University have identified a specific circuit in the brain from which many negative emotional states stem from during fentanyl withdrawal and could be the reason many chronic users relapse.
All U.S. military veterans in suicidal crisis are now eligible for free care
Unlike for most other medical benefits, veterans do not have to be enrolled in the VA system to be eligible. More than 18 million veterans in the U.S. could be eligible.
Australia becomes world’s first country to officially recognize psychedelics as medicines
MDMA and psilocybin will be available for controlled use to address PTSD and depression when prescribed by a psychiatrist starting in July 2023.