The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather public comment on workforce training and care delivery models for administering potential future FDA-approved psychedelic therapies in ambulatory clinical settings. In their 20-page response, Reason for Hope and VMHLC emphasized: "The task is not to choose between rigor and compassion, safety and access, human care

Reason for Hope's Chief Science Officer, Lynnette A. Averill, Ph.D., and Logan Neitzke-Spruill, Ph.D. introduce a non-neuroreductionist, multilevel framework that distinguishes mechanisms of action from mechanisms of change, highlighting how neuroplasticity, memory updating, relational processes, contextual factors, and meaning-making may interact to support therapeutic change.

Following the Trump Administration's recent Executive Order, "Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness," Reason for Hope joined BrainFutures, Healing Breakthrough, Heroic Hearts Project, and Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions in a letter to ARPA-H encouraging the agency to take a balanced approach to implementing the mandate — "one that amplifies near-term patient impact while also advancing the longer-term research and development work needed to bring n

Without system level reforms to strengthen proactive planning and provide clear implementation authority for truly transformative approaches, the VA risks repeating a familiar pattern: promising treatments are approved, but Veterans wait years before they are meaningfully accessible.

Following the September 6, 2024 public meeting hosted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA in which agency officials joined representatives from the Department of Defense (DoD) and VA, patients, advocates, and industry representatives to discuss the current treatment landscape and what can be done to accelerate development of PTSD treatment, Reason for Hope and VMHLC have provided comments on advancing treatment for PTSD. "Recent trials with novel therapies like MDMA, p

Reason for Hope and VMHLC joined PsyCan, the Canadian not-for-profit trade association of legally-operating psychedelic medicine companies and practitioners, for a press conference calling on the Canadian government to take a proactive approach to psychedelic medical regulations and for Veterans Affairs Canada to fully reimburse veterans for the costs of psychedelic-assisted therapies with drugs obtained through Health Canada’s Special Access Program (SAP). "For people like m

"Considering the devastating mental health, suicide, and overdose crises plaguing our Veteran community – with 17 to 44 lives lost to deaths of despair every day – it is unconscionable that so many will continue to be forced to go to other countries, or risk criminal prosecution in the United States, to access these potentially lifesaving mental health treatments."

Reason for Hope and VMHLC offered a briefing to the U.S. House of Representatives For Country Caucus to highlight the challenges to pursuing research on psychedelic drugs for treatment of PTSD and the importance of the Breakthrough Therapies Act as a solution to these challenges. "If we don’t make it easier to research and enable compassionate use of Schedule I substances that demonstrate potential medical benefit, states will legalize these substances in conflict with feder

Lt Gen Martin Steele, USMC (Ret.) appeared before the Nevada Department of Health & Human Services Psychedelic Working Group to offer testimony on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapies. "Considering the devastating mental health and suicide crises plaguing our Veteran community, it is unconscionable that so many will continue to be forced to go to other countries, or risk criminal prosecution in the United States, to access these potentially lifesaving me

August 09, 2024 (NEW YORK) – Reason for Hope and its member organization, the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, issued a joint statement in response to the Food and Drug Administration's recent decision to deny approval of MDMA-assisted therapy in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Lieutenant General Martin R. Steele, US Marine Corps (Retired), Cofounder of Reason for Hope and Founder & President of the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, shared

Reason for Hope and VMHLC joined twelve other veteran service organizations and veterans groups in a letter to the Biden Administration to express their unwavering support for FDA approval for MDMA assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Reason for Hope has submitted a response to a request for comments issued by U.S. Representatives DeGette and Bucshon on efforts to expand upon the successes of the 21st Century Cures Act and realize the goals of Cures 2.0. Reason for Hope's comments focused on improving access for rapid-acting mental health treatments whose active ingredients are Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act.

Reason for Hope and VMHLC submit comments to FDA advisory committee on MDMA drug application

Reason for Hope and VMHLC express disappointment with FDA Advisory Committee's recommendations for MDMA drug application.

This consensus statement reports 20 points of consensus on managing 5 ethical issues related to the upcoming integration of psychedelic medicines into clinical practice and identifies areas for further research and deliberation.

Reason for Hope and the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition (VMHLC) – in coordination with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) – hosted a briefing and update on the Breakthrough Therapies Act (S.689; H.R. 1393) called "Accelerating Breakthrough Therapies for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention." The event was held Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. EDT in 385 Russell Senate Office Building. "The Breakthrough Therapies Act can help accelerate

"Hopefully, today’s hearing is the first step in the right direction of a major paradigm shift. There is an urgent need to develop novel therapeutics – including MDMA, psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine, and 5-MeO-DMT (amongst others) – which may offer rapid and robust improvement of symptoms, particularly for those who have not benefitted from existing options."

Reason for Hope, The Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, BrainFutures, and the additional cosigners noted below provided comments on the draft guidance, Psychedelic Drugs: Considerations for Clinical Investigations / Guidance For Industry (“draft Guidance”), which the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced in the Federal Register on June 26, 2023. Read the Comments

Reason for Hope and Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition briefed the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus on the importance of the Breakthrough Therapies Act and the evidence-based research supporting the efficacy of psilocybin and other psychotropic drugs in the treatment of PTSD, depression, suicidality, anxiety, and substance use.

Reason for Hope has issued a letter in support of the Breakthrough Therapies Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and by U.S. Representatives Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA). The legislation will remove regulatory hurdles that inhibit research and compassionate use access to potentially lifesaving treatments that are heavily restricted by Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Read the Letter of Sup