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Groundbreaking research to help mental health

The new Centre for Psychedelics Health and Research at Providence Care Hospital will be doing vital work to improve the mental health of people in our city, and around the world. What

Director of the Centre Dr. Claudio Soares tells KingstonDaily.ca says the centre is trying to bridge the use of psychedelics from the underground into the mainstream. 

Psychedelics need to be systematically studied for those conditions. That's something Dr. Soares and his team would like to change. 

As for application, Dr. Soares says there are two schools of thought at this point. 

The first is that the drugs can facilitate psycho therapy when working hand-in-hand. 

That can make psycho therapy more effective. 

The second school of thought is when the medicine is used without therapy. Dr. Soares says its more common in micro-dosing. That allows the patients to benefit from the medicine itself. without the psychedelic "trip."  That plan is still in the early stages and is one of the areas to be studied by the centre. 
 
Dr. Soares is excited about the work, but also issues a caution that it will still be a few years before psychedelics are available for medical use, in any treatment.  

The work being done right here in Kingston will pave the way for that to happen, and ultimately to potentially improve the lives of tens of thousands around the world. 

KingstonDaily.ca will be keeping a close eye on the centre's progress and we expect to have many conversations with Dr. Soares and is team in the future. 

In the meantime, you can listen to our full conversation with the Dr. below.