Delighted to see my first paper on psychedelics and brain injury published today in Frontiers in Neurology

“Exploring the potential of psychedelics in brain injury recovery: a thematic analysis of participant narratives.”

To my knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to explore the lived experiences of people using psychedelics following TBI.

I’d told myself throughout this process that I wasn’t particularly attached to whether this paper was ultimately published. I cared about the research and wanted the work to exist regardless. It turns out I might have been slightly more attached than I thought.
Seeing it published today feels incredibly rewarding. There’s something unexpectedly meaningful about knowing that the work has been scrutinised by other researchers, challenged, revised, and ultimately considered worthy of contributing to the literature.

I was studying psychedelics at the University of Exeter while also working in brain injury neurorehabilitation. At the time, I explored the possibility of researching the potential overlap through a PhD. There wasn’t much interest. I was even told there was little reason to think people with brain injuries were using psychedelics.

It turned out they were. So rather than waiting for somebody to give me permission to investigate it, I decided to start the research independently. In hindsight, there was something quite fittingly psychedelic about that: follow the curiosity, step into the unknown, and see what emerges.

Then came journal rejections, substantial editing, peer-review criticism and more revisions. But I’m genuinely grateful for that process. The paper published today is considerably stronger than the paper I first tried to publish. Having your ideas challenged isn’t always comfortable, but the process forced me to think more critically, defend my decisions and refine the work.

Since completing the study, I founded Neuropsychedelics bringing together integration support, research and education, with a particular focus on brain injury and neurorehabilitation. I am supporting individuals directly as they prepare for, make sense of and integrate their own psychedelic experiences. I’m also currently in discussions around the possibility of developing a PhD exploring Ibogaine and brain injury next year.

However, this process has taught me that I don’t necessarily need to wait for the perfect opportunity or institutional pathway before starting the work. I intend to keep following this question and contributing to this emerging area of research.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1880026/full