Kingston, Ontario, May 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CATALYST Presents Foundation (“CATALYST”), the producer of Canada’s premiere series of psychedelic medicine conferences, hosts its third annual CATALYST Summit 2022, as a hybrid event that can be attended online or in-person at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario from May 20-22, 2022. Drawing hundreds of key stakeholders such as domestic and international policymakers, business leaders, academic researchers, scientists, mental health practitioners, and consumers of psychedelic medicine, the conference will showcase Canada’s psychedelic journey into medicine, society, and commerce through keynote presentations, intimate panel discussions, and networking events.
Partnering with key Canadian organizations and companies accelerating the psychedelic space such as Queen’s University, the Psychedelic Association of Canada, Kingston Economic Development, Optimi Health, ATMA Journey Centers, and WayFound Mental Health Group, CATALYST is building a space of community with support and collaboration from leading players. “CATALYST has already made a mark in helping to lessen the stigma, increase awareness, and bring an understanding of the potential of psychedelic medicines. We believe this connection with Queen’s University, Health Canada, and the broad international community will only continue to increase as we expand as a cohesive group of like-minded companies and individuals seeking to bring new approaches to mental health and personal growth,” said CATALYST’s Co-Chief Executive Officer, David Harder.
CATALYST Summit 2022 will feature over 80 internationally recognized speakers such as Dr. Anthony Bossis, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, Paul Stamets, world-renowned Mycologist and Author, representatives from Health Canada, Jane Philpott, a former Member of Parliament and the Health Minister and Dean of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, Crispin Blunt, Member of Parliament from the United Kingdom, Senator Larry Campbell, Dr. Rosalind Watts, Founder of Acer Integration and Clinical Track Lead of Synthesis Institute, and many more. “The lineup for 2022 is unprecedented in terms of the broad spectrum of knowledge and decades of experience in the intentional use of psychedelic medicines,” adds Harder.
With trailblazing research and ideas backed by data from international clinical trials and studies, CATALYST Summit 2022 topics include:
The conference includes additional events such as the Psychedelic Industry Business Lunch focusing on Canadian psychedelic therapy, hosted on May 20, 2022, a showing of the recently released movie Psychedelia, and the Sacred Sound & Movement Medicine, a somatic integration movement ritual, hosted on May 21, 2022.
Tickets, sponsorship packages, volunteer opportunities, and more information about CATALYST Summit 2022 are available on the official event website at http://www.catalystpresents.ca/.
About CATALYST Presents Foundation
CATALYST Presents Foundation is a not-for-profit event management company based in Calgary, Alberta, that organizes premium, curated events designed to move the psychedelic medicine conversation forward in Canada. Proceeds from the company’s events go to assist in paying for and subsidizing the cost of legal psychedelic-assisted therapy for palliative patients and military veterans in Canada. For more information, visit http://www.catalystpresents.ca/.
Curt graduated from Ryerson in 1983 with a B.A.A. in Radio and Television Arts.
In 1986 he joined the CBC and started working in what was known as Frobisher Bay and later Iqaluit, in the North West Territories. He lived here for nearly seven years.
His career with the CBC then took him to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he became a National Reporter. In Winnipeg Curt’s investigative journalism revealed a scheme hatched in the Premier’s office to create a dummy political party in order to alter the outcome of a provincial election. Curt’s work sparked a public inquiry which confirmed his findings about corruption and election officials who played a role in covering it up. His reporting won the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism in 1999.
In 2001 he joined the CBC’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. Four years later Curt took on the job of National reporter for BC. His investigative work has been recognized by The Jack Webster Foundation, The Radio and Television News Director’s Association, the Canadian Association of Journalists, and The New York Festivals.
Curt has been called on to report on countless critical incidents, catastrophes and humanitarian crises: from the devastating Manitoba flood in 1997, to the seminal Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, to more recent events including the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, the worst drought in Eastern Africa in a generation that same year, and Typhoon Haiyan’s swath of destruction in the Philippines in 2013. It was following his trip to the Philippines, after some particularly difficult conditions, that he was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.
Ever the journalist, even when he was at his darkest point, Curt collaborated on a documentary which made him the focus of the story.
Since 2007, no story has occupied more of Curt’s time, interest and curiosity than that of the death of Robert Dziekanski and the investigation into what happened. Curt’s credo is to keep asking questions until the answers stand up to scrutiny.
In 2020 Curt began writing a series of pieces for The Tyee about psychedelic psychotherapy and how Canadian medical authorities and governments were responding to the growing demand for access. The stories culminated in an investigation into the death of Amanda Leech, a B.C. woman who’s doctors withdrew life-changing ketamine therapy without explanation or reason.
Throughout his illness and treatment, Curt maintained an interest in the sprawling and complicated story that is the subject of Blamed and Broken. His treating physicians encouraged Curt to use writing as a therapy, even when he was unable to carry out the job which has been his life’s work for more than thirty years. It was good advice.
Curt currently lives in Port Moody, BC.