EPISODE 22 - Shaun Duffy

“When I talk about psychedelics, I can’t tell you how many times the conversations I have with my corporate contacts immediately go down a level of depth”

Shaun Duffy

In today’s podcast, I spoke with Shaun Duffy, CEO of Reset Mind Sciences - a company that is well-positioned to become a leader in the push to make psilocybin-containing mushrooms a mainstream medication option for the treatment of mental illness. Shaun comes from an accountancy background and brings a wealth of corporate experience to the psychedelic space, as well as a personal passion to help these remarkable compounds become part of the national conversation.

In today’s podcast We Discuss;

  • Shaun’s Corporate background, and how certain elements of his various types of financial expertise are transferable to the psychedelic space,

  • Michael Pollan’s book, ‘How to change your mind”

  • Shaun’s experience supporting his wife through periods of depression and the palliative nature of SSRIs,

  • Shaun’s original discussions with Little Green Pharma as a corporate advisor,

  • The nascent interest (both professional and personal) around psychedelics in his former corporate colleagues, and how this could support research and investment,

  • The understandable wariness amongst the psychedelic community about increasing corporate involvement in this space,

  • Shaun’s transitions from corporate advisor to CEO of a psychedelics company, and advice on how to make a plan to transition out of a career successfully - and then how to stick to that plan,

  • The responsibility that companies have to create ‘philanthropic ROI’ when dealing with major donations,

  • The ‘deepening’ of conversations amongst people in the corporate space through discussions of psychedelics

  • The Staggering prevalence of Antidepressant prescriptions in Australia,

  • Our shared concerns over the likely causal link between social media usage and deteriorating mental health - (especially amongst teenage girls), and how the work of Jonothan Haidt and Jean Twenge has brought a more focussed conversation around what to do about this,

  • The necessity for psychedelic businesses to build out core competencies - just like any other business,

  • The importance of ensuring the expectations of the capital market are appropriately managed - if we are to avoid unhelpful ‘hype cycles’ around investments in psychedelics,

  • The current classification of drugs by the TGA and how psychedelic drugs currently fall under schedule 9 - and how highly regulated the pharmacy industry is,

  • The challenges of meeting Good Manufacturing practices with a botanical like cannabis,

  • The natural progression for Little Green Pharma from producing GMP grade cannabinoids to psilocybin producing mushrooms,

  • Shaun’s desire to have a stellar team and the importance of generating trust between the corporate, pharmaceutical, and clinical domains within the psychedelic space,

  • The importance of the clinical care model around the delivery of psychedelic compounds,

  • Reset Mind Science’s desire to get started in earnest with WA based clinical trials into the efficacy of psilocybin for the treatment of mental health conditions,

  • Legal Psilocybin retreats internationally and Synthesis retreat

  • The staggering lengths that companies have to go to in order to meet the Office of Drug Contol’s requirements for the production of GMP grade cannabis,

  • The TGA’s decision to deny of down scheduling of psychedelics from 9 - 8,

  • The recent 15 Million Dollar Federal Grant to fund Australian Psychedelics Research,

  • Shaun’s belief that there is a disproportionate amount of energy being placed in the development of novel synthetic variants of psychedelic drugs,

  • Reset’s Clinical Advisory Board,

  • The importance of music and the work of Mendel Kaelen,

  • The potential for the derailment of the psychedelic renaissance,

  • Fantastic Fungi on Netflix,

  • and much more….

Shaun Duffy

CEO Reset Mind Sciences

Shaun Duffy is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in finance, media, and capital markets. He specializes in corporate communications advice during periods of corporate activity - including mergers and acquisitions, Capital Raisings, IPOs, and shareholder disputes.

Prior to starting Alchemy (an independent corporate consultancy firm specialising in investor relations and corporate communications), Shaun was the Australian head of US firm FTI Consulting's Australian Strategic Communications practice. In that role, he acted as lead communications advisor on some of Western Australia's most significant transactions, including the AU 1.2 Billion Amcon/Vocus merger, iiNet's AU 1.6 Billion takeover by TPG, Woodside's AU 2.75 Billion Acquisition of Apache's Australian Asset portfolio, and the AU 1.8 Billion takeover of Aurora Oil and Gas.

Shaun is currently the CEO of Reset Mind Sciences, a subsidiary of Little Green Pharma. Drawing on the medicinal cannabis expertise and infrastructure established within Little Green Pharma, Shaun is focused on the use of psilocybin to treat mental illness.

Niall Campbell