Canadian Veterans Champion Alternative PTSD Treatments: A Call for Psychedelic Therapy Research

When trauma reshapes someone’s life, the path to healing isn’t always straightforward. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) touches lives in profound ways. It’s a disorder that affects not only the people who experience it firsthand, but entire families and communities. It’s a complex journey that goes far beyond managing difficult memories – it’s about finding a way back to feeling safe, connected, and whole again.

Here’s the thing about current PTSD treatments: while they’ve helped many people find their footing again, they don’t always get to the heart of the matter. The standard approach usually involves a mix of antidepressants and therapy sessions. And while these tools are valuable and absolutely vital for many people…

Sometimes they just aren’t enough to help someone fully reclaim their life.

This gap in treatment options hits especially close to home when we look at our Canadian military community. The numbers tell a powerful story: about one in 10 veterans who’ve served in war zones develop chronic PTSD. When you consider that more than 40,000 brave Canadians served in Afghanistan, you start to understand just how many of our heroes might be silently struggling with these invisible wounds.

In this article, we’ll explore the inspiring story of Master corporal (MCpl.) Gordon Hurley, a Canadian Forces veteran who’s not just sharing his own journey with PTSD – he’s championing a bold new path forward.

His vision is simple yet daunting…

To revolutionize how we think about and treat trauma, not just for veterans, but for everyone wrestling with PTSD’s heavy weight.

A Soldier's Journey: From Basic Training to Battlefield

Gordon Hurley’s story exemplifies both the dedication of our service members and the urgent need for innovative trauma care. In 2008, barely 15 months after completing basic training, Hurley found himself deployed to Afghanistan. “As a no-hook private, not really understanding the geopolitical impacts,” he recalls, “it was more just ‘watch your arcs and keep your mouth shut.'” This rapid transition from training to combat zone would become a defining chapter in his 15-year military career.

The Afghanistan mission represented Canada’s largest military deployment since World War II, with a price tag exceeding $18 billion. But the true cost can’t be measured in dollars – it’s reflected in the lives of the more than 40,000 Canadians who served there, the 165 who made the ultimate sacrifice, and countless others who continue to battle invisible wounds.

Bridging the Treatment Gap

Today, Hurley’s advocacy for alternative therapies comes from firsthand experience. Having traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to access treatments not yet available in Canada, he’s witnessed the transformative potential of these approaches. The clinic he visits is run by Canadian doctors with 15 years of experience in addiction recovery and trauma treatment – expertise that could be benefiting veterans at home.

“All psychedelics have a certain power,” Hurley explains, describing how these treatments can provide what he calls a “breath of relief” from trauma’s constant presence. These substances provide much more than a temporary escape – they help create space for healing and implementing healthy practices that can last a lifetime. Of course, when considering psychedelic therapy, there’s a lot to think about. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our comprehensive article on the subject of psychedelic therapy.

Beyond Traditional Approaches: A Spectrum of Solutions

While advocating for psychedelic therapies, Hurley also highlights other promising treatments. For example, there’s the stellate ganglion block, a procedure with over a century of medical history that’s found new purpose in treating PTSD. This treatment, which involves an injection between the C6 and C7 vertebrae, essentially “resets your nervous system,” offering relief from various trauma symptoms.

What’s particularly frustrating for veterans is the current coverage gap in treatment options. While Veterans Affairs Canada covers certain treatments like ketamine therapy, they don’t cover the crucial assisted therapy component. “The doctor is going to have specific training to deal with psychedelics and how that integrates into a person’s life,” Hurley notes, emphasizing the importance of professional guidance in these treatments.

Beyond Traditional Approaches: A Spectrum of Solutions

“We’re in a unique position as a country, with such a liberal view on health care and life, that we should be able to be a world leader in providing alternative therapies,” Hurley said during a recent interview on The West Block. His advocacy focuses on treatments that many might consider unconventional but show promising results.

Among these innovative approaches is the use of psychedelics such as ketamine and psilocybin, which Hurley describes as offering veterans “a breath of relief” from their trauma and addictions.

Current Landscape: Progress and Barriers

Veterans Affairs Canada has taken initial steps, launching research and clinical trials into ketamine treatment for traumatic brain injuries and depression. However, the department has yet to expand its research to include other promising alternatives like psilocybin. This cautious approach reflects the department’s policy of only covering treatments supported by substantial research evidence.

A December Senate committee report highlighted Canada’s position at this crucial crossroads, urging the federal government to “immediately” launch a “major research program” into psychedelic treatments for veterans with PTSD. The report, titled, ‘The Time is Now’ emphasized that Canada risks falling behind other nations in studying these potentially transformative therapies. It calls for a comprehensive examination of psychedelic-assisted therapies with support from scientific literature and stories that hit close to home.

Take Kelsie Sheren’s experience. As an artillery gunner in Afghanistan, she returned home diagnosed with PTSD, trapped in a cycle of conventional treatments that seemed to offer no hope. At just 21 years old, she was on 11 different pharmaceutical drugs, with Veterans Affairs telling her she would “never work again.” Her turning point came through psychedelic-assisted therapy – a treatment that she credits with saving her life and allowing her to become “a present mother, wife, and value to society.”

Retired Colonel Rakesh Jetly, the former chief psychiatrist of the Canadian Armed Forces, offers a professional perspective that underscores the limitations of traditional approaches. Current PTSD treatments often require veterans to repeatedly relive their most traumatic moments, a grueling process with high dropout rates. Moreover, this approach fails to address the complex emotional landscape of moral injuries – the deep psychological wounds that emerge from actions taken during combat.

The statistics are stark and heartbreaking. Veterans die by suicide at alarming rates – 50% higher than the general population for male veterans, and an astounding 250% higher for male veterans under 25. Each of these individuals chose to serve, to protect our values, sacrificing not just their physical safety but their mental well-being.

The Senate report doesn’t propose psychedelic therapies as a miracle cure. Medical professionals caution against overstating their potential, highlighting the need for rigorous, large-scale research to understand long-term effects. But the current status quo, they argue, is simply unacceptable.

How does it work?

Our brain can, in many ways, be likened to a complex network of highways, where thoughts, memories, and emotions travel along well-worn routes. For someone struggling with PTSD, these neural pathways can become stuck in patterns of fear, anxiety, and traumatic recall. Treatment then comes down to rebuilding new routes that are not connected to fear and anxiety?

Recent groundbreaking research published in Nature provides fascinating insights into how psychedelics might offer that transformative neural reset. At the heart of this research is an extraordinary discovery about brain connectivity. When psilocybin enters the system, it causes a massive disruption of how different brain regions communicate. We’re talking about more than three times the typical neural network changes – a shift that goes far beyond what traditional medications can achieve.

The most remarkable changes occur in what neuroscientists call the default mode network (DMN) – the brain region responsible for our sense of self, time, and personal narrative. For veterans carrying the weight of traumatic experiences, this network often becomes a prison of repetitive, painful memories. Psilocybin appears to temporarily dissolve these rigid neural boundaries, creating what researchers describe as a “dramatic departure from typical synchronized patterns.”

The most exciting finding is that the disruption caused by psychedelics is persistent. Weeks after a single treatment, the brain continues to show reduced connectivity in ways that seem to support healing. It’s as if the treatment creates a neurological window of opportunity – a moment when the brain becomes more plastic, more capable of rewriting its own traumatic scripts.

Dr. Rakesh Jetly, the former chief psychiatrist of the Canadian Armed Forces, describes traditional PTSD treatments as forcing veterans to relive traumatic moments “again and again and again.” In contrast, psychedelic-assisted therapy offers something different – a chance to view those experiences from a new perspective, with reduced emotional intensity.

These treatments don’t erase memories, but instead change how those memories are stored and processed. The glutamate-dependent signaling changes triggered by psilocybin seem to engage what researchers call “homeostatic plasticity mechanisms” – essentially, the brain’s own healing processes.

Of course, we’re still in the early stages of understanding these treatments. The research is promising, but not definitive. It represents hope – a carefully researched, scientifically grounded hope – for veterans who have exhausted traditional treatment options.

Charting the Path Forward

Hurley advocates for a comprehensive approach that goes beyond simply making alternative treatments available. He emphasizes the importance of physician-assisted therapy programs, ensuring veterans receive proper guidance and dosing. “The doctor is going to have specific training to deal with psychedelics and how that integrates into a person’s life,” he explains, acknowledging the complexity of these emerging treatments.

While supporting traditional treatment methods, Hurley emphasizes the need for options. “Western treatment is completely fine,” he notes. “There’s nothing wrong with prescription drugs or SSRIs – whatever is going to work to get that person off the ledge is worth it. But there are other treatment options.”

A Call to Action

The path forward requires bold leadership and commitment to innovation in veteran care. Currently, some veterans like Hurley travel to Mexico to access psychedelic treatments through Canadian-run clinics. This situation underscores the urgent need for domestic solutions and comprehensive coverage for alternative therapies.

As Canada stands at this crossroads in veteran healthcare, the opportunity to become a global leader in alternative PTSD treatments beckons. The stories of veterans like Gordon Hurley remind us that innovative approaches to healing trauma deserve serious consideration and support. Their service demanded courage and sacrifice; their recovery deserves nothing less than our full commitment to exploring every possible path to healing.

For those interested in supporting this initiative or learning more about alternative treatments for PTSD, contact your local veteran support organizations or reach out to Veterans Affairs Canada to advocate for expanded research and coverage options.