Following the success of a first multidisciplinary conference "Science of Psychedelics in Practice", we are proudly announcing a second edition of a conference dedicated to science of psychedelics, which will be held on April 5th 2025.
In October last year WESPA spaces became a meeting point for numerous students, psychologists, sociologists, physicians, psychiatrists, and other psychonauts interested in the topic of psychedelics science. Your interest in this conference exceeded all of our initial plans, which led to us moving the conference to a bigger hall and, ultimately, ensuring a streaming option for all interested participants who missed out on buying their ticket on time. It is our belief that the information carried out in this conference have great importance, and it is our mission to make them as available as possible, which we seem to have succeeded at, based on the feedback we received from our attendees. Another indicator of this statement was media reporting on the conference, covered by Jutarnji list, Večernji list, H-alter, srednja.hr and others.
Second (and improved) edition
Our first conference also served as a test on existing interest in this field, as well as an opportunity to gain your feedback on all organizational aspects. Surely, we ourselves have also thought about ways in which we can improve this year.
The conference will be moved to another location of WESPA Spaces, general sponsors of this conference. This time we will be hanging out in Zavrtnica 17 in Zagreb, closely to our last year's address. WESPA will once again be a place that gathers mental health experts, but this time in a more sunny conditions - the conference will be held on April 2025.
To ensure a rich programme, the conference will hold two stages with talks being held simultaneously by the clinicians, psychiatrists, physicians, psychologists, therapists, and researchers. Apart from previously mentioned, in order to bring this content closer to all who are interested, we have enabled live and online participation options. The programme will be carried out in both English and Croatian language.
The aim of this conference
We organized the conference with the aim to raise awareness on psychedelics research, possible practical uses of psychedelics in medicinal and therapeutic purposes, and perception of psychedelics in this region. At the same time, our intention with this conference is to start a dialogue among experts in different fields and in general public on a topic that is often a subject of taboo, myths and stigma.
More information about the programme, as well as the opening of applications for different participation options, will be published soon on the official conference site. Apart from talks and lectures, our attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a round table discussion on the subject of psychedelics in our region.
The conference about psychedelics in Croatia represents an important step in education and informing about this controversial, but promising, field. Our hope is that this conference will encourage further research and consideration psychedelics use for therapeutic purposes in Croatia and beyond.
Why this conference?
There are several reasons for organizing a second conference of this sort in our region.
On one side, an incresing number of scientific research is unequivocally showing that psychedelics, such as LSD, psylocibin and MDMA, have a significant potential for use in treatment of different mental disorders as for instance depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction. At the same time, they are demolishing all kinds of myths and unscientific claims on the effect of these substances. However, because of stigmatization and criminalization of psychedelics, these research fields have long been marginalized.
This has also affected Croatian public and scientific community, where the myths are stil relevant and this subject is rarely mentioned or researched. The aim of this conference is to raise awareness on current research findings and the therapeutic practices, as well as encouraging further dialogue and scientific studies.
Even though this subject still poses a taboo, it is recurrent in the media and last year we had an opportunity to see that the interest in these topics is very much present. This being true for both students and experts in the field of mental health.
Who is this conference for?
The conference on psychedelics is intended for all interested participants who would like to know more about psychedelics, their potential in medicinal purposes, scientific research and personal growth, as well as for those who themselves are researching psychedelics. This includes scientists, physicians, therapists, psychologists, activists, and a general public interested in learning more about psychedelics.
This conference represents an opportunity to connect with other experts and enthusiasts in this field, exchange ideas and gain new insights on psychedelics. Moreover, it will be useful to all participants who practice psychotherapy or other forms of therapy, who would like to keep up with new treatment methods.
As such, we hope that the conference will once again attract a wide spectrum of participants interested in scientific and therapeutic potential of psychedelics and different aspects of research, use and effects of psychedelics on individuals and society as a whole.