Dr Duncan Still started out as a GP but now works more as an Integrative Doctor at the National Centre for Integrative Medicine (NCIM) and at Penny Brohn UK (a cancer charity specialising in holistic support of people affected by cancer). He teaches at Bristol and Sheffield Medical Schools and helps run a Diploma in Integrative Healthcare for NCIM. He is a Medical Education consultant for Mind Medicine Australia, who are spearheading the roll-out of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy training in Australia (where they licensed MDMA and psilocybin in July 2023). He is also Academic Director for PsyEdu, a UK-based psychedelic education company.

Duncan has a great interest in 'integrative' approaches to health, focusing on Lifestyle Medicine, Mind-Body interactions, Meditation/Mindfulness, Nature-based Health (aka ‘Green Care’) and the therapeutic use of touch.  Before medicine he was a teacher and brings several years’ experience as a group facilitator. Ever since becoming a doctor he has been passionate about seeking out wider, deeper ways of supporting people to find health and facilitating others to learn how to do this for their patients and clients.

He has long been interested in the potential for psychedelics as a therapeutic modality and as a tool to be used for conscious self-exploration and personal development. He is cautiously optimistic about their potential to benefit humanity and the wider world. However, he also has concerns about the media-hype that surrounds them and the potential for harm that comes with this. He is also concerned about exactly how the use of psychedelics might be rolled out, especially with the influence being wielded by the pharmaceutical industry and the shortcuts being taken while pursuing the 'bottom line'. He sees education (of health professionals and the lay public) as the most important pillar in building a new way of working with mental health, using these medicines. The way these medicines work represents a paradigm-shift in working with mental, emotional and spiritual health and unless we change our approach to match this new modality, we risk losing much of what they offer.

He is part of the Psychedelic Healthcare Professionals' (PHP) Network who run legal Psychedelic Retreats in the Netherlands but he is now more heavily involved in their education wing (PsyEdu), running courses for medical students, entry-level courses for members of the public and delivering PsyEdu's flagship educational offering: the 1-yr Professional Certificate in Psychedelic Practice. 

For more info www.psyedu.co.uk

He is a lover of Nature and Food and tries to bring both together as often as possible through foraging and picnicking!

In his Workshop (Friday 7th 10.15-10.45) he will cover the basics of what psychedelics are, why they are relevant for healthcare professionals and how to become psychedelically-informed and educated.

In his Plenary (Friday 7th 4.05-4.30) he will focus on how these medicines are likely to be rolled out over the coming years and on his concerns that we might miss making the most of the potential that these medicines offer. They could be offering us much, much more than simply safe and effective interventions for the Mental Health crisis we are facing. Come and hear how and why they might provide solutions for not only personal but societal and even planetary wellbeing. He argues that we owe it to ourselves, our patients/clients and our planet, to become psychedelically-informed.