About

For over 20 years Dr Ben Sessa has been at the forefront of psychedelic and cannabis research in the UK and internationally. Ben qualified as a medical doctor from University College London Medical School in 1997 and went on to specialise in psychiatry. For over 25 years he has worked as a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with young people and with adult patients in the field of addictions and trauma-related psychiatry.

 

Ben started studying psychedelics as a junior doctor and has taken part in research projects at Bristol University, Cardiff University, and Imperial College London with LSD, psilocybin, DMT, ketamine, and MDMA – receiving and/or administering all of these compounds in legal research settings.

 

One of the first doctors to develop the field of contemporary psychedelic research in the UK, he was the former co-founder, former CMO, and subsequently the former Head of Psychedelic Medicine at Awakn Life Sciences, a Bio-Tech company carrying out psychedelic research into addictions. Awakn opened four clinical centres in the U.K. and Europe, providing psychedelic psychotherapy with ketamine, for a wide range of psychiatric indications, as well as an extensive R&D psychedelic research program.

 

Ben was one of the first Medical Cannabis psychiatric prescribers in the UK and has written over 500 prescriptions for legal, THC/CBD medicinal cannabis products for patients since 2019.

 

Ben is a trained MDMA, ketamine, and psilocybin therapist. He has led research into MDMA-assisted therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder and is published widely in the academic and medical press. He is a former faculty member of Bristol University and Imperial College London.

 

Ben is the co-founder and past president of the Breaking Convention conference.

 

He is the author of several psychedelic medicine textbooks, including The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012/2017/2025), the novel ‘To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic’ (2015), and Altered States (2021). Ben lives and works in Bristol, UK.

 

Ben is not currently working clinically as a medical doctor providing direct care to patients. Ben will resume clinical practice in April 2025.

 

Website: www.drsessa.com