Marlena Robbins believes psilocybin could help treat mental health and addiction issues among Native Americans

Even though therapy helped Marlena Robbins better understand her intergenerational trauma, she wanted to delve deeper into her healing practice. In 2019, on the recommendation of her partner, Robbins sat at her home altar with a dose of psychedelic mushrooms. Drawing upon her Diné, or Navajo, heritage, she said a prayer and asked the mushrooms for guidance. The experience changed the trajectory of her life.

“When I sit with [mushrooms], it’s like engaging with the holy people. I see them as doctors,” Robbins said. “They’re already writing the prescription. They’re already writing the treatment plan.”

Continue reading...

Amanda Pritchard rebuts claims service is broken but tells health conference major investment needed

The NHS is “struggling” but “not destroyed”, despite the huge challenges it faces, the head of the health service in England says.

In a major speech on Wednesday, Amanda Pritchard urged which ever party won the general election to give the NHS more money, fix social care and tackle threats to public health, such as junk food.

Continue reading...

Bristol Old Vic
Gareth Farr’s account of IVF’s development is briskly directed but the science feels under-dramatised

Towards the end of Gareth Farr’s A Child of Science, which explores the development of IVF, there is a remarkable scene of profound pathos and personal devastation. Huddersfield housewife Margaret (superlatively performed by Adelle Leonce), who has taken part in the trials and is otherwise known as Patient 38, is given unwelcome news. But it is received with such heroic grace that many in the audience were moved to tears. This is a play that sensitively deals with what is clearly an emotive and important subject for many.

It is therefore unfortunate that so much else feels relatively rote in this fictionalised account of the events that led to the birth of the first baby through in vitro fertilisation in 1978. The narrative is driven by the scenes between Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy (respectively Tom Felton, a commanding Jamie Glover and Meg Bellamy), who successfully pioneered the technique. Under Matthew Dunster’s direction, it zips along at a brisk, televisual pace. Anna Fleischle’s dynamic stage design of sliding panels and doors adds to this fluidity, deftly sustained by an ensemble who shift between characters as quickly as one scene transitions into the next.

Continue reading...

When Naissa tells his mother Daniela that he identifies as a trans man she struggles to understand. Through candid personal letters exchanged over three years, ‘Dear Mamma’ follows Naissa as he stands firmly for his independence and identity, and Daniela as she wrestles with her fear of losing a child. As Naissa embarks on his professional dance career and proudly embodies his gender, his mother also embarks on a journey of understanding and acceptance of her son’s choices

Continue reading...

Jonas Brothers star revealed he has had surgery for basal cell carcinoma, advising followers to get moles checked

Pop singer Kevin Jonas, a member of chart-topping trio the Jonas Brothers, has received treatment for skin cancer.

In an Instagram video, the 36-year-old singer, guitarist, actor and reality TV star said he had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.

Continue reading...

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Maimouna Jawo launches online campaign from UK after Gambian move to rescind female circumcision ban

A woman who stood up against her community and refused to be a female genital mutilation “cutter” is launching a campaign to protect tens of thousands of girls who are at renewed risk of female circumcision in her home country, the Gambia.

Maimouna Jawo, 50, who was herself subjected to FGM, has recently been granted leave to remain in the UK by the Home Office after more than a decade of waiting.

Continue reading...

A new study suggests coffee could prevent bowel cancer reoccurring – but claims for its healing properties have abounded since the 15th century

Last week a study was published showing that people with bowel cancer who drink coffee – quite a lot of coffee, two to four cups a day – were less likely to suffer a return of the disease. Experts have said that if the results hold in further studies, coffee could be prescribed to cancer patients on the NHS. That coffee does have an effect on human function is beyond dispute – but whether that impact is beneficial or detrimental has been the subject of contention since Sufi mystics began consuming the beverage some time in the mid-15th century.

The Indigenous peoples of the forests of Kaffa in south-west Ethiopia foraged berries from wild coffee plants that were shipped across the Red Sea to prepare the decoction known as qahwa, which Yemeni Sufis incorporated into their night-time religious ceremonies to reduce their desire for sleep. Once mainstream Islamic courts ruled coffee was not intoxicating, consumption became widespread among the Muslim populations in the Middle East and the Ottoman empire.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Multi-dose vials could push up charge per patient, while experts warn high cost could widen inequalities

Cheaper private Covid jabs could end up being just as expensive as their pricier alternative because the vaccine must be given in groups of five, experts have warned.

Boots and pharmacies that partner with the company Pharmadoctor are offering Pfizer/BioNTech jabs to those not eligible for a free vaccination through the NHS, with the former charging almost £100 a shot. The latter is also offering the latest Novavax jab, a protein-based vaccine, at a cost of about £50.

Continue reading...