138. Scottish Ambulance Service - Frontline Trauma with John, Joanne and Ryan

·53 min·2 clips

Ayahuasca in Peru gave us access to traumatic memory processing traditional therapy couldn't reach.

The conversation starts with a correction. David Nutt welcomes three Glasgow-based ambulance service members, and they quickly make the record straight: they are with the Scottish Ambulance Service. Trauma is close to the surface from there. John, Joanne, and Ryan talk about traumatic memories, frontline healthcare work, mental health, and PTSD symptoms with the kind of caution the subject needs. Ayahuasca is not treated like a magic fix. Again and again, the episode comes back to group contact and the support that follows. Heroic Hearts is the bridge. The guests explain that a research-minded colleague connected with the organization while it was looking to involve emergency services. Spaces opened, they applied online, went through selection, and were chosen for a retreat in Peru with the Shipibo people. The group work seems to matter as much as anything. Before leaving, participants said what had brought them there. After treatment, they compared what had happened and had a way to talk about suffering without dressing it up. One guest says people need care earlier, before intrusive thoughts, emotional numbness, and family trouble get severe. Nutt keeps pulling the story back to practical questions: how they found Heroic Hearts, why it is often linked with the military, and how colleague advocacy became retreat participation. The episode works best when lived ambulance service experience sits beside a careful look at psychedelic therapy. Scotland stays in frame too. Near the end, Nutt mentions Anna Ross and a Scottish psychedelic group at the University of Edinburgh, then offers to connect them. They are glad to hear it. The close is quiet: gratitude, respect for the job, and the feeling that talking openly is already doing some of the work.

As heard by us

A grounded look at trauma recovery, group support, and why ambulance workers sought help in Peru.

Three members of the Scottish Ambulance Service talk through what it looks like when traumatic memories from frontline healthcare work become something they choose to address.

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Why you'd press play

Listen if you want a plainspoken account of ambulance workers describing trauma recovery in Peru.

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