Dear Reader,

It has been a little while since our last monthly newsletter — we're glad to be back with regular updates from across the MIND Foundation's work.
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Just yesterday, the MIND team gathered for our quarterly retreat at Henrik and Andrea's summer house in Brandenburg: a day of reflection, strategy, enjoying the sunshine, and sharing a barbecue alongside the kind of conversations that only happen when you're out of the office.

In this issue:

1. Humboldt University Breathwork Study — opportunity to participate
2. Psilocybin Compassionate Use at OVID Clinics — program update and how to apply
3. MIND Members Board — board elections scheduled
4. Inside the MIND Foundation — impact update

We hope you're enjoying the summer. The next issue will be out soon—some major changes are on the horizon.

P.S. We are not translating this edition into German — please use DeepL or a capable AI in the meantime. We're switching newsletter platforms in the coming days, and once that's done, German editions will return with fresh energy in both languages.

Research

Participate in this study
on the therapeutic potential
of breathwork

The wonderful research team around Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek has asked for publishing this study participation. The group will play an important role in helping breathwork to rise to a potential status as efficient tool in psychotherapy. Some way to go - that's why a lot more safety data and knowlege about the neurobiology and the specific factors influending its phenomenology are needed. This is how they ask you to participate in this online survey - you participate from whereever you are — worldwide. In English and German. Enjoy your breathwork session and give something to the field with your data.
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Have you experienced Breathwork and want to help make the practice safer and more evidence-based? The Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and the University of Potsdam, in collaboration with the Berlin Breathwork Council, are running a scientific study on the effects of Breathwork involving intensified breathing, and we'd love your input.

Take our anonymous online survey (about 20 minutes) and contribute directly to research on the safety and therapeutic potential of Breathwork. Your answers will help shape future studies, guidelines, and informational and consent materials for the field (for more details, see flyer).

Take the survey: https://dziobek-lab.org/breathwork-survey/​

The survey can be completed up to nine days after a Breathwork session, ideally within two to three days of your experience.

As a thank you, you'll be entered into a raffle for one of 50 prizes of €20, and you'll receive a concise summary of the latest scientific findings on Breathwork right after completing it.

Thank you for supporting Breathwork research!

Kind regards,
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Isabel Dziobek & Josephine Jörke (HU Berlin), Lena Erdmann & Michael Rapp (University of Potsdam), and the Berlin Breathwork Council
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Address josephine.joerke@hu-berlin.de and lena.erdmann@uni-potsdam.de for open questions.

Psilocybin treatment
at OVID Clinics is running

On April 1, 2026, the first patient with treatment-resistant depression received psilocybin treatment at OVID Clinics in Berlin — administered by Andrea Jungaberle and Gerhard Gründer. Several patients have followed, largely on a weekly rhythm.
The 265 days between authorization and first treatment tell their own story. Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Gründer received the compassionate use license from Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) on July 11, 2025 — covering both OVID Clinics and the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim. That eight-month gap reflects the regulatory, logistical, and above all financial obstacles that define what real-world implementation of a novel therapy actually requires. The Compassionate Use program has been prolonged by BfArM until July 17,2027.

On the financial access routes: OVID has reached an agreement with DeBeKa, a German private insurer, to cover TRD patients in the program. Conversations with further insurers are ongoing; self-payment remains an option.

The painting above was made by one of OVID's psilocybin patients — someone for whom the phenomenological effects of psychedelic substances was entirely unknown before her referral, and who described the experience as "lebensverändernd" (life-changing). Her therapists received the painting with nearly as much gratitude as she expressed in giving it. It speaks here as a symbol of aliveness.

Patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, or those who believe they may meet the criteria, are welcome to apply to the program via the OVID Clinics website — including from abroad.
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Co-shape the membership —
New Members Board is elected on August 27, 7 pm CEST

The MIND Members Association (MMA/Förderverein MIND Foundation gem. e.V.) is a non-profit closely linked to the MIND Foundation, sharing its values and supporting its mission. Over the years, a range of self-organized and MIND Foundation-curated projects have been carried out within the MMA's framework - and more often as collaboration projects.

With the departure of our valued colleague Marvin Däumichen from both organizations in July 2026, a productive conversation about the MMA's future direction has begun. Marvin co-shaped both organizations for many years and was an important part of the early MIND Foundation universe — we wish him all the best for what comes next.

His departure also opens an opportunity: members are invited to stand for election to the board and take on responsibility. To support that process, we have dedicated three Members Meet sessions (via Zoom) to information and open questions ahead of the vote. Only members can vote:

• Wednesday, August 12 — 19:00–20:00 — register here​
• Friday, August 14 — 15:00–16:00 — register here​
• Tuesday, August 18 — 19:30–20:30 — register here

Not yet a member? You can join here. The MMA has two membership tracks: a clinical mental health track (people with lived experience, physicians, psychotherapists, and other mental health professionals) and a community mental health track (anyone drawn to psychedelic experience and aligned with MIND's values, including those with lived experience).

We look forward to the next chapter — and the next board. The members will receive a separate email with more detailed information.
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MIND turns 10 —
reflect and celebrate with us as we step into our second decade

2026 is the tenth year of our own journey — a year of (self-)reflection and strategic planning for the decade ahead. Before we turn 10 on November 26, expect our 10-year impact report - to be published in the form of a magazine. For example, were you aware that we have organized 1,188 events across all categories since 2016? Even to us, that number came as a shock. Over the coming months you will read in detail what we achieved with them — and where we failed to deliver. How we spent the money. Were it came from. What rules guide us. And what our moral ambition for the future is.

1188 events in the past 10 years

2026 is also the year we rebuild our operations, renew and reformulate the six values the organization rests on, and hold ourselves against global impact standards. That we are running no regular event program this year is only half the story: we are planning to invite you — our audiences, members, event participants, training alumni, colleagues past and present, donors, and non-profit shareholders (our founders) — to celebrate in three formats:

- INSIGHT Forum on October 2, 2026
- MIND Dinner on November 26, 2026
- INSIGHT 27 - anniversary edition, March 26-28, 2027
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Yes, the INSIGHT Conference is coming back next year. Let yourself be surprised — with science and a sense of play.

Thank you all for being and maturing with us.
​Dr. Henrik Jungaberle for the MIND Foundation, August 7, 2026, from Berlin

MIND is a registered nonprofit; your donation, no matter how small, is tax-deductible and used transparently to fund science-based innovation in mental health. Our work involves bringing psychedelic therapies into public healthcare through clinical research, therapist training, and public education.
Our partners include the Central Institute of Mental Health (ZI Mannheim) and the OVID Clinics, as well as a growing European network of researchers, clinicians, institutions, and people with lived experience.

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​info@mind-foundation.org | +49 30 29047658 | mind-foundation.org
​Copyright © 2025 MIND Foundation, All rights reserved.
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