Tobias Penno

Tobias Penno is an academic and lecturer in Social Work at the University of Western Australia (U.W.A). His first academic publication titled ‘How Ayahuasca Offers Psychosocial Wellbeing’ won the social work research prize in the school of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science at U.W.A. in 2017. Tobias co-founded the Australian Psychedelic Society WA Chapter with Dr. Stephen Bright, and co-ordinates the Mental Health Professional Network’s local Psychedelic Community of Practice. His primary research focus is on the therapeutic skillset required for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Tobias is passionate about the role of social work in this field and is currently part of the therapy team for Reset Mind Sciences Perth-based clinical trial using psychedelic medicine for treatment-resistant depression.

Through my role as an educator, I intend to support a connected and socially vibrant learning environment. One of my core strengths is my open-minded social nature, which helps me to create highly dialogical and engaged learning experiences for students.

In the field of social work and mental health, it is so important that students receive an education that is grounded in the science of human nature, as well as experiential in nature, giving them a taste of the real-world of their work. Through reflection, role play, re-enactments and classroom dialogue I seek to facilitate for students a highly experiential learning environment.

One of my highest values is in critical thinking, the capacity to engage with material on one's own terms and critically appraise it from many angles and perspectives. In my classroom students are encouraged to engage and cultivate this capacity within themselves through the active learning process, where they will be asked constantly to frame the learning in the classroom in their own terms through language, imagery or dialogue. With a background in Engineering Science, as well as Social Work, I hope to support a balanced environment of intellectual inquiry.

1) Treating clinician in a clinical trial exploring psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression.

2) Researcher in a team of social workers investigating and writing about the role of social work in the psychedelic renaissance.

3) Finalising my PhD focused on exploring the interpersonal neurobiology of psychedelic-assisted therapy and contributing to the psychotherapeutic framework for best practice in psychedelic healing.

1) Investigating 'Circardian Heart Rate' as a biological marker for screening, assessment and measuring efficacy in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

2) Exploring the role of social work in the psychedelic humanities, extending the potential of psychedelic medicines beyond the narrow confines of the clinical biomedical setting.

3) Building on the 'Power, Threat, Meaning Framework' and leading social worker, Ian Ferguson, to establish a social model of mental-emotional health, grounded in the science of relational neurobiology, and in turn the unique role of social work in the mental health landscape.

4) Exploring the role of psychedelic healing practices in re-establishing the human-nature bond, ecological healing, and the cultivation of the Human "Evolved Nest".