Ambassadors

Bella spent 12 years in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps, serving as an Emergency Care Specialist Officer across UK Major Trauma Centres, at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, on overseas Defence Engagement projects and in deployed hospital care.

In 2021, the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Bella to confront childhood traumas. While grateful for the military’s support during her recovery, it was through Holotropic Breathwork that she first experienced the profound healing that non-ordinary states of consciousness had to offer.

Her experience at a HHPUK ayahuasca retreat solidified Bella’s belief in the transformative power of plant medicine and psychedelics for improved health. This fuelled her advocacy for veterans, sexual-abuse survivors, and frontline healthcare workers’ access to progressive therapies. Bella is honoured to join the HHPUK team as their first female ambassador and as a retreat liaison, where she can supportmore women veterans and members of the LGBTQ+ community on their path to healing.

Recently completing a Foundation Certificate in Counselling, Bella and her partner Tim aim to certify as Holotropic Breathwork Facilitators with Grof Transpersonal Training. She volunteers with PsyCare UK, promoting psychedelic harm reduction at festivals and advocating for enhanced psychedelic literacy in frontline services.

Bella envisions a world where veterans and those at the end-of-life have expedited access to progressive therapies. She sees expanded states of awareness as pivotal in addressing humanitarian and ecological crises on a systemic and global scale, and that Heroic Hearts are pioneering that change.

Sonny served as a reservist in both the Royal Marine Commandos and the Special Boat Service. He later worked as a close protection officer and as a surveillance operator in the world of corporate espionage. He currently uses the skills he’s learned to teach personal security.

After witnessing people close to him suffer from PTSD and other mental health issues he began researching alternative treatments which introduced him to HHPUK.

Sonny’s own experiences with psilocybin have confirmed his research and led him to move to Costa Rica to learn more about psychedelic-assisted therapy treatments for mental health issues.

He now uses social media as a tool to spread awareness, challenge stigmas, and help raise funds for veterans to access psychedelic treatments.

Rory Lamont was a professional international Rugby Union player who played for Glasgow Warriors, Sale Sharks, Toulon and Scotland. While representing Scotland in the 2012 Six Nations tournament he suffered a career-ending leg break. The injury was followed by a debilitating health crisis that derailed his life and vitality and lead Rory to seek alternative healing protocols when mainstream medicine failed to assist.

In 2014, motivated by the collapse of his physical and mental health, Rory travelled to Central and South America where he experienced the transformational healing power of the plant medicines Iboga and Ayahuasca which lead to an epochal shift in his self-awareness. With a new blueprint for navigating the challenges in his life, Rory experienced a rapid improvement in his wellbeing.

Over the last few years, Rory has dedicated his life to expanding his knowledge on natural healing which he now utilises to assist others on their own journey to health regeneration at his retreat centre CAIM in Highland Perthshire. He considers psychedelic plant medicines to be one of the most powerful healing modalities available for resolving the current health crisis the world is facing

Joe is a global media and advertising expert having worked for over 20 years for the biggest advertising and consulting firms. He has helped build the world’s most recognizable brands and also the UK Government where he worked on advertising campaigns for RAF and Army recruitment as well as teaching and nursing campaigns. He believes that the communications industry is ready to hear and transmit the message that plant medicine has tremendous potential to help us in the health challenges we face.

His global roles have taken him around the world and into a diverse set of countries and industries. One of those twists took him to the Amazon where he was fortunate to work with Shipibo healers. He has seen first hand the incredible healing that can take place in Ayahuasca ceremonies not just in the realm of the psychological but also the physical.

Having built a global network in the plant medicine space as part of the leadership group of the grassroots organization Thank You Plant Medicine, Joe is convinced that the current stigma around plant medicine must change. The possibilities for the treatment of so many health issues raning from anxiety all the way through to serious accidents. He is particularly interested in the research into Traumatic Brain Injury.