Meaghan Buisson | |
|---|---|
| Born | ~1979 or 1980 (age 46–47) |
| Education | Thompson Rivers University (BSc); University of Victoria (MSc—in-progress) |
| Occupations | Former inline and ice speed-skater, ultrarunner, mental health advocate, researcher, writer, and speaker |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Organization(s) | BodyWhys Youth Canada (founder and director) |
| Known for | Competitive speed skating, mental health advocacy and writing, and work against MDMA-assisted therapy |
| Website | web web |
Meaghan Buisson is a Canadian world record-holding former competitive inline and ice speed-skater as well as mental health advocate, researcher, writer, and speaker.
In inline speed skating, Buisson is a 47-time Canadian national champion, 16-time Canadian record holder, 11-time international medalist, and the current world record holder in the solo marathon. She is said to have been one of Canada's top inline skaters and broke the world record in inline speed skating in the solo marathon in 2006. Subsequently, Buisson became a competitive ice speed-skater and set a provincial record in this sport. She competed in speed skating from 1999 until 2010. Buisson once received a traffic ticket for speeding—on skates—which received significant news coverage. After competitive skating, Buisson also became an ultrarunner and trained for races. She was featured in the 2007 book The 10 Most Inspiring Canadians by Kathryn Whitfield.
Buisson retired from skating due to serious injuries as well as personal trauma related to sexual abuse and assault that she had experienced. Earlier in her life, Buisson studied to become a veterinarian, but was unable to complete her program. After retiring from speed skating, Buisson worked as a hiking and wilderness guide. She has spoken publicly regarding her lived experiences of severe injury, mental health struggles, sexual abuse, homelessness, and poverty. This included being a contributing writer for Mad in America and writing critically about traditional psychiatric drugs and her lived experiences of iatrogenic harm with them. She also did an honors thesis at Thompson Rivers University critiquing clinical trial methodology of psychiatric drugs. Buisson was the founder and director of BodyWhys Youth Canada, a Canadian mental health charity.
In 2013, Gabor Maté referred Buisson for a clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for management of treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In December 2014, she enrolled in the study, one of the phase 2 trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD being conducted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and Lykos Therapeutics (now Resilient Pharmaceuticals). Buisson was treated by a married couple and renowned psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist pair named Donna Dryer and Richard Yensen, who are said to have been leading the trial or trial site, and Buisson was the first patient of a planned twelve but eventual six to be treated. Dryer was a licensed psychiatrist, while Yensen's psychologist license had lapsed in 2009, with MAPS requiring only one of two people per team be licensed.
Buisson wrote and spoke positively about her experiences with MDMA-assisted therapy in October 2016. However, in November 2018, she filed a complaint and civil lawsuit alleging misconduct by the couple and sexual abuse by Yensen. This included inappropriate physical contact such as cuddling and spooning during psychotherapy sessions in which she was under the influence of MDMA, the couple bringing Buisson to live near or with them on Cortes Island, British Columbia for further therapy, and Yensen having sex with her under the guise of it being exposure therapy for her PTSD. Buisson has said that Yensen also administered her drugs like ketamine during therapy sessions outside of the trial and pursued sex with her while she was intoxicated. A publicly released video recording documented repeated inappropriate physical contact during the trial sessions and Yensen admitted to the sexual relationship but claimed that it was consensual. Buisson completed her final active dosing session in the trial in October 2015, remained enrolled in the trial until her final follow-up in June 2016, and lived on Cortes Island from June 2015 until May 2017, with the sexual relationship beginning around the end of 2015 or start of 2016 while she was still in the trial.
Canadian professional organizations and legal standards state that clients cannot consent to sex with therapists and bar therapists from having sex with clients for at least two years after treatment has ended, with transgressions considered to constitute sexual abuse and resulting in licensing revocation. However, as Yensen was unlicensed, he was not formally bound to these rules and had no license to be stripped of. Nonetheless, MAPS themselves and others have contradicted Yensen and referred to his actions as "sexual abuse" or "sexual misconduct". Buisson's lawsuit alleged repeated sexual assault by Yensen and the case was settled out of court in June 2019. The Yensens have been unrepentant and have blamed Buisson for the events or have declined to comment. Police recommended criminal charges against Yensen, but prosecutors declined to pursue them, with their prosecutory standards requiring a "substantial likelihood of conviction". Dryer also gave up her medical license. Among other amends, MAPS cut ties with the Yensens following the incident, citing serious ethical violations, and provided Buisson with around CA$15,000 (US$11,570) for psychotherapy, but with the stipulation that she waive her right to sue them. MAPS's responses to the events have been criticized as inadequate, for instance declining to require both therapists in sessions to be licensed.
New York Magazine and Psymposia published an investigative podcast called Cover Story: Power Trip in 2022 which featured Buisson and her damaging experiences with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Buisson has co-authored critical academic articles on safety and harms of psychedelic-assisted therapy with researchers such as Sarah McNamee and Neşe Devenot, the latter of Psymposia. In April 2024, Buisson, with Devenot and others, filed a citizen's petition to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting that the advisory committee meeting on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy feature an extended public hearing. This was granted, and in June 2024, Devenot and others publicly testified at the hearing and a written statement by Buisson was read. The advisory committee overwhelmingly voted for the FDA to reject MAPS and Lykos Therapeutics's New Drug Application (NDA) of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD, citing methodological and safety concerns, as well as most of the panelists mentioning Buisson and Psymposia's statements. In August 2024, the FDA declined to approve the therapy. The exact extent to which Buisson's case and Psymposia may have contributed to the rejection is unclear.
As of 2026, Buisson is completing her master's degree researching service dogs at the University of Victoria.
Another is Meaghan Buisson, a former in-line marathon world record holder and the first Canadian to win a World Inline Cup title, whose promising speed skating career ended in injury. [...] Buisson, at one point homeless as she pursued her ambitions, eventually found sponsorship on her own.
Meaghan Buisson [meaghanbuisson.com] The Alchemy of Trauma: A wilderness guide, speaker and writer, Meaghan leads journeys of discovery through wild spaces and medical realms. She studied veterinary medicine, then completed a degree in Life Sciences with a capstone examining psychiatric drug use. Meaghan is a 47-time national champion and world record holder in the sport of inline speed skating.
Meaghan Buisson. The Alchemy of Trauma: Meaghan's decade with the Canadian Inline Speed Skating national team led to a world record and a passion for exploring new realms. Weaving kaleidoscopic knowledge, first-hand experience and evidence-based medical research, Meaghan writes about trauma and recovery. [...]
As a lot of listeners probably know we had an ethical serious sexual ethical boundary violation by one of the therapists in Vancouver during the phase two trials. Uh it didn't happen until after the active part of the study but the person still hadn't finished the final measures and that was you know there was a situation where Richard Yensen was working with his wife who's a psychiatrist and it still happened you know not during the MDMA sessions [...]Video.
Yensen and former sub-investigator Donna Dryer verbally confirmed that Yensen engaged in a sexual relationship with the participant. Sexual contact between therapy providers and participants is unethical conduct of sexual abuse in violation of Section 6 of MAPS Code of Ethics for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and generally accepted standards of care.
"Let's try to not gloss over this misconduct. It was sexual misconduct. That's particularly important," said Joniak-Grant, a sociologist and a member of the [FDA advisory committee] panel.
Like Doblin, Lubecky was optimistic that the treatment would get approved. But during the proceedings, a statement was entered into the record on behalf of a woman named Meaghan Buisson. In 2014, Buisson was recruited into a Phase 2 clinical trial run by MAPS. While under the influence of MDMA, she said, she had been "blindfolded, gagged, pinned, cuddled, and caressed" by the therapists, a married couple. She had attempted suicide afterward, she said; a doctor later told her she had effectively been "drugged, raped, blamed, and held as a sex slave." [...] In 2021, Psymposia and New York magazine coproduced an investigative podcast called Cover Story: Power Trip. One of its most damning episodes was deeply critical of MAPS and featured Meaghan Buisson—the woman whose story of assault came up in the FDA hearings.
A harrowing public comment on the matter came from Speaker 26, Sarah Grosh, who spoke as a proxy for Phase 2 participant Meaghan Buisson. In Buisson's words, Grosh described the abuse that took place. Buisson's descriptions of the assaults she suffered in session were recorded and are now publicly available.