Mat McLaughlin (How MDMA Assisted Therapy Saved an Australian Firefighter's Life) - Episode 1152

Behind The Shield

James Geering

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Fitness

4.9 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mat McLaughlin is a firefighter and Army veteran from Perth, Western Australia. Mat underwent MDMA-assisted therapy, an experience he credits not only with saving his career, but possibly his life. We discuss his journey into the fire service, military service, East Timor, natural disasters, losing his father, the healing power of MDMA and so much more.

With over 20 years of service, he has worked primarily at metropolitan fire stations and as a rescue instructor. Mat is a member of the WA USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) Taskforce and has deployed across the state in response to major fires, cyclones, and floods, serving in both team member and team leader roles.

Deeply committed to firefighter mental health and wellbeing, Mat is a peer support officer, Mental Health First Aid instructor, and is currently in the final part of his psychology studies with plans to transition into his department’s wellness section. After years of struggling with PTSD and exhausting traditional treatments, Mat underwent MDMA-assisted therapy, an experience he credits not only with saving his career, but possibly his life.

Mat's Cauliflower Ear Product: https://caulicooler.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Transcend, a veteran-owned and operated performance optimization company
0:05.9	that I introduced recently as a sponsor on this show.
0:09.5	Well, since then, I have actually been using my products, and I have had incredible success.
0:14.5	There was initial blood work that was extremely detailed, and based on that, they offered supplementation.
0:20.6	So I began taking DHEA, BPC 157 for inflammation
0:25.3	based on the fact that I've been a stuntman, a martial artist and a firefighter in my whole life,
0:29.9	lots of aches and pains, dihexa to help cognition after multiple punches to the head and shift work
0:36.1	and peptides. Four months later they they did a detailed blood work again,
0:40.1	and I was actually able to taper off two of the peptides
0:43.2	because my body had responded so well to just one of them
0:46.3	that it was optimized at that point.
0:48.5	So I cannot speak highly enough of the immense range of supplementation
0:53.4	that they offer, whether it's male health,
0:55.6	female health, peptides to boost your own testosterone, which I would argue is needed by a lot of
1:00.7	the fire service, or whether it's exogenous testosterone needed, especially after TBI's or advanced
1:06.5	age. Now, as I mentioned before, the other side of this company is an altruistic arm called
1:11.9	the Transcend Foundation, which is putting veterans and first responders through some of their
1:17.2	protocols free of charge. Now, Transcend are also offering you the audience 10% off their protocols,
1:24.5	and you can find that on Jamesgearing.com under the products tab.
1:28.8	And if you want to hear more about Transcend and their story, listen to episode 808 with the founder,
1:35.5	Ernie Colling. Or go to transcendcompany.com.
1:41.0	Welcome to the Behind a Shield podcast. As always, name's James Gearing and this week it is my absolute
	...

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