Benjamin Forest is not your average wellness advocate. A retired military officer with multiple advanced degrees and a thriving business past, he once appeared to be the epitome of success. But behind that polished persona was a man grappling with profound internal suffering. Years of untreated depression and emotional suppression brought him to the edge. His story, now shared in his upcoming book Trip of a Lifetime: The Psychedelic Guide to Healing, Loving, and Living, offers a raw, honest look at how plant medicine became his salvation—and how it
could offer the same for others. Forest now uses his personal transformation to help others facing similar battles, particularly men who have been conditioned to suffer in silence. His journey through psychedelic therapy isn’t about escaping pain; it’s about confronting it head–on.
The mask of masculinity
For years, Benjamin Forest played his role with military precision. He was the dependable provider, the overachiever, the stoic man who held it all together. On the surface, he excelled. Underneath, he was suffocating.
“I wasn’t sad. I was numb. I didn’t feel anything, and that was somehow worse than pain,” he reflects.
Forest’s depression was treatment–resistant, the kind that strips mornings of meaning and fills nights with dread. Traditional therapies, medications, and mindfulness tools offered no relief. His strength was a mask, and behind it was a man quietly dying inside.
Psilocybin as the breaking point—and breakthrough
Forest’s first encounter with psilocybin wasn’t recreational; it came from a place of desperation. “I wasn’t looking for a miracle. I was looking for relief from depression,” he admits.
What he found wasn’t a blissful escape, but a spiritual excavation. The psychedelic experience unearthed buried traumas, unexpressed grief, and long–forgotten fragments of his inner child. It was intense, unsettling, and deeply human.
“Psilocybin didn’t fix me. It revealed me—in all my messy, magnificent humanity.”
The trip itself was not the cure. It was the key to a locked door, a catalyst that opened up space for real healing.
Forest’s story also lands at a time when Australia is reshaping its own approach to mental health treatment. Since 2023, the country has allowed regulated psychedelic–assisted therapy for specific conditions under authorized psychiatrists, an international first. As discussions around men’s mental health intensify across Australia, his journey mirrors the questions many Australians are now asking about new pathways to healing, purpose, and emotional wellbeing.
The sacred grind of integration
What followed was far harder and ultimately more rewarding than the journey itself: integration.
Forest approached it like a spiritual bootcamp. This meant emotional honesty, rebuilding strained relationships, and learning how to sit with discomfort instead of numbing it. “Healing meant crying on kitchen floors, asking for help without shame, and offering myself the compassion I always gave others but never gave myself.”
He applied the same tenacity from his military background to the inner battlefield of his mind. Through ongoing integration, Forest rebuilt a life grounded in self–awareness, connection, and purpose.
Rewriting the script for men
Forest’s story speaks to a generation of men conditioned to equate strength with silence. Behind gym gains and job titles often lies unspoken pain. His message is both disruptive and comforting:
“Strength isn’t about keeping it together, it’s about having the courage to face what is inside of us with brutal honestly.”
In Trip of a Lifetime, Forest offers not just a memoir, but a map. His book is a practical guide for men to prepare, navigate, and integrate their own healing journeys, whether with psychedelics or not. The call is clear: peel off the armor, reawaken your heart, and live the life you were meant for.
Your inner alarm is sacred
For men teetering on the edge, the quiet ache in the chest or the gut is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of wisdom. Forest views discomfort as sacred data.
“You don’t need all the answers. You just need to find the hero who is already inside you.”
His own path, from despair to aliveness, proves that transformation is possible, even after decades of pain. He now serves as a psychedelic integration coach, guiding others through the terrain he knows intimately.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.
Switzer staff were not involved in production of this article
