Former Kansas City Chiefs opponent reveals journey into alternative recovery

USA Today

8 hours ago

Former Kansas City Chiefs opponent reveals journey into alternative recovery
This week, Chiefs Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Robert Gallery, a retired offensive lineman who played eight seasons in the NFL and was selected with the second overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 2004 NFL draft. The conversation explored how psychedelic therapy is helping him heal from PTSD, depression, and family issues.
On Wednesday, June 18, at Psychedelic Science 2025—the world's largest psychedelic conference, Gallery will be joined by fellow NFL standouts Jordan Poyer and Jon Feliciano, who will headline a keynote conversation titled Unseen Work: Healing Behind the Highlights.
"As my career ended and I was trying to figure out who I was as a person in the next part of my life, issues started popping up that I thought were just part of normal life, but then they got very intense, as far as my rage and depression. Then it turned into suicidal nightmares, suicidal ideation, and to the point where I was abusing alcohol to help cope with it," said Gallery. "I was having issues, times remembering my kids' names or trying to get words out, just the mental issues of things. I hit my head often during my career, but that's who we were. It was our job, and I didn't think much of it, so I got to rock bottom and reached out for help. It was actually through my workers' comp case that I had a brain scan, and that gave me the answer to why these things were going on. I had a ton of brain damage on that scan, and that started my healing journey. I went all in to try to heal my family. After a couple of years of trying all the modern medicine-type treatments, such as the hyperbaric chamber, IVs, different medicines, and all these different things, I wasn't any better."
Galley listened to a podcast featuring former college football player, retired Navy SEAL Marcus Capone and his wife. They talked about their organization, VETS (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions), and their use of Ibogaine, which healed him and helped him get through tough times.
"Long story short, three weeks later, I was in Mexico with a group of special ops veterans going through Ibogaine and DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), and it was the changing point of my life. I came out of it cognitively, much better, emotionally, came back with zero suicidal thoughts and ideation, no anxiety, just I was 100% a different person, and so that became my real journey with plant medicine." Said Gallery. "Since then, I've done a ton of work and experienced other plant medicines. I've done Ibogaine a total of three times. That's the medicine for me. Ibogaine was the catalyst, and it has worked for me, getting me into this lifestyle. I was not the person who would meditate on breathing things. So it has changed my life, how I live my life, how I think, opened my mind to new things, how I think as a person, overall, the type of person I am, and how I live my daily life."
In his playing career, Gallery battled in the AFC West, often against the Kansas City Chiefs, and earned a reputation for fighting in the trenches as an offensive lineman. He continues to fight hard off the field for athlete safety and health through his foundation and by raising awareness.
"I started the foundation' Athletes For Care', I've done a ton of outreach to and had people reach out to me since seeing my story. I have encountered different people within, whether they were college students or professionals, and I'm not talking about higher-ups in the NFL. Still, I'm talking people that work within these programs." said Gallery, "The openness to healing is much more than I thought it would be; I have people who have great relationships that I've worked with at the professional and collegiate levels, who have either reached out to me or congratulated me on finding something that brought healing, and who have been open to discussions. So I think that's been a pleasant surprise for me and will continue to grow. We will see; I'm not here blaming the NFL or the University of Iowa for my brain damage and all the things that I've lived through; this is not me going after them. This is about healing and helping others heal and myself heal."