Safety and Standards at a Psilocybin Retreat

What Beckley is, and is not

A structured, science-backed program. Not medical treatment.

Beckley Retreats does not diagnose, make medical recommendations or offer treatment. What we do is screen carefully, prepare you properly, staff the room well, and support what comes after.

This page sets out how, and what the research says about risk, so that you can decide with your own doctor. Our team includes practitioners with backgrounds as psychotherapists, psychologists and physicians. On retreat they are not acting in their licensed capacity, because Beckley does not provide medical treatment, but that training is in the room.

Jamaica and the Netherlands are the only two countries where psilocybin is fully legal. Working with psilocybin is federally illegal in the United States, which is why our programs run abroad.

1:4minimum facilitator-to-guest ratio in every session
1 callwith our team, for every applicant, before approval
24/7access to a doctor by phone at both venues
21+minimum age

Before you travel

Screening comes first, and it is not optional.

The application takes about seven minutes, online and confidential. It was written with physician, psychiatrist and psychotherapist input, and it asks about your history, your medications and what brings you, with your consent.

Every applicant then has a suitability call with our team. It is a chance to go through your history, answer questions and make sure the program is a fit, for you and for the group you will sit with. Our screening team includes practitioners with backgrounds in psychotherapy, psychology and medicine, none of whom acts in a medical or clinical capacity. The answer is yes, not yet, or no, said plainly. Sometimes it is a conditional yes: consult your prescriber, then a second call at least six weeks before the retreat.

Some psychiatric and physical conditions, some medications and a few circumstances mean the program is not right, or not right yet. The main ones are on Who should not attend, and the full list is on Application considerations.

Medications, in plain terms

We do not give medication advice. We set eligibility thresholds, and any change to a prescription is a decision between you and your prescriber. Some medications, including SSRIs and SNRIs, may mean the program is not the right fit, or not yet. Apply anyway and tell us. The suitability call is where we work that out together, alongside your prescriber.

For certain heart conditions we require written clearance from your primary care provider or a cardiologist before approval.

Preparation is part of safety. Approved guests complete four weeks of preparation before they travel: what to expect physically and emotionally, how the sessions run, and how to meet a difficult moment. It is online and at your own pace, one to two hours a week, and late joiners are caught up.

In the room

Who holds the room, and how a session runs.

The team

There is a minimum of one facilitator for every four guests in every session, and the facilitation team is present for the whole of it. The team brings together experience with indigenous practices and modern scientific knowledge, with a century of combined experience in guided psychedelic experiences.

The amount

Every guest receives a custom amount within a predefined range, around what you would see in a clinical trial in the US. This is not medical treatment. The range is set in advance, not improvised in the room.

Difficult moments

Some guests have a hard stretch during a session: fear, grief, physical discomfort, or the sense of losing their footing. That is expected, and it passes. The team is staffed and trained to stay with you through it.

The setting

Our venues are spacious, private and secure, in the two countries where psilocybin is fully legal. In Jamaica our group is the sole occupant of the property. In the Netherlands our group is the sole occupant of the retreat side of the property. You keep your phone; a digital detox is encouraged, not enforced.

What your body will do

Nausea and headache are common and pass. Blood pressure and heart rate rise for a few hours, which is why the cardiac screening is firm. Balance, perception and attention change for a few hours too, so the room and the day are set up around that.

Cover at each venue

Venue	Doctor, 24/7	Urgent care	Hospital or trauma care
Jamaica	Locally licensed, on call	Within a 30 to 60 minute drive	Hospitals within a 30 to 60 minute drive
Netherlands	Doctor and nurse advice line	Within 15 minutes	Trauma center within 25 minutes

Cover is arranged before every retreat, and the team on site knows when and how to use it.

What the evidence says

Honest about risk, because that is the point.

In screened, supported settings, serious adverse events in psilocybin research are rare. The common effects are short-lived: nausea, headache, a rise in blood pressure and heart rate, and stretches of anxiety or fear during the session itself.

The risks that matter sit in known places. Cardiac: psilocybin can cause unpredictable rises in blood pressure and a particular irregular heart rhythm. Psychiatric: for people with a personal or family history of psychosis or bipolar disorder, effects can be prolonged or can trigger an episode. Physical: balance, perception and attention change for a few hours, so falls are a real risk in the wrong setting. Interactions: some medications change how psilocybin acts or carry risks of their own. Our screening is built on the published safety guidelines for psilocybin research (Johnson, Richards and Griffiths, 2008), and each of these risks maps to a line in it.

We also say plainly what the science has not shown. Long-term outcome data from retreat settings is thin. Microdosing has not beaten placebo in controlled trials. Most claims about the brain being rewired extrapolate from animal studies. Read our honest read of the research and how safe a psilocybin session is.

What reduces risk, in order

Screening. Who is in the room matters more than anything else.
Preparation. Knowing what to expect lowers fear, and fear drives most hard moments.
Setting. A legal, calm, private venue with cover arranged in advance.
Support. Trained people present throughout, at a 1:4 ratio.
Integration. Six weeks after you go home, online and at your own pace, one to two hours a week, so what opened has somewhere to go.

If you are in crisis, a retreat is not the right next step. Contact your doctor or local emergency services. In the US, call or text 988.

Our standards

Written down, reviewed from outside, and revisited.

Safety plan

A written plan, not a habit

A written safety plan and risk-management procedures cover how we anticipate and respond to the issues a retreat can raise. It is revisited regularly and shared with our venue partners, operations staff and facilitation teams.

External review

Looked at by outsiders

In February 2025 we commissioned an independent external review of our safety procedures. We would rather be told what to fix than guess.

Research

Guided by researchers

Our research is guided by Dr. AZA Allsop (Yale) and Karestan Koenen (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health). In Jamaica, the range we work within follows our research cohort study, which runs under institutional review board approval.

Consent

Confidential, by default

Your application and your suitability call are confidential. We never publish a guest's name, photo or story without written consent. How we handle your information is set out in our privacy policy.

After you go home

Integration is not optional either

Six weeks of integration follow every retreat, online and at your own pace, one to two hours a week. What opens on retreat needs somewhere to go, and the people to go there with.

Who we are

A public benefit corporation

Beckley Retreats, P.B.C. is a public benefit corporation. We hold our writing to the same standard as our retreats: see how we make and review what we publish.

Questions people ask about safety

Straight answers.

Is Beckley a medical or clinical program?

No. Beckley Retreats does not diagnose or offer treatment. It is a structured wellbeing program: screening, preparation, a well-staffed retreat and integration. Our team includes practitioners with backgrounds as psychotherapists, psychologists and physicians; on retreat they are not acting in their licensed capacity, but that training is in the room.

Who is with me during a session?

A minimum of one facilitator for every four guests, present for the whole session. The team is trained to stay with you through a difficult stretch rather than leave you to it.

What happens if I have a difficult experience?

Some guests do, and it passes. The team is staffed and trained to stay with you through it. Preparation covers how to meet a hard moment before you ever travel, and integration gives it somewhere to go afterwards.

What happens if something goes wrong physically?

At both venues there is 24/7 access to a doctor by phone and urgent care within a known drive time. In Jamaica that is a locally licensed on-call doctor, with urgent care and hospitals within a 30 to 60 minute drive. In the Netherlands it is a doctor and nurse advice line, urgent care within 15 minutes and a trauma center within 25. Cover is arranged before every retreat.

How much psilocybin will I take?

Can I keep taking my medication?

We do not give medication advice. We set eligibility thresholds, and any change to a prescription is between you and your prescriber. Some medications, including SSRIs and SNRIs, may mean the program is not the right fit, or not yet. Apply anyway and tell us. The suitability call is where we work that out together, alongside your prescriber.

Is this legal?

Jamaica and the Netherlands are the only two countries where psilocybin is fully legal, and they are the only two places we run programs. Working with psilocybin is federally illegal in the United States, which is why our programs run abroad.

Safety and standards.