In the order you will meet it
Retreats in this field vary enormously. These are the standards we hold on every date, in both countries, and the people responsible for them.
Before you are accepted
Applying takes about seven minutes, and our team replies within three to five business days. Every applicant then has a suitability call with us. It is not optional: it is where we go through your history together, answer your questions and make sure the program is a fit. The application itself was written with physician, psychiatrist and psychotherapist input, and looks at personal, health and psychiatric history with your consent.
Some conditions and some medications, including SSRIs and SNRIs, may mean the program is not the right fit, or not yet. Apply anyway and tell us. The call is where we work that out together, and when the answer is no, we say so plainly. It is an act of care, not a rejection, and the screening protects the group as much as it protects you.
Before you arrive
Preparation is digital and at your own pace, one to two hours a week: group calls with your cohort, a 1:1 intake call, and guided practices and resources in the Beckley app, all fitted around a full working life. You learn how to navigate a psilocybin session before you ever sit in one, you meet the people you will spend the week with, and you meet your lead facilitator. If you join after preparation has started, we catch you up. Nobody arrives cold.
The people in the room
During sessions there is at least one facilitator for every four guests, usually one for every three, so someone is always within reach and no one is ever managing a room alone.
Our teams include 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 and judgement are in the room with you.
The place
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. Beckley does not run programs anywhere psilocybin is prohibited. Our venues are spacious, private and secure.
In Jamaica a nurse is on site throughout every session with a doctor on call. In the Netherlands, public emergency services are minutes away. The psilocybin is sourced directly from trusted suppliers. Our safety plan covers physical, emotional and psychological safety, is reviewed regularly, and is shared with every venue partner, operations team and facilitation team before a retreat begins.
During a session
A guided psilocybin session lasts around six hours, in one room, with your group and the full team. Every guest receives a custom amount within a predefined range, around what you would see in a clinical trial in the US. Again, this is not medical treatment. Music guides the arc. A facilitator is within reach the whole time. You can drink water, step outside, ask for support, or ask to be left alone, and nothing is asked of you except to notice your own experience.
The Signature Program has two sessions on separate days. The day after each one is set aside to make sense of it, in the group and one to one.
Independent accounts
Two journalists and a psychotherapist went as guests and wrote about it. We link to them because they are honest, and because a sceptical outsider describing the week says more than we can.
Oprah Daily · June 2026
An Empty Nester Walks Into a Psychedelic Retreat
A nine-minute first-person account of the five-night Jamaica program: the doubts going in, both sessions, the day after, and what the writer took home to the second half of life.
Read on Oprah DailyThe Times · February 2025
I went on a posh magic mushroom retreat. Here’s what I learnt
Harriet Walker of The Times on stress, control and a week in the Netherlands. Subscription required.
Read in The TimesTherapy Today · May 2026
Shedding my emotional armour
Ben Ockrent, a psychotherapist, on attending the Jamaica program and what changed when he returned to his own therapist afterwards. Therapy Today, May 2026, pages 48 to 51.
Read his account on the Therapist Resource HubIf it gets hard
Psilocybin is well tolerated by most people. Physical effects can include nausea or a headache. The main psychological risk is a period of overwhelming distress, and, rarely, effects that last longer. We do not pretend otherwise. The preparation weeks, the ratio in the room, the experience of the team and the on-site care exist for exactly these moments, and the following day is built for working through what came up. You are never left alone with it.
After you go home
Most retreats end when you leave. Ours does not. Integration is digital and at your own pace, one to two hours a week, so it fits around a full working life: weekly group calls, short daily practices and science-backed tools turn what happened on retreat into habits that hold. Optional 1:1 coaching with a facilitator is available. Then the alumni community, which many guests say is where the change takes root.
Underneath all of it
Beckley Retreats grew out of the Beckley Foundation, established in 1998 by our co-founder Amanda Feilding and instrumental in the modern scientific study of psychedelics. Our program is shaped by peer-reviewed research and ongoing collaboration with researchers from the world's leading institutions, and our research team, Dr. AZA Allsop, with Harvard and MIT doctoral training and an active Yale faculty position, and Karestan Koenen of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, shapes how the program is designed and measured.
Understanding the differences
The purpose of an experience, and the kind of support around it, help define what it can offer.
| Approach | Traditional / undergroundPractices vary | Beckley RetreatsNonclinical wellbeing | Medical / clinicalClinical care and research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Ritual, spiritual practice or personal exploration. Aims vary. | Personal growth and wellbeing for suitable guests. A nonclinical program. | Care for a diagnosed condition, or research into a specific clinical question. |
| Screening | Practitioner or community led. Depth and documentation vary. | An application and suitability screening before participation. | Clinical assessment or study eligibility criteria, with medical history review. |
| Facilitation | May draw on lineage, apprenticeship, lived experience or professional training. | Experienced facilitators working with defined safety and support protocols. | Clinicians or research teams working within defined professional roles and protocols. |
| Setting | Ceremonial, community or private settings. The approach varies. | Nature, ritual, music and shared experience in a retreat setting. | A clinical environment or study site. The setting and approach vary. |
| Ongoing support | May be embedded in community or offered by the practitioner. Arrangements vary. | Structured preparation and integration are part of the program. | Follow-up follows the care plan or research protocol. |
Traditional and underground are distinct settings, grouped here only for a broad comparison. Practices and safeguards vary by practitioner and community. Clinical care and research also differ. Access depends on the intervention and jurisdiction.
What guests report
"The four weeks of preparation before the retreat really helped me understand how powerful the work is, and trained us in a set of practices to navigate the experience."
Ashish Kothari, Founder and CEO of Happiness Squad, former McKinsey Partner
Our vision
Standards are how we keep that promise: honest screening, a mandatory suitability call, a team of six in the room, and support that continues for six weeks after you fly home.
Start your application
-2-1.png){kind=logo}
