Choose the people and the safety plan before the place. A retreat worth trusting screens you before it takes your money, tells you who will stay with you during the session and that they will be sober, has a written emergency plan, supports you after you go home, and puts its fees and refund terms in writing.
That sounds basic, but research on the retreat market suggests it is far from standard. When researchers at Baylor College of Medicine interviewed 49 advertised retreat organizations, a physician attended the retreats of 9, and at 29 the facilitators themselves took psychedelics during ceremonies. This page turns that research, and the rules Oregon sets for its licensed psilocybin services, into questions you can put to any provider, including us.
How do I choose a psilocybin retreat?
Start with the people and the paperwork, not the photographs. A serious operator can tell you, in writing and before you pay, who will screen you and what would rule you out, who will be in the room during your session, what happens in a medical emergency, what support you get afterward, and what you get back if you cancel or are turned away.
Is a psilocybin retreat safe?
It depends on the operator, on you and on the setting. In 2023 interviews with 49 retreat organizations, every one collected a medical history, but only 4 screened out people with a family history of psychosis. Outside clinical studies, difficult experiences do happen: in a survey of 1,993 people describing their hardest experience with psilocybin mushrooms, 2.7% had sought help at a hospital or emergency department. Our safety page sets out who should not take psilocybin at all.
How much does a psilocybin retreat cost?
Advertised prices vary widely. A 2023 analysis of 298 organizations marketing psychedelic retreats in English found an average of about $2,665 for seven days, with prices from $780 to $11,250, and $668 for one-day events. Price says little about safety, so ask what it covers: who screens you, how many people share each facilitator, and whether support afterward costs extra.
What happens at a psilocybin retreat?
Most retreats combine preparation, one or more guided dosing sessions and time to talk the experience through. In a study of 886 people heading to a retreat or ceremony, most of them with psilocybin, about a third attended a one-day event, about a fifth stayed seven days, and more than half had a single session. A full dose lasts much of a day, and Oregon requires at least five hours of continuous monitoring at a typical full dose.
What are the three key phases of psychedelic therapy?
Preparation, the dosing session itself, and integration afterward. Clinical research protocols and Oregon’s licensed psilocybin services are built around all three. Retreats vary more: of 49 retreat organizations interviewed in 2023, only 15 described structured preparation, and support afterward was often optional or cost extra.
Can you trust psilocybin retreat reviews?
Use them as leads rather than evidence. Ratings cluster at five stars because people with strong feelings post most, and a review written in the weeks after a session falls inside the afterglow, a lift in mood that studies describe for up to a month. Accounts written months later, and how an operator handles complaints, tell you more.
How can you tell if a psychedelic retreat is a scam?
Walk away if you see the warning signs regulators list for health fraud: promises of cures, “miracle” or “breakthrough” language, testimonials without detail, pressure to book now, or a demand to pay by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency or payment app. Be wary too if nobody asks about your health before taking a deposit, or if a license the operator claims cannot be looked up.
What a psilocybin retreat is actually like
Before you arrive.
A careful operator starts with screening: a questionnaire on your health and medications, ideally reviewed by a clinician who can turn you down, followed by preparation conversations. In Oregon’s licensed services, a private preparation session must take place at least 24 hours before the first dose, and you can meet and approve each facilitator in advance.
The session itself.
You usually lie down in a quiet room, often with eyeshades and music, for several hours while the psilocybin takes effect. Johns Hopkins research protocols keep two monitors with each volunteer for the whole session. Oregon requires a facilitator to watch and hear you continuously, and you may not drive yourself home.
Group or one to one.
Retreats typically dose people in groups, and some participants value that: in one study, a sense of togetherness during group sessions was linked to later gains in well-being. The tradeoff is attention. Oregon allows one facilitator for every four clients at a typical full dose, and its licensed services ran 4,628 individual sessions in 2025 against 747 group ones.
After you go home.
This is where formats differ most. Oregon requires the facilitator to try to contact you within 72 hours and to offer integration sessions. At retreats, support afterward ranges from sessions built into the program to optional extras, sometimes at an added cost.
Six questions to ask before you book
Ask every provider the same questions, us included. Good answers name people, numbers and documents; weak ones describe a philosophy.
Who screens me, and what would rule me out?
A careful screen covers every medication and supplement, psychosis or bipolar disorder in you or your family, your heart, and whether something major has just happened in your life, which one study linked to more difficult experiences. Lithium is the clearest example of why medications matter: Oregon turns away anyone who has taken it in the past 30 days.
Who will be with me, and will they stay sober?
Ask for full names, roles, training and any licenses, then check what you can. Where a state licenses facilitators the bar is concrete: Oregon requires at least 128 hours of core training plus a 40-hour practicum, publishes a license lookup, and forbids anyone working a session to be under the influence. Elsewhere, ask who ran the training, how long it lasted and how many sessions the person has led.
What happens if something goes wrong?
Ask who is medically qualified on site during sessions, whether they may legally practice there, and how far away the nearest hospital is. In the 2023 interviews, a nurse attended at 13 of 49 organizations, and two said their professionals could not practice under their licenses in that setting. Johns Hopkins research guidelines keep a physician available during every session.
How much preparation, and who supports me afterward?
In Johns Hopkins research, preparation meant at least eight hours over at least four meetings, usually across a month. Ask how much of that you will get one to one, who supports you once you are home, for how long and at what cost. Ask about the second month, not only the first week.
What are the rules on touch and contact?
Ask for the conduct policy in writing before you book. Oregon allows supportive touch only on request, with prior written consent, limited to the hands, feet or shoulders or a hug, and bans sexual or romantic contact with a client during services and for a year afterward. The risk is not hypothetical: in a 2025 survey weighted to the US population, 7.2% of adults who had used a psychedelic in the past year, mostly recreationally, reported a sexual assault while under the influence, and about 4 in 10 of them said it involved a provider, facilitator or guide. The figure for psilocybin alone was lower, at 1.7%.
Under which law, and on what terms?
Ask which country or state the sessions happen in, and which law allows them. Of 440 retreat locations identified in one 2023 analysis, 130 were in the US, where classic psychedelics remain illegal under federal law. Then ask for every fee, the deposit, cancellation terms and the refund policy in writing before you pay, including what happens if you are screened out after paying. Oregon requires fees and refund terms to be disclosed before any money is collected.
If an operator will not answer one of these in writing before you pay, treat that as the answer.
“I wouldn’t have gone on these expeditions if I didn’t trust the guides. You put all your faith in them, and you do the same in these rooms here.”
Dean Attwell, Co-founder, Oakland International
Red flags
Any one of these is a reason to keep looking.
Promises of results
Guarantees, cure claims, success rates or “breakthrough” language. US regulators list these among the classic signs of health fraud, and Oregon bars its licensed psilocybin services from claiming curative effects that the scientific evidence does not support.
Acceptance before screening
A deposit taken before anyone has asked about your health, or a process nobody fails. Oregon’s licensed services turned away 258 people in 2025; ask any operator how many people it declined last year.
A timetable for stopping your medication
A fixed number of days off an antidepressant or another prescription, set by the retreat rather than by your prescriber. In the 2023 interviews, washout periods ranged from one day to more than six weeks, and only 7 of 49 organizations had medical input on them. Our safety page explains how that decision should be made.
Several psychedelics in one retreat
Psilocybin one night and ayahuasca or another psychedelic the next, without a medical reason. Nine of the 49 organizations interviewed combined several psychedelics within one retreat, and mixing substances was among the most common reasons people gave for seeking emergency care after taking mushrooms.
Pressure, and payments you cannot reverse
“Last places”, a discount for paying today, or a demand to pay by wire transfer, cryptocurrency, gift card or payment app. The FTC lists both as signs of a scam. Pay with a method you can dispute.
How to read retreat reviews
A five-star average says less than it seems. On most platforms, ratings pile up at the top: in Amazon data, 72% to 78% of ratings for books, DVDs and videos were four stars or higher, and a study of more than 280 million reviews on 25 platforms found that people with extreme opinions are the most likely to post.
Timing matters as well. Studies describe a lift in mood and well-being from the day after a psychedelic experience to about a month later, so a review written in that window says little about month three. Problems can take longer to surface: among 608 people who reported lasting difficulties after a psychedelic experience, about a third had them for more than a year, and guided settings, retreats included, did not prevent them.
Some reviews are not what they appear to be. Since October 21, 2024, US federal rules have banned fake reviews, reviews paid for on condition that they are positive, and the suppression of negative ones through threats or intimidation. Since 2017, a form contract that restricts honest reviews has been void under US law.
Better evidence is available if you ask for it. Speak to two or three past clients who finished at least six months ago, with their consent. Ask how many applicants were turned away last year and how the last difficult session was handled. Where a regulator publishes records, read them: Oregon’s psilocybin program reported 51 complaints and 22 final orders, four of them license revocations, for 2025.
Where our program fits, and when it is the wrong choice
We do not run retreats. Our program lasts six months, with one client at a time. It starts with a psychiatric interview and a medical review, then three private seven-day residencies in Jamaica with months of one-to-one therapy, health work and leadership coaching around them. It is the wrong choice if you want a single week or a group experience, if you need sessions licensed under US state law, if anything in our screening rules you out, or if six months is more than you can give. In those cases a carefully chosen retreat, or a licensed service center in Oregon, may suit you better, and the questions above will help you find one.
Our answers to the same questions
Who screens you: a psychiatric interview and a medical review of your bloodwork, heart and medications, both before we accept anyone, and an EKG if the physician asks for one
Who is with you: two trained facilitators in every session from start to finish, and a nurse practitioner on site throughout each residency
If something goes wrong: resuscitation equipment kept on site, the nearest hospital, in Montego Bay, roughly 10 km away, and escalation steps agreed before you arrive
Legal basis: every session takes place in Jamaica, whose Dangerous Drugs Act does not list psilocybin
Afterward: six months of one-to-one psychotherapy, health work and coaching with the same three experts
Hardi Põder, Co-founder, CEO
Sources
Neitzke-Spruill et al. - A landscape analysis of psychedelic retreat organizations advertising online, PLOS One, 2025 (298 organizations)
McGuire et al. - Reported safety practices of publicly advertised psychedelic retreats, JAMA Network Open, 2026 (49 organizations interviewed)
Johnson, Richards & Griffiths - Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2008 (Johns Hopkins research guidelines)
Oregon Health Authority - Oregon Administrative Rules, chapter 333, division 333: Psilocybin (as amended January 1, 2026)
Evans et al. - Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: a mixed methods study, PLOS One, 2023 (608 participants)
Simonsson et al. - Prevalence and associations of challenging, difficult or distressing experiences using classic psychedelics, Journal of Affective Disorders, 2023 (613 people with lifetime use)
Kopra et al. - Adverse experiences resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking following the use of magic mushrooms, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2022 (9,233 past-year users)
Chwyl et al. - Prevalence and predictors of sexual and physical violence during psychedelic use in a US population-based study, World Psychiatry, 2026 (1,964 respondents)
Hu, Zhang & Pavlou - Overcoming the J-shaped distribution of product reviews, Communications of the ACM, 2009 (Amazon ratings)
Schoenmueller, Netzer & Stahl - The polarity of online reviews: prevalence, drivers and implications, Journal of Marketing Research, 2020 (280 million reviews)
Federal Trade Commission - Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465 (in force since October 21, 2024)
Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Review Fairness Act: What Businesses Need to Know (the 2016 law)
Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration - Miracle Health Claims: Add a Dose of Skepticism (consumer guide)
Federal Trade Commission - How To Avoid a Scam (consumer guide)
What we assess before acceptance, what rules someone out, and what happens if something goes wrong.
How a six-month program differs from a retreat or executive coaching, including where our format is the wrong choice.
Nine jurisdictions, each with the legal mechanism that actually applies: never scheduled, prescription only, individual government authorization, or supervised access with no diagnosis at all. Including where our own residencies take place, and why.