Psilocybin Therapy vs. Psilocybin Retreat: What's the Difference?
Legal psilocybin experiences have most commonly been offered in countries were mushroom use is legal, such as Jamaica or the Netherlands. Most of these mushroom experiences have been marketed as retreats, to make the trip to a far-away destination worth the high, financial investment. If you want to know how to find more accessible, legal psychedelic retreats in the US, and if you are wondering how OUR HOUSE psychedelic therapy programs compare to psychedelic retreats, start with an understanding of your goals and a clear understanding of how transformation with psychedelics actually happens. Because I am assuming that most people who invest in a psychedelic retreat experience, are interested in finding improved, lasting wellbeing as well?
The Colorado Legal Landscape
To offer legal psilocybin mushroom services, providers and facilitators must follow Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act, which is administered by the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which issues licenses for healing centers. Psychedelic retreats in Colorado are typically operated in locations outsde of healing centers, under proposition 122, officially known as the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, which made Colorado the second state in the country to decriminalize the personal use, possession, growth, and sharing of specific natural psychedelic substances for adults aged 21 and older. Attending a psilocybin retreat under this act is not illegal, but it is not the same as attending a therapist-regulated psychedelic therapy service.
Licensed healing centers can only work with licensed psychotherapists, such as OUR HOUSE facilitators Nikki and Camila, who are licensed clinical natural medicine facilitators who follow regulated intake, safety and medical screening guidelines. Psilocybin retreats in Colorado may have such processes and credentials, too, but licensed psychotherapists like Nikki and Camila have undergone decades of training for their professional licenses and would rather not put their licenses at risk when they can provide effective healing under regulated, safe conditions elsewhere. (And while being in nature is wonderful, all OUR HOUSE clients enjoy the environment of the beautifully curated healing center in Downtown Denver as well.)
The difference in facilitator credentials may explain why psilocybin retreats are often times marketed as wellness offerings, while psilocybin therapy programs such as ours are positioned as therapy, signaling an ability to work with clients who are seeking improvement in mental health outcomes and in an overall improved quality of life.
Why is psychedelic therapy more effective than mushrooms alone?
Psilocybin retreats can be beautiful, safe and supportive, with psilocybin mushrooms having provided healing experiences for many clients over the years. There is no doubt about it. Yet, research shows that deeper, lasting effects of psychedelic use occurs in combination with psychotherapy, and in a process that combines medicine with preparation and integration.
As psychotherapists, we of course know why. Healing is a process and no brain makes a permanent 180 degree shift after a journey. As Camila always says, you are booking a round-trip. She typically means by this that clients who go on a psilocybin journey will come back safely. I am also applying her round-trip analogy to long-term healing - psychedelic experiences fade, egos and the memories stored in our amygdalas make their re-entries, too. Healing with psilocybin, or other psychedelics, require every journeyer to be educated and willing to do long-term healing work, there are no short-cuts to nirvana.
The healing work includes deep knowledge and expertise in integration, which does not just mean sharing our experiences after a retreat. Integration knowledge includes learning to stay in connection to yourself, it means learning to manage disappointment and nervous system responses, and managing your learned thoughts. You are beginning to see beyond your conditioned beliefs during psychedelic experiences, but when your brain and reward system is back online, your old triggers and beliefs may make appearances again. This does not mean that you failed, that the medicine does not work or that you need more medicine. It simply means that now is the time to understand what your journey gave you. What did your inner healer equip you with, to continue going and healing? Now is the time to keep moving forward with new tools and strengths, to work with your shadows, IFS parts, or trauma triggers - from a place of more inner grounding and more self-compassion. That is what psychedelic experiences provide - deep nervous system healing and more centeredness to enable healing our life experiences, past and present. This long-term process benefits from mindfulness approaches, neuroscience processes, and many therapeutic tool boxes. Psilocybin opens the door to beautiful growth work, or spiritual work if desired, I would never call it “hard, unwanted work”.
Psychedelic healing is always an ongoing growth journey, and knowing how to travel well, with the right support and tools is what you learn in psychedelic therapy. Psychedelic therapy does not focus on just the medicine experience alone.
If your goal is more inner peace and long-term health, learn more about OUR HOUSE's approach, our psilocybin programs and our integration support.
