Healing with Psilocybin in Jamaica: Interview with Justin Townsend of MycoMeditations

Justin Townsend is the CEO and Head Facilitator of MycoMeditations, a psilocybin wellness center in Jamaica that offers week-long magic mushroom retreats. We spoke with Justin recently about the style of psychedelic therapy he provides, cultural set and setting in working with psilocybin in Jamaica, and what he has learned most from working with psilocybin for over 7 years. cannabis products

Thanks so much for speaking with us Justin. Running a psychedelic retreat center is profoundly challenging. What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned since MycoMeditations began?cannabis products

Yes, running a retreat center can be challenging at times, however with every retreat that goes by it continues to be profoundly rewarding too.

For one, there is no standard psilocybin dose that works identically for all people. Everyone’s body reacts differently to the medicine. Also, nausea experienced during a trip is more often than not a symptom of catharsis and purging and needs to be encouraged not minimized. cannabis products

Psilocybin has amazing transdiagnostic advocacy, successfully and consistently treating: depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma, insomnia, addiction, migraine and cluster headaches, fibromyalgia and more. Depression is very commonly a symptom of adverse life events whether current or often going back decades; rather than a standalone illness in its own right or an “imbalance in brain chemicals” as many have been told by their GP’s. Dissociative amnesia as it relates to trauma is very powerful. Many of our guests who came on retreat to work with their depression are very surprised when they begin to recover abuse memories from childhood that they had either forgotten about or had no idea had ever taken place.
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We’ve also seen that psilocybin has sustained anti-inflammatory properties. Many guests that have attended a retreat with decades of depression in combination with crippling poly rheumatoid arthritis are very happy when both conditions clear up within the week.

Does MycoMeditations provide a therapeutic model with talk therapy, or a shamanic model with singing and drumming, or something in between?

Yes, we do provide a therapeutic model with talk therapy, and this is foundational to what we provide our guests, along with ongoing integration and therapy as needed post-retreat. While we have a lot of respect for indigenous shamanic methods and knowledge, we are not positioned as a shamanic retreat; we are positioned as an evidence-based retreat for mental health conditions utilizing psilocybin-assisted therapy. To this end we are staffed with retreat leaders, psychiatrists, therapists, nurses and experienced facilitators. We incorporate a lot of education on areas of neuroscience and psychology including transpersonal and depth psychology and utilize a variety of therapeutic techniques for working with our guests. cannabis products

Each retreat of 7 days consists of 3 dosing days (every other day) followed by group integration therapy, augmented by one-on-one therapy as needed. The setting is at one of three different locations that we operate our retreats at in Jamaica. We have three price points, namely Classic, Comfort and Concierge level. Many of our guests tell us that they choose MycoMeditations because of our non-shamanic approach to working with psilocybin. cannabis products

Jamaica is one of the few countries where psilocybin is legal, so it is a clear candidate for a retreat like this. It’s my personal view that all medicines on the planet are meant for all peoples, but there are important cultural questions we all should deeply reflect on, and traditions that are as precious as the medicines themselves. As a white man serving South American medicine in Jamaica, how do you connect the dots of lineage, cultural heritage, and physical location, to the universal work of an inward spiritual journey? cannabis products

South America is only one of many cultures that have a long tradition of working with psilocybin. With over 200 species of psilocybin-containing mushrooms existing, they grow all over the world from Europe to South America to Asia and beyond. In the UK where I am from originally, they are known as Liberty Caps and have a long history of druidic use.

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