2024 Schedule
Here is our list of upcoming experiential retreat dates.
- Prices include online training course, an 8 day retreat, lodging and delicious, healthy meals and snacks.
- Prices are in Canadian dollars and subject to adjustment according to retreat centre.
- Rooms vary in quality and price by retreat and are shared accommodation.
Bradley Foster MA
Bradley Foster has a background in history and education and worked as a psychotherapist and a coach for 20 years with a practice focused on leadership, and creativity. He trained at the Gestalt Institute in Toronto and has a BA from McGill/Columbia University and a Masters degree from the University of Toronto. He founded the Toronto Psychedelic Society in 2016 and spawned many others, organised conferences, webinars, and meetings in the psychedelic community. He has personally overseen the treatment of hundreds of clients and trained 200 therapists.
With his then partner Melania Lumezanu, they co-created many effective treatment protocols. Mela and Bradley trained therapists in their clinic in Toronto and created the Chiron Academy in 2020 to bring this work to others. Mela and Bradley parted ways professionally in 2021. The result for Bradley was Phoenix Academy, which embodies and exemplifies Bradley’s philosophy of training and collaboration with others. For those of you interested in Mela’s offerings, please see Chiron Academy for her offerings.
Bradley believes psychedelic therapy can heal our deepest wounds when done with gentleness, safety, awareness, and intention. Healing doesn’t have to be painful.
His grounded spirituality, rooted in the here and now, holds space for whatever appears during treatment. His goal is to share his knowledge and learning with others so we can develop our own style and best practices. He also encourages networks for the exchange of information for his trained therapists. and has created collective channels and networks of Chiron and Phoenix graduates to support and connect them. Bradley is committed to diversity; Since beginning in 2022, over $30,000 in profits from Phoenix Academy have been disbursed in scholarships to students with few means and in underserved communities. Healing must come to all communities.
Retreat Information
Level 1 and 2 retreats are supervised by Bradley Foster and faculty. Level 1 is designed to show practitioners by example how to set the stage for very successful transformational psychedelic therapeutic treatments. Each participant will experience a transformational journey during the retreat. Level 2 is a more advanced retreat that introduces physiology, pharmacology, and therapeutic interventions in a group setting.
Our experiential retreat trains you in the arts of psychedelic therapy as developed by Bradley Foster. His protocol which combines clinical knowledge, deep emotional processing, somatic release and spirituality has been refined over several hundred treatments and observations and brought to you in a retreat environment.
The retreat includes our well-regarded online course, which we expect you to complete before the retreat. At the retreat, you receive hands-on experience of treatments, holding space, being witnessed, somatic and therapeutic interventions, integration, corrective experiences, a spiritual understanding of the work, intention setting, Integration, and a variety of therapeutic modalities. Groups and teams get deeply bonded during the experience.
Psychedelic Therapy Training Program
Welcome to our unique and transformative psychedelic therapy training program! Our program is different from others because we believe in empowering the client’s inner healing intelligence to heal themselves. We take a bottom-up, inside-out approach to healing that integrates the best practices of spiritual, clinical, somatic, emotional, and therapeutic modalities.
Our program is the result of years of refinement and development. We draw upon the wisdom of underground practitioners and thought leaders like Stan Grof to teach our students a unique and proven protocol of healing. This protocol is designed to provide a transformational experience that will help our students understand our approach from the inside out so that they can offer it to their clients.
We are the only training organisation that teaches students how to stack and time psychedelic compounds to obtain optimal results for each client. We believe in providing a truly experiential training experience. All of our work is done in groups and triads, allowing each student to experience both being a client and a therapist.
We take ethics and best practices in psychedelic therapy seriously. We teach our students how to uphold high ethical standards and obtain consent. Our training provides a self-paced online component of didactic training, followed by an 8-day experiential retreat. During the retreat, students will embody psychedelic therapy, gaining a body-felt sense of knowing the work.
We draw upon a community of people who feel called to this work, not just clinicians with a title or specific degrees. Our program covers all aspects of psychedelic therapy, from first contact to integration. We focus on preparation, set and setting and integration, providing transformational experiences to all participants.
We take an inside-out approach to integration, allowing the client to validate their own experiences and find ways to bring the fruits of their journey into their day-to-day life. We maintain and support our growing alumni community of psychedelic therapists by providing opportunities for continuing education, mentoring, peer support, and oversight.
We have created a peer-led community of highly trained psychedelic therapists who are committed to upholding high ethical standards and providing transformational experiences to their clients. Our alumni numbers in the hundreds. We are all in daily communication with each other to provide support, mentorship, answers to complex issues, and supervision. After attending a retreat you will be welcomed into our alumni group. Join us on this transformational journey of personal and professional growth, and discover the power of psychedelic therapy to heal and transform safely and effectively.
What should I expect?
The eight day retreat is structured into 3 days of teaching, 3 days of sitting, a day of bodywork, breath work and exploration. Each day includes ceremonies and integration sessions throughout. You will have at least 2 medicine sessions and 3 opportunities to hold space for your team mates.
We teach and model best practices, how to work with clients, intentions, spirituality, emotions, somatic techniques, trauma, medicine, and your co-therapists. We show you how you can help awaken and transform your clients by transforming you. We take you step by step through our preparation process and unique protocols.
Our retreats have been likened to a crucible. They are intense and they can be emotionally challenging. A safe container is put together long before the retreat starts. A month before the retreat begins, we create a Signal cohort group and hold Zoom calls to create group cohesiveness before the retreat. We hold space for you to do the work you need to do. Out of the emotional fires we shed our old skins and begin new again.
Everything is welcome!
As the fires continue to burn after our retreats, we encourage you to have plenty of time off afterwards to process and integrate. Shedding old skin can be draining so be gentle with yourself.
We offer an extensive two-part program working with psychedelics therapeutically. The first part is an online, 100 + hour program comprising modules on all aspects of the psychedelic experience. The second part is an 8 day residential retreat. The program includes all the essential documents, forms, and protocols needed to begin a practice.
Registration
You must purchase the Psychedelic Therapy Level 1 Course in order to begin registration. The cost of the course is applied to your tuition.
$599.00 – Purchase Psychedelic Therapy Level 1
Once you have purchased the course and know which level one retreat you would like to attend, follow the steps on our Level 1 Registration Page to begin the registration process.
Before you register, please read and understand our cancellation policy. If you have questions, please contact the Registrar for advice and help with registration.
Details
Introduction to Psychedelic Therapy teaches you best practices in working with clients and co-therapists from initial contact to integration. We teach innovative stacking protocols that can mediate and curate an experience for your client. You learn how to work with and combine various substances with safety and skill. We show you how to use and maybe even experience some of our highly effective stacking protocols.
To understand the importance of establishing intentions, you are encouraged to set your own for your work at the retreat. Through this you gain an understanding the power of intention.
We demonstrate effective interventions, including somatic, emotional and therapeutic, and how to incorporate a spiritual approach into your work. You will understand this work inside and out, as a client and as one who holds space. Individual and group integration practices will also be modelled. Each participant will be evaluated and given a certificate at the graduation ceremony. Receipts for training are available after the retreat.
After you register, install the Signal messaging app. We create your cohort group as long as possible before the retreat to build the container for the retreat. We also have Zoom calls with you and the cohort to build trust and rapport prior to the start of the retreat.
Post retreat, we support you in your integration process and help finding your path. If you plan to establish your own practice we offer supervision programs. We have a course offering on how to start your own professional practice. After graduation, you will join our Alumni where you will find ongoing mentoring, nurturing, support and resources. You will also be eligible to become a member of Wounded Healer, which is an expanding international hub of knowledgeable and experienced therapists and a continuing education platform dedicated to best practices in psychedelic therapy. We host conversations for practitioners in need of support, mentoring, supervision, peer support, integration, and trusted information.
In gratitude
Heal the Healer is our level two training program for psychedelic therapists who successfully completed our level one course Psychedelic Therapy. Heal the Healer guides you through your inner work in a group setting amplified by small doses of medicine. Our work at the retreat will take you and your practice to the next level of the group experience. Preliminary course work outlines an understanding of how to create a safe container, creating group cohesion and mutual interdependence, building and maintaining trust, boundaries, dosing protocols, holding space in a group, integration, art, movement, and case studies of group work using psychedelics.
Registration
Heal the healer is open to Level 1 graduates of Chiron or Phoenix Academy training. Experienced practitioners from other training may be considered on a case by case basis. To register, please start by filling out the questionnaire on the Registration Page. We will reach out to you with next steps.
Before you register, please read and understand our cancellation policy. If you have questions, please contact the Registrar for advice and help with registration.
Details
Heal the healer is part exploration of self, part relational group dynamics. We explore the role of the individual in the group and our unconscious patterns of behaviour and roles in groups. We are here to do deep work so we can clear ourselves of unconscious motivations and unfinished business. We teach you how we create a safe container to establish a group that facilitates illumination of relational and social patterns for growth. Substances will be stacked in combination to bring the group to different stages during the full psychedelic relational experience.
You are simultaneously the client and the therapist. Come with a beginner’s mind, leave with the mindset of a leader. You will learn how to work deeply with individuals and learn protocols designed for group therapeutic work and healing.
The eight days are an immersion into experiential teaching and learning. We will explore several dimensions of how to enhance the power of the group process with the skillful use of psychedelics. The wide range of topics and modalities will be explored before and during the retreat including breath work, advanced medical training, bodywork, team building, creating and holding ceremony, identifying interpersonal boundaries, responsible communication and feedback, experiential exercises such as two chair work, psychodrama and other Gestalt routines, working with individuals within the group environment, corrective experiences and being witnessed in a group setting. We prepare the foundation of safety and trust by communicating with you and your group through Signal and with Zoom calls prior to the retreat. An online course will be offered as a prerequisite to help prepare you for the retreat.