Synthesis Institute
Netherlands-based psilocybin retreat and professional facilitator training organization, one of the first to offer structured training programs for psychedelic therapy.
Type: Retreat and Training
Location: Netherlands / Online
Membership: Participant registration; professional training enrollment
Venues: Retreat center, Netherlands; online training programs
Activities: Legal psilocybin truffle retreats in the Netherlands; professional facilitator training programs; integration support.
About
Synthesis Institute, founded in the Netherlands in 2018, was among the first organizations to combine legal psilocybin truffle retreats with structured professional training programs for therapists and facilitators. Operating within the Netherlands' unique regulatory environment — where psilocybin-containing truffles are legal — Synthesis developed retreat protocols and training curricula that anticipated the global demand for trained psychedelic facilitators.
The institute's professional training programs have graduated facilitators who now work in clinical, retreat, and underground therapeutic settings globally. Their curricula integrate elements of transpersonal psychology, somatic therapy, harm reduction, and trauma-informed care into a coherent professional training framework.
Synthesis has been influential in establishing professional standards for psychedelic facilitation, publishing ethical frameworks and supporting the development of facilitator certification infrastructure that other training programs have drawn on.
Why It Matters
Synthesis Institute helped define what professional psychedelic facilitator training looks like, graduating practitioners who now work across the global psilocybin ecosystem and contributing foundational ethical frameworks to the field.
