Therapy Retreats for Addiction and Recovery

By MycoMeditations

It’s no secret that alcohol and drug abuse are harmful to our bodies, minds, and relationships. If you or someone close to you is battling addiction, things may seem hopeless. Addiction impacts every aspect of our lives: work, relationships, families, social life, and emotional and financial stability.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine describes addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”

Addiction comes in many forms, with no simple solution. People struggle with a wide range of addiction challenges, including alcoholism, drug abuse, misuse of prescription drugs, unhealthy relationships with food, sex, or gambling, to say nothing of co-occurring disorders. Today, after decades of research, addiction is considered a chronic disease rather than simply a problem of willpower.

Unfortunately, this understanding has not helped addiction and substance use disorders to decline. In 2022, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported that 28.8 million adults over the age of 18 in the United States have alcohol use disorder. Death involving alcohol increased by 25.5 percent from 2019 to 2020, making alcohol one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States, behind tobacco and illegal drugs.

Statistically, you or someone you know is very likely one of these sufferers. Know that you are not alone.

Many elements can lead to addiction, with biology, psychology, and cultural and social factors all playing a role in its development. Overcoming the challenges of addiction can be incredibly difficult. At the core of these destructive behaviors is often unresolved trauma which, if never addressed, means that sufferers can spend years attempting to get sober without ever finding a long-term solution that works.

Along your recovery journey, you have likely tried some of the common treatments such as 12-step programs, recovery communities, motivational enhancement, or behavioral therapies. While all of these methods are time tested and can keep your recovery on track in the short term, they provide limited success in the longer term, with 20% of people relapsing within 1 month and a further 40% within 6 months.

If the traditional methods of recovery such as detox, rehab centers, or programs like Alcoholics Anonymous didn’t provide the benefits you hoped for, you may want to try something different in the interest of your long-term sobriety and health.

Therapy retreats for addiction are emerging as a new alternative. Unlike traditional therapies, retreats for addiction offer a break from your usual lifestyle back home, which likely feeds your addiction. This change allows you to focus squarely on the work needed to recover, and removes your day-to-day triggers that may make it harder for you to keep your recovery journey on track. Following your retreat, you will return home feeling reset, with a new plan for recovery.

Retreats combine effective treatment programs in a tranquil setting with small peer groups to ensure you feel protected, emotionally safe, and motivated to get better. The retreat program focuses on you as a whole, including your emotional, spiritual, physical, and medical needs, to help you on your journey and establish the foundation for lasting addiction recovery.

MycoMeditations is a pioneer in healing therapeutic retreats for addiction and other mental health challenges. Our team of experienced professionals, therapists, and facilitators offer personalized addiction therapies and are ready to support you on your journey in a safe and controlled environment. Whether you’re just beginning, or well on your way to healing and breaking the cycle, we can help you overcome the obstacles that still make addictive behaviors a part of your life.

Justin Townsend, the CEO and Head Facilitator at MycoMeditations, often describes how guests report back to him that they simply do not have the cravings they once had before their retreat, for alcohol, in particular.

MycoMeditations’s retreats let you focus on your recovery without daily stressors getting in the way, achieving a deeper insight into who you are and how to stay healthy long after the retreat has ended. Located in Jamaica’s serene and beautiful Treasure Beach, our therapy retreats for addiction provide an intensive healing experience that often achieves more for our guests in a week than conventional therapy can in months or years.

What’s our secret? MycoMeditations’ retreats in Jamaica offer a unique path to addiction recovery through another emerging treatment solution from a time-tested source: magic mushrooms, otherwise known as psilocybin.

We know what you’re asking yourself, “Won’t I just be replacing one drug with another?” or “How could mushrooms help with addiction?”

Psilocybin, a psychedelic substance found in certain mushrooms, was widely studied in the 1950s and 1960s as a treatment for alcoholism and other mental health disorders. Its therapeutic potential for a range of conditions, including addiction, depression, anxiety, and PTSD are currently being studied by renowned research centers around the world, including Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London and NYU Langone Health.

Our 8-day retreat includes three psilocybin sessions in a controlled, supportive environment with a dose tailored to your intentions and needs. To date, we have helped over 2,000 guests with a range of mental health and addiction issues by administering over 6,000 doses of psilocybin. We aim not only to help you to take control of your life, but also to shape a better future.

Scientists have found that psilocybin affects brain regions critical to addiction.  According to a November 2023 review published in the Journal of Neuroscience, “Psilocybin affects multiple receptor types in the brain, but serotonin 2A receptors - which are activated by drug and alcohol use are thought to be their main target. When this receptor is activated, it can reduce cravings and the compulsive desire to engage in addictive behaviors. This effect is believed to be linked to the modulation of brain circuits involved in reward processing and habit formation.”

Early studies on psilocybin have shown promise in treating addiction to alcohol and tobacco, with research from 2016 showing that psychedelics do not lead to addiction or dependence themselves.

Results from an 8-month long randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed that more than 80% of participants who were given two psilocybin doses (combined with psychotherapy) had drastically reduced their drinking, compared to just over 50% of those in the control group. At the end of the trial, half of those who received psilocybin had quit drinking altogether.

In our work with guests suffering from addiction, MycoMeditations’ facilitators continue to see the benefits of the emotional processing enabled by psilocybin. In many cases, the root of long-standing mental health issues, including addiction, is unresolved trauma. Psilocybin experiences provide the capacity to heal by helping to release buried emotions that negatively affect your life.

Lesley, who came to our retreat amid severe postpartum depression and binge drinking, said that after 8 days at the MycoMeditations retreat, she had “zero desire to drink.”

“As a binge drinker for the last two decades, I had a very toxic relationship with alcohol. I did not drink every day but when I did it was to always get drunk and I would often black out. I made attempts to quit in the past but I always returned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. At my retreat, I made the decision to get sober. I thought it was going to be a major struggle for me upon my return home but I am happy to report that it has been the opposite.”

Another guest reported that she had “an amazing experience that has had an enduring impact on my life.”

Shea said, “I went to Jamaica with years-long depression and addiction challenges. And while there are no instant solutions, one year on I feel much happier and I no longer smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.”

The personalized, holistic approach to our healing retreats starts weeks before you arrive. We conduct an in-depth assessment of your specific needs, including mental, medical, and physical requirements, to develop the most effective treatment approach for you. We accept a maximum of 12 guests per retreat to maintain our high facilitator-to-guest ratio, and to be able to tailor each guests’ experience to their needs and therapeutic goals.

Freedom from addiction is possible. The combination of powerful psilocybin therapy sessions in a safe and controlled environment enables us to focus on understanding the root cause of addiction as well as building mechanisms to handle your future triggers and cravings as you create a healthier life. Addiction disorders may not have a cure, but by building healthy behaviors and connections, you can learn how to stay sober in your daily life.

Apply for a MycoMeditations retreat today to explore how we can help you overcome addiction.

Or watch this interview with MycoMeditations CEO Justin Townsend to learn more about therapeutic psilocybin retreats.