About
MycoMeditations
How We Became
MycoMeditations ✺
With its inception in 2014, MycoMeditations became one of the first modern psilocybin retreats in the new psychedelic renaissance of the past decade. Our early years were humble, with just a few people attending our retreats throughout the year for more wellness-oriented exploration.
Following the release of Michael Pollan’s book How To Change Your Mind, psilocybin retreats rapidly became highly popular, and the next chapter of MycoMeditations was born.
The current ownership and management team also joined MycoMediations around this time and began to implement changes that created a comprehensive therapeutic retreat model which was the first of its kind. We set out to create the gold-standard for what a mental health-focused psychedelic retreat could be. We have worked hard to build a place where people can receive safe, effective, and professional psychedelic-assisted therapy from licensed mental health professionals and experienced facilitators.
This approach has created a loyal alumni community, with many guests returning to deepen the healing benefits they receive from our retreats. About 20% of our guests are people returning for another retreat, and we have many guests who join us annually as part of their personal focus on self-care and growth.
Our Team
Justin Townsend
Justin Townsend
With experience as an advisor to start-ups, most recently in the healthcare space, Justin brings a blend of business acumen, leadership skills and a nose for futuristic health models to the MycoMeditations team.
Throughout his career Justin has worked as a business leader across a range of industries, helping innovative companies identify opportunities, communicate their vision and deliver profitable products. But he has also been on a personal quest to explore alternative healing therapies to combat his own anxiety and depression.
Over the past 20 years Justin has delved into both transpersonal and Jungian depth psychology, explored psychedelic modes of healing and developed meditation and breath work techniques, which he taught in Germany.
After attending a private retreat with MycoMeditations in 2017, he saw the opportunity to combine his unique business skills with his interest in alternative healing methods. Justin joined the MycoMeditations team soon afterwards, becoming partner and CEO in 2019.
As a retreat facilitator, Justin draws inspiration from the profound healing he is privileged to witness and believes that psychedelics offer an exciting path forward for mental health.
Mike Ljubsa
Mike Ljubsa
When completing his Bachelor of Commerce degree in University, Mike suffered from depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Conventional treatments he tried didn’t help, which was when he discovered psilocybin mushrooms and began to explore his mind in a quest for healing.
After his first experiences, psychedelics became his primary interest. He realized these compounds were completely misunderstood by society and offered something far greater than he ever imagined.
Looking to take his exploration further, Mike went to MycoMeditations in its early days and over the course of a week in Jamaica, undertaking three of the biggest psilocybin experiences of his life, everything changed for him. This transformative week allowed him to leave with a completely different perspective on life. The experience completely reframed his understanding of personal issues, the human mind, and reality. He has pursued psychedelic exploration ever since.
Mike immediately dropped his career plans to join MycoMeditations and provided initial funding. He oversees business-related projects and often works at the retreat as a facilitator.
Abbie Townsend
Abbie Townsend
With over a decade of management experience in the hotel and hospitality industry and an impressive background in photography and design, Abbie brings a wide variety of skills to the MycoMeditations team.
Abbie brings her unparalleled organizational skills to on-site logistics and operations in Jamaica and is always available to past, current, and future guests who need assistance. She coordinates all our vendors, transport team, massage therapists, and villa staff, maintaining a high level of service and quality for all our guests.
In addition to her hospitality experience, Abbie is an award-winning photographer and is responsible for all the beautiful imagery included on the MycoMeditations website and social media platforms. After completing a degree in Photography and Design from the Hallmark Institute in Massachusetts, Abbie ran a New York based studio from a British photography company, where she was awarded International Photographer of the Year in 2019. Prior to this, she was the first American woman to ever be awarded an Associateship with the British Institute of Professional Photographers.
With her combined love of hospitality and design, Abbie has been a fundamental part of elevating the guest experience at MycoMeditations to a new standard.
Gwen Ingram-Jones
Gwen Ingram-Jones
In addition to working in the psychedelic-assisted therapy field, Gwen is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She specializes in working with clients with eating disorders, which often means treating depression, anxiety, and trauma.
Gwen has been working in the mental health field since 2007 and holds a designation as a Child Mental Health Specialist. She has worked in a variety of settings ranging from weekly outpatient care to involuntary psychiatric hospitals. Additionally, she has obtained certifications from MAPS’ MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training Program and for Substance Use treatment.
Gwen’s own relationship with psychedelics has led to continued personal growth and increased insight. She attributes her ability to move through life’s challenges and goals and tend to relationships that better align with her values to this work.
While working with others in this field, she may use skills from Motivational Interviewing, DBT, IFS and Lifespan Integration. Our guests are drawn to Gwen’s calm, supportive energy, and her genuine care for others is a daily presence on retreat.
Jonas Rosen
Jonas Rosen
Jonas is a licensed social worker who specializes in mindfulness-based therapies.
Ever since his first psilocybin experience, Jonas has been deeply passionate about the intersection of psychedelics and mental health. Over the past decade, psilocybin has helped him overcome anxiety, realize a profound sense of interconnection, and discover new life meaning and purpose.
Jonas has worked as a facilitator at MycoMeditations for over two years. Having repeatedly witnessed psychedelic healing in-action, Jonas is continually inspired by the power of psilocybin to help us self-actualize and grow to our fullest potential.
In 2020, Jonas founded a company named Inner Vision to provide education and compassionate support around the psychedelic experience. He is also creator of the YouTube channel, “Cosmic Consciousness with Jonas,” where he shares educational content around psychedelics, consciousness, and the mysteries of life.
Caterina Bragagnolo
Caterina Bragagnolo
Caterina is a Board Certified, Art Therapist and Trauma Specialist working primarily in private practice since 2013. Throughout her experiences providing individual and group therapy within multiple populations, Caterina noticed the benefits of incorporating Art Therapy practice into the integration of adverse experiences. This allowed her to cultivate a passion for blending neuroscience, somatic experiencing, attachment theory and creative practices to support others as they process and unpack cues from the subconscious. By using non-verbal forms of self- expression to explore, gain insight and make meaning of the metaphor and symbolism within psychedelic experiences, participants are able to gain additional understanding of themselves. Her passion is focused on empowering individuals through engagement in the creative process in order to gain understanding of the self and their experience, while providing support in the process of uncovering one’s innate healing intelligence.
Currently, Caterina is an integration provider within the Psychedelic Support network and Contributing Artist for Women on Psychedelics. She continues to focus on increasing access to Psychedelic Art Therapy Integration while working towards EMDR Certification. She is also a professional member of the European Federation of Art therapy and the Jungian Art Therapist Association.
Our Philosophy About
Psychedelic Medicine
We believed that psychedelic therapy was missing one critical ingredient. An ingredient that was necessary to normalize these medicines and help these therapies become accepted in the modern world after decades of stigma and taboo about psychedelics.
That ingredient was to make psychedelic therapy approachable to everyday people. We set out to create a psychedelic retreat program designed to fit into today’s culture, and we have now hosted over 2,000 guests and facilitated more than 6,000 psilocybin therapy sessions as a result. These days, it seems like nearly all access to psychedelic medicine must be delivered by a practitioner that resembles an eclectic mix of New Age mysticism, Eastern philosophy and Indigenous ceremonial practices.
While the intention to respect the ancient roots and the esoteric nature of psychedelic medicines is noble, the need to confine psychedelic medicines to belief systems that are simply not relatable within our modern Western society is unnecessary, and possibly harmful. Attempts to infuse Indigenous belief systems and frameworks into current therapies by Western practitioners with no direct lineage or apprenticeship to these Indigenous systems can also be seen as culturally inappropriate and insensitive.
Indigenous and historical use of these medicines should absolutely be taken into consideration for how to best inform modern practices, however, these healing systems and frameworks are meant to be kept and carried forward by those with direct ties to them.
Our Promise to You ✺
You will be provided with the safest and highest standard of therapeutic care within a retreat model that has proven to provide lasting transformations in the lives of thousands of guests that have joined us over the years.
It is our wish that you can experience this for yourself.
