Psychedelic retreats promise transformation, but who looks after the people running them? Natasja Pelgrom has contributed to more than 1,000 psychedelic ceremonies and was a founding member of Synthesis Institute, one of Europe's first legal psilocybin retreats. Today she mentors and supervises practitioners through Eudaimonia Institute.

In this episode, she looks back at the early days of Synthesis and the tensions that pulled it apart, and argues that the field has to stop treating psychedelics as a cure-all and face its shadow side. She talks about whether teenagers should use psychedelics, what makes an ethical supervisor, and why practitioners still have no one to call when a ceremony goes wrong.

In this conversation:
01:55 — Natasja's first psilocybin trip at 14
05:42 — Should teenagers use psychedelics?
09:31 — Why young people still crave rites of passage
11:04 — How Natasja went from nightlife to facilitation
17:41 — Purpose vs. the need for external validation
23:06 — The wounded healer in every practitioner
27:01 — How to tell intuition from ego
30:39 — Inside the early days of Synthesis
35:18 — How COVID exposed tensions inside Synthesis
37:48 — What Natasja took away from the Synthesis years
43:29 — Why the field must face psychedelics' shadow side
51:04 — What makes an ethical psychedelic supervisor
58:18 — Supervision or eldership?
1:05:04 — Who supports facilitators when something goes wrong?

Meet Natasja
Natasja Pelgrom is a psychedelic care advisor, educator and mentor with more than 13 years of experience in transformational work. She is the founder of Eudaimonia Institute and Awaken the Medicine Within, and the creator of Presence-Centered Leadership™. Through Eudaimonia's Guardian Collective and Guardian Academy, she offers practitioners ongoing education, supervision and peer connection beyond one-off trainings.
Website
Eudaimonia Institute
Free resource for practitioners: Facilitator Capacity Check-in
LinkedIn
Instagram: @natasja_pelgrom

Stay in touch with Sophie, the host
Instagram: @sophiesharper_
LinkedIn: Sophie J. Spitzer

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Disclaimer:
This episode includes open conversations about psychedelic use and mental health. Everything shared reflects personal experience and is not medical advice or a substitute for professional care. Psychedelics are illegal in many countries, so check the laws where you live. If you're going through a hard time, please reach out to a qualified professional or a local support service.

Sabba Nazhand spent 20 years in startup sales roles in London, Hong Kong and New York before turning to psychedelics. Today he is co-founder and CEO of Safar, an AI-driven continuity-of-care platform for psychedelic practitioners.

A first 5-MeO-DMT journey with no integration support left him disoriented for weeks and showed him the gap he would go on to build Safar to fill. In this episode, he talks about building a psychedelic startup in a space with almost no money, how he found the right co-founder, why AI can help practitioners between sessions, and what chasing this mission has cost him personally.

In this conversation:
02:35 — What Sabba leaves out of his origin story
05:41 — From years in startup sales to psychedelics
07:41 — A first 5-MeO-DMT journey with no integration support
14:11 — Building Safar in a space with no money
20:23 — How to break into the psychedelic field
24:48 — How Sabba found his co-founder
31:57 — How Safar supports clients between sessions
39:05 — AI, privacy and sensitive client data
42:07 — The sacrifices behind building Safar
45:06 — Depression, divorce and an ADHD diagnosis
54:23 — What keeps Sabba grounded
57:18 — Three lessons for entering the psychedelic field
1:05:10 — How Sabba told his family about psychedelics
1:08:43 — Sabba's wishes for the psychedelic industry

Meet Sabba
Sabba Nazhand is the co-founder and CEO of Safar, a continuity-of-care platform that helps therapists, coaches, clinics and retreat centers stay connected with clients between sessions and measure outcomes. Before entering the psychedelic space, he spent 20 years at fast-paced startups, working his way up from appointment setter to chief sales officer.
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram: @sabba_joinsafar

Stay in touch with Sophie, the host
Instagram: @sophiesharper_
LinkedIn: Sophie J. Spitzer

Follow States of Mind
YouTube Channel — @statesofmindhub
LinkedIn — States of Mind
Instagram — @statesofmindhub
X — StatesOfMind_
Spotify Podcasts
Apple Podcasts

Disclaimer:
This episode includes open conversations about psychedelic use and mental health. Everything shared reflects personal experience and is not medical advice or a substitute for professional care. Psychedelics are illegal in many countries, so check the laws where you live. If you're going through a hard time, please reach out to a qualified professional or a local support service.

Jakobien van der Weijden first came across psychedelics behind the counter of an Amsterdam smart shop at 18, long before she knew they could be a tool for healing. More than twenty years later, she is a psychedelic guide and co-founder of Microdosing Institute.

A single ayahuasca journey showed her she was the creator of her own life, and the lifelong feeling that everyone else had been handed an operating manual for being human became the thread that runs through her work with people. In this episode, she talks about building a microdosing community from scratch, what lab studies miss about set and setting, and why the field needs more specialized, neurodivergence-affirming care.

In this conversation:
01:32 — When psychedelics turned from healing into Jakobien's work
05:06 — The ayahuasca journey behind Jakobien's turning point
10:30 — Co-founding Microdosing Institute in 2017
18:51 — Lessons for anyone building a psychedelic training program
23:34 — Is microdosing just placebo?
28:44 — A typical week in Jakobien's practice
32:34 — Why you don't need to feel ready to start practicing
38:48 — The case for specialized psychedelic care
40:55 — Normalizing hypersensitivity and neurodivergence
49:23 — Does being neurodivergent make you a better practitioner?
55:09 — Staying resourced after three burnouts
1:02:15 — What psychedelics teach us about letting go
1:06:58 — What the field is underestimating right now
1:13:39 — Jakobien's one message for aspiring practitioners

Meet Jakobien
Jakobien van der Weijden is a psychedelic guide based in Amsterdam. Trained as a psychotraumatologist, she takes a body-based approach to her work as a retreat facilitator, microdosing coach and trauma recovery coach. Her personal journey with psychedelic medicines spans more than 20 years, and in 2017 she co-founded Microdosing Institute.
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram: @jakobienvdw

Stay in touch with Sophie, the host
Instagram: @sophiesharper_
LinkedIn: Sophie J. Spitzer

Follow States of Mind
YouTube Channel — @statesofmindhub
LinkedIn — States of Mind
Instagram — @statesofmindhub
X — StatesOfMind_
Spotify Podcasts
Apple Podcasts

Disclaimer:
This episode includes open conversations about psychedelic use and mental health. Everything shared reflects personal experience and is not medical advice or a substitute for professional care. Psychedelics are illegal in many countries, so check the laws where you live. If you're going through a hard time, please reach out to a qualified professional or a local support service.