The Jungle Gayborhood’s Ethical Stance

This document is intended to be a living document, one that is refined and evolves along with the community and the input, experience, and feedback from the members of the community. We strive to continue this endeavor with humbleness and awareness of our own imperfection. We thus welcome respectful dialogue and contribution to these topics, which can be directed at [email protected]. 

The creation of this document is inspired by many sources, a special mention goes to the efforts of the Ethical Psychedelic International Community (EPIC) in creating and sharing resources, open documents, and guidelines. 

We require all facilitators to sign an ethical and confidentiality agreement. The most recent version of this agreement can be found here. 

Safety, screening, and preparation

We have a detailed and full-spectrum health screening in place to assess participant suitability for work with sacred plants and expanded states of consciousness. The screening is current, informed and updated with the latest scientific findings and with traditional points of reference. Further, when suggested by the screening, we schedule more in-depth calls to understand the full individual who wishes to attend a retreat.  In case we, for any reason, find that the person is not suitable for this work at this given time, we strive to support them in finding the best option for them. We ensure there is sufficient support and attention given to every participant before, during, and after a retreat. If there are any doubts about the participant’s suitability, then we will refer the participant to a specialist. We also include the specific needs, life experiences, and mental health risks for the LGBT+ population, striving to offer a space that is accessible even to individuals with more complex needs. 

We honestly disclose the risks and benefits of intentional sacred plant experiences. We are open and honest about the nature of transformation and the complexity of work with sacred plants or sexuality, and never propose a treatment to a diagnosis. If medical advice is required, we have medical support on call in the vicinity of the retreat center. If medical advice is required after the participant has left the property, we will encourage them to seek the support of a medical professional and will support them in doing so.

We offer (both written and oral) clear terms of agreement that include payment, services offered, and details of individual expectations and responsibilities regarding the retreat. We also embrace the unpredictable nature of this kind of work, and remain open and flexible in order to meet any specific needs that may evolve as a result of the participant’s experience. If the needs of the participant change at any time, we are open and willing to make referrals and support communication with other specialists. This entails supporting the participant in finding a professional to offer continued care outside of the Jungle Gayborhood premises and eventual communication with this specialist regarding what has emerged for the participant. Following privacy regulations, this will always happen under written approval of the participant. 

We believe in non directiveness: we maintain that the participant is the expert on their own experience. We foster autonomy in the process of transformation by supporting the participant in being responsible for realising their own goals, be it learning, growth, healing, or transformation. We are here to provide a safe and judgment-free environment that is conducive to a process of transformation. We honor, serve, and support the process of each participant, we do not direct it.

We believe in consent. Starting from a deep conversation regarding consent and offering practices that support the participant’s capacity to feel into the lived experience of consent. We will also offer education regarding consent. Consent is obtained before a sacred plant or sexuality ceremony, but can be retracted at any time. This act of self determination will be honored and met as a gift. 

We disclose the extent of our training, are aware of eventual limitations, and are prepared to offer a referral to other specialists where appropriate. We maintain a relevant and vetted referral network that aligns with our principles to this end.

We ensure that there is space to consider the health and safety of the participant, making sure that the participant will be safe and supported throughout the process – before, during, and after. This includes an emergency plan with clear steps in the case that there is a medical emergency and a night watch on the nights of the sacred plant ceremonies. Further, we regularly check in with every participant, in order to foster an environment of prevention.

Sexuality, therapeutic touch, and sexual relationships

Currently, we offer both intentional and ceremonial psychedelic experiences and experiences involving intentional and ceremonial sexuality. We believe it is important to offer these experiences because of the high rates of mental, emotional, spiritual, and sexual distress experienced by the LGBT+ community.  Currently we aim to keep these two experiences completely separate by offering psychedelics retreats that are celibate, and sexuality retreats that are sober.

Sometimes, during the course of ceremonies, we will be using what is called therapeutic touch. This will be explained in detail to the participant at the beginning of the retreat. The participant will be supported in their own capacity to give consent and will be required to give consent or not, and supported in feeling fully empowered to retract their consent at any time. All of the facilitators offering therapeutic touch are trained extensively in its use, engage in personal practices in order to maintain healthy boundaries, and engage in intervision and supervision to continue creating safe spaces for their participants. 

We have detailed policies on sexual relationships between facilitators, assistants, and participants. In general, we require facilitators to engage with participants in ways that are safe, clear, and respect the needs of a participant in non ordinary states of consciousness (whether that be during a psychedelic or sacred sexuality retreat). For both kinds of retreats, we have detailed ethical and confidentiality agreements for our facilitators and facilitators will abstain from engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with participants. This will occur for the duration of the process of the retreat, from preparation to the end of the integration process. For psychedelic retreats, there is a timeframe of six months during which sexual or romantic relationships between facilitators and participants are not allowed. For sexuality retreats, we require a timeframe of 60 days during which sexual or romantic relationships between facilitators and participants are not allowed. Beyond these time limits, we observe that the fundamental aspect for participant safety is not a timeframe, but an individualized assessment of the psychospiritual state of the former participant and the possible effects of having been on a retreat with that facilitator on the connection  between the facilitator and the former participant. This is to say that even if more time has elapsed than the previously mentioned time limit, but the former participant is found to be in a trauma response or unstable state, the facilitator will refrain from a sexual or romantic relationship. Further, this means that the facilitators keep holding a degree of awareness of the role they have had for the participant and maintain responsibility in the interaction with the former participant. At any point, our facilitators are trained to uphold the highest ethical standards and to uphold and respect participant autonomy, freedom, and consent, something we generally wish for any human connection.

In our efforts to create a space for authentic exploration and expression of the self, freed from shame and embracing the multiplicity of the human pursuit for pleasure, we are a sex positive space. Outside of plant medicine retreats and always maintaining practices of consent, we support safe and consensual play.

Facilitators

The facilitators maintain clear, clean, appropriate, and culturally-sensitive boundaries. We don’t impose our own personal values or worldviews, fostering an individual understanding of eventual emotional processes and spirituality (if present), avoiding bringing forth our own ideologies.

We understand the potential for the heightened suggestibility of participants, especially during and immediately after the sacred plant experience, and therefore make careful considerations around consent, which include non-verbal cues. Further, we recognize the power imbalances in the roles of facilitators and guides and are trained to safeguard the participant from this. If any doubts or issues might arise, we actively and promptly seek out peer support and supervision. Further, we have processes in place, by which participants can reach out for support to a neutral party, which maintains participant confidentiality (grievance protocol) and safeguards them from any direct contact with the facilitator, if they wish so.  In our protocols, we strive to be anti-colonial and anti-punitive, maintaining the objective of restoration and rehabilitation rather than punishment. 

We are mindful that there is an increased chance of intensified transference and countertransference at work in the professional dynamic, understand the implications of this, and are trained to navigate these in a way that safeguards our participants and their processes. As a team we regularly debrief under supervision of the Clinical Director and strive to understand these dynamics rather than acting on them.

Confidentiality

We manage and store participant data in compliance with HIPAA and GDPR regulations.

We establish and maintain privacy and confidentiality, and will only share information with supervisors in a way that protects the participant’s anonymity. Participants will be informed on how their data is treated, and will be informed if and when professional consultation about their case may occur. We will never disclose personal information without the participant’s consent, unless there are valid exceptions for breaking confidentiality (e.g. if the participant or a third party is deemed at risk of harm). Even under these exceptions, we will inform the participant before acting.

Philosophy

We strive to be a safe and judgment-free space for any participant, regardless of creed, political orientation, financial situation, life experiences and employment, neurotypicality or diversity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, body shape and size, ethnicity, relationship with self or towards others, education, health, class, caste, religion, nationality, language, or other status.

We believe in having a personal relationship and practice with expanded states of consciousness (as induced by psychedelics, breathwork, meditation, ecstatic dance, etc.) and have extensive experience in these practices. Because of this, we honor the potential wide range of experiences participants can experience, even experiences that go beyond what the facilitators have had a chance to experience. 

We recognize the impact colonialism has had indigenous people, and how that is still present in extractive practices with psychedelics. We strive to educate all members of our community, with the intention of entering right relationship with the wisdom keepers of these traditions, as well as with psychedelics themselves, seeing them as intrinsically tied to the cultures and traditions that have stewarded their use.

We commit to ongoing personal and professional growth, including training, self-care, self-reflection, and work to become aware of our unconscious material,  biases, shadow. We regularly engage in intervision and supervision to continuously support this process and to continue to offer safe spaces. 

We recognize the nature of working with expanded states of consciousness and the variety of experiences and insights that might be part of the process. Therefore, we do not offer guaranteed results, nor do we believe sacred plants should be approached with this mindset.

We understand that being grounded, present, and having mind, body, heart, and spirit in alignment is especially beneficial when working with expanded states of consciousness, and commit to ongoing and regular continued personal and professional practices and development.

We commit to an evidence-informed approach wherever possible, especially with regards to safety. However, we also appreciate that the research is still emerging and complies to one form of knowledge building and transmission, we thus honor and respect the wisdom traditions, even though their knowledge may not be present in the research. We strive to remain engaged in reciprocity efforts and in relation with these wisdom traditions, while understanding that a queer-only environment has specific ontologies and cosmologies that may not have been included in either traditional or evidence-informed forms of knowledge.

In general, we are a clothing optional space, celebrating the beauty of the diversity of manifestations of the human body. We invite everyone who joins this space to not comment on another person’s body without consent, whether the intention of the comment is positive or negative. We also strive to create a space that avoids making others feel sexualized by their nudity, by fostering self-awareness to ensure everyone’s comfort and modeling these principles firsthand. Depending on the content of the retreat and constellation formed by the participants of a specific retreat, certain events and retreats may not offer a clothing optional space for all or part of the retreat. This will be made clear to all participants before the event commences.

We generously share best practices, resources, and learnings with others in the field. 

Please send questions or comments and contributions to our Clinical Director at [email protected].