What we offer
You and your intentions, hopes, fears and experiences are always central to our work, but we have found that it is good to have a basic program providing a framework to start our work from.
Before we start we will always have a Skype session to listen to your intentions, discus any questions you may have and advise you on ways to prepare.
In our programs we will be working with you as a couple similar to the way that MAPS and the Johns Hopkins trials are conducted. Working as a male-female couple will help, among other things, with transference; this means that when any issues with men of with the father figure arise we do not have to overcome this resistance but Coen can take a step back and Patrycja can help you so that you do not have to face this alone but have a safe female presence to support you. And vice-versa.
The sessions will all be conducted at the place you are staying, if you are travelling to Holland from abroad we recommend you find a B&B in Rotterdam where you have a cozy and private space that you can relax and feel free to focus only on yourself. Read more about this on the prices and practicals page.
Therapy sessions
From the comfort of your couch
We both offer online therapeutic sessions.
With these sessions we can help you with a range of different issues or we can focus on preparation for or integration of psychedelic experiences. Please send us an email to tell us what you want or need and we can discuss how we can help you.
Standard sessions are 90 minutes but we are flexible and can adjust this to your needs. We can limit them to an hour or extend them to 2 hours ; whatever works best for you.
Our sessions are based on IFS but we will adjust the approach, pace and intensity to you and are always open to change things if you feel uncomfortable with the way things go. We can also change between either of us if you feel you would like to alternate between Patrycja or Coen. Again: we are flexible and we want to adjust our support to whatever works best for you.
Support for psychedelic experiences
6-day program
Many people who struggle with difficult emotional problems have a feeling that the support from medication and the more cognitive based therapeutic support is insufficient. If you search for more effective support you may learn about the very promising results from many scientific studies into the therapeutic effects of psilocybin over the past decade. Next you may learn that psilocybin truffles are legal for consumption here in the Netherlands and that there are many people that offer to sit with you or places that offer group retreats with truffles.
For people who want to dive more deeply into their own subconscious or are struggling with emotional problems such as childhood trauma, depression or anxiety, who have chosen to explore the potential support of psychedelic truffles and who are seeking dedicated professional therapeutic support in this process.
This program is designed to start or give a powerful boost to your healing process. After all the work you will do these six days, we will gladly advise you which type of further help may suit you or discuss a more in depth program with you.
Before we start our therapeutic work together, we will have a video call to asses how we can work together and to talk about your expectations and about what we feel could help you prepare. We will give you some books to read and one or two simple exercises to do. This talk will always be free of charge and you are completely free to decide not to go ahead after having this talk with us.
The program consists of the following:
Day one: 3 hours therapeutic preparation session including a breath work session. This day, apart from giving you some basic insight into how the mind works, together we will explore your subconscious organisation in a meditative or trance state and you may have a breath work session. Both will help you make a first step towards the psychedelic state and will help us advise a fitting dose for the truffles session.
Day two: the first psychedelic truffles session. The first session is aimed at getting a feel for what this psychedelic experience is for you and making some steps towards your intention. Therefore the first session will be on a milder dose. Mind you, this may still be a large dose compared to a recreational dose of truffles. We tailer your dose together with you knowing that you will be in a highly controlled environment, in our care and are aiming at transforming your life. We will never aim at an overwhelming dose as forcing healing onto you in such a way can be traumatic or a re-traumatising experience. If, at a reasonable dose we find that the experience is not coming on we will explore what is holding you back in stead of trying to overpower it.
Days three and four: 2 hours of therapeutic work each day. We will help make sense of the truffles experience and help you dive deeper into your subconscious material.
Day five: the second psychedelic truffles session. This second session you will be able and more skilled to go deeper on a higher dose if you choose to. After the first psychedelic session you will feel more safe, confident and able to navigate the psychedelic experience and you will know how to make the most of your experience and our guidance.
Day six: the final day we will have a 2-hour integration session and help you prepare to return home
Of course, the psychedelic truffles sessions are completely optional. We can also help you integrate difficult experiences or deal with problems without the use of this psychedelic tool. This may be especially valuable if you have had a bad trip or a psychedelic experience that has left you shaken, and you feel you need help to regain control of your life.
All the therapeutic and psychedelic truffles sessions will be with both of us to help you get richer perspectives but also to provide you optimal support in difficult processes.
If you are interested in more time with us, we can always add extra sessions.
Extended program
to support the 6-day program
Generally we strongly recommend that you have a few online therapeutic sessions before and after our standard 6 day program. These sessions will help you prepare for the, often intense, psychedelic experience by practicing relating to the different emotions, body sensations and memories in a healthy way. Extending your preparation will also help your system feel more safe to relax into the the coming psychedelic experience but also with us (unless you choose to have preparation sessions with another therapist, in which case we are happy to help you choose a good one for this kind of work).
The psychedelic experience will often help you connect to suppressed emotions and sensations. Of course these are suppressed because your system does not feel safe enough yet to confront or feel them. It is good to take time to soften this protective mechanism and slowly help your system learn to feel safe enough to start to relax.
Similarly, integrating the experience into your daily life can greatly benefit from a number of extra integration sessions. It is common for people to return to the pressures and responsibilities of daily life too quickly which will undermine the long term benefits of the experience. Extra integration sessions will help you consolidate the benefits more effectively and will help you if you struggle with increased sensitivity that is typical after such an experience.
This is especially important for people struggling with strong emotional issues but may also appeal to business people who have built a secure life and may feel they have a lot to lose if they were to have trouble returning to the responsibilities of their working life. They may appreciate this extra preparation and aftercare to help not to make life changing choices too impulsively (such as leaving their partner, selling the company or their home, donating large sums to charity or getting back into a past and toxic relationship).
3-day program
Though we strongly recommend not rushing the psychedelic program and process, we will occasionally agree to a three-day program with clients who are less interested in deep therapeutic work or cannot afford to spend 6 days with us.
Day one: 3 hours therapeutic preparation session including a breath work session.
Day two: the psychedelic truffles session. Depending on the experience of the first day, the intention and the history of the client we will decide a dose together.
Day three: the final day we will have a 2-hour integration session and help prepare to return home.
Group retreat (under construction)
We are in the process of developing a group retreat program in nature in collaboration with a number of specialised therapists.