Experiential Training Institute — Frans Halsstraat 7, Netherlands
Psilocybin truffle retreats and practitioner training in the Netherlands
The day begins at about 9:30 in the morning, when participants arrive at a meditative space and sit down with Hans and Jeanine for a final exploration before the truffles. It usually ends around 5:00 PM, with food, first impressions, and expressive and art therapy techniques for putting feelings into form. That is the centre of a three-day retreat at the Experiential Training Institute (ETI), and it comes after a preparation day and before a day of integration.
Hans van Wechem, a psychiatrist with over 30 years in the field, and Jeanine Souren, a clinical psychologist and sexologist, founded ETI in 2022. They met in Amsterdam at Field Trip Health, where Hans was Medical Director and Jeanine Head Therapist. By their account, hundreds of clients were guided through magic truffle sessions there. ETI, they write, grew from that shared work and from years of their own experience with psychedelics. They describe it as an experiential education company for training mental health practitioners.
The small group retreat is the foundation, limited to eight participants. The sequence runs from application, screening and intake through preparation days, the truffle journey, and an integration day. Integration draws on internal family systems, schema-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, systemic work and breathwork. Private journeys for individuals and couples journeys follow the same medically supervised, legal approach. Meals are plant-based, and the retreats include nature time, movement, meditation and a post-retreat community.
Sessions are held in Amsterdam and, from 2027, also in Culemborg, where the listed price includes accommodation. For practitioners, ETI offers Core and Advanced training programmes, and Jeanine has taught future psychedelic-assisted therapists at the Integrative Psychiatry Institute since 2022.
Traditions: Psilocybin truffle journeys, Breathwork, Mindfulness and meditation, Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Expressive and art therapy
Programs: Small Group Retreats, Private Journeys, Couples Journeys, Psychedelic Practitioner Training: Core, Psychedelic Practitioner Training: Advanced, Experiential Retreat module