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Safe Ayahuasca Retreat Peru - Ethical Healers_edited_edited.jpg

-  We Cultivate High Standards of -

SAFETY

& ETHICS

To ensure your utmost health, safety, and well-being

YOUR SAFETY IS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY

At Casa Galactica, we are at the industry forefront in creating and adhering to stringent safety protocols, trauma-informed standards of care, multi-dimensional ethics, and professional codes of conduct to ensure your utmost health, safety, and well-being on your healing journey with us.  You may rest assured that we have everything in place to provide the highest level of care possible for embarking on this deeply transformational journey with ayahuasca, bufo, and/or medicinal plants. 

 
SAFETY PROTOCOLS:

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  • We are first aid trained, and we have a comprehensive first aid kit and supplies on site at all times.

  • We follow safety protocols throughout the retreat, ceremony, or immersion to ensure your mental, physical, and emotional safety for the duration of your stay with us.

  • We provide each participant with a Declaration of Health, to complete and sign upon arrival at our center for the retreat, ceremony, or immersion, to confirm that you have not been ill with Covid-19 within the last 14 days and to ensure the physical health of all Casa Galactica employees, apprentices, staff, volunteers, and participants.

  • During retreats and immersions, we provide daily cleaning and disinfecting of your private room, shared bathrooms, public spaces, and kitchens.

  • In the event that you get sick during the retreat, ceremony, immersion, or upon arrival to the retreat center, you will be required to self-quarantine in your private room for the duration of the retreat, ceremony, or immersion until you are well again.  We will provide you with proper hydration, nourishment, and medication as needed.  In the event that you experience a severe illness, we will arrange an ambulance or taxi for transport to a local hospital or clinic in Urubamba or Cusco.  We will accompany you to the hospital or clinic, remain in contact with you throughout your hospital stay, coordinate with your emergency contact in your home country, and provide additional support as necessary.

  • We´ve created an in-depth pre-screening process and Preparation Package for retreats, ceremonies, and immersions in accordance with the ICEERS (The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service) guide, "Towards better Ayahuasca Practices", to ensure that participants are properly prepared, educated, and informed.  We also provide a private, online Preparation Session on how to prepare for your retreat, ceremony, or immersion and to discuss medical conditions, medications, and your personalized medical guidelines.

  • We have an emergency protocol in place for any medical emergency that may arise, which includes 24-hour transport to a private health clinic or hospital in Urubamba (a 20-minute drive) or Cusco (a 45-minute drive)​.

  • We have excellent cell network coverage at our Center in case of emergency​​.

  • We serve pure, traditional ayahuasca brew – containing only the Ayahuasca and Chacruna plants - with no admixtures (admixtures are additional components that can cause complications and adverse reactions with participants)​.

  • We limit our group retreats, ceremonies, and immersions to small, intimate groups of a maximum of 6 to 8 participants, which means there is a minimum ratio of 1 ceremony leader to 4 participants at all times.

  • We, the Ceremony Leaders, Michael and Jamie, are available 24/7 during your retreat, ceremony, or immersion for care and support, no matter how big or small the need.  We are available before, during, and after ayahuasca ceremony and bufo ceremony to help participants process through their experiences.  After ayahuasca ceremony and bufo ceremony, we ensure that  everyone is feeling grounded, safe, stable, and secure.  Our home is adjacent to the Center and we provide you with walkie-talkies and/or our Signal app number, should you need us during the night.

  • We provide a comprehensive Integration Package to ensure that you have all of the support you need to reintegrate back into your life at home, including post-ceremony Sharing & Integration Circles and private Integration Sessions.  We also host a free, monthly online Sharing & Integration Circle community via Zoom video-call that is accessible to all participants.

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TRAUMA-INFORMED STANDARDS OF CARE:

 

  • We are practitioners and trainers of trauma-informed care.

  • We facilitate every retreat, ceremony, and immersion with an emphasis on the following trauma-informed care tenets: safety; choice/agency; collaboration; trustworthiness; peer support and mutual self-help; and empowerment.

  • We recognize the complex nature and effects of trauma, and we promote resilience and healing.

  • We recognize and teach qualities, skills, and tools that allow people to overcome the most devastating trauma, and not just survive, but evolve into higher densities of experience and find new purpose and meaning in their lives.

  • We have 20+ years of combined professional experience assisting people through deep healing processes including trauma, sexual abuse, violent abuse, ritual/cult abuse, addiction, PTSD, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and more. Whatever may arise for you within a retreat, ceremony, or immersion, we trust our ability to support and guide you safely through the process.

  • We provide a "3-point process" for trauma screening of all participants, ensuring that we have a clear and comprehensive understanding of a participant´s trauma history and encouraging normalization and disclosure of trauma as a powerful act of healing.

  • We provide a balance of male and female facilitation and a coherence of masculine and feminine energy in our interactions and engagements with participants during our ayahuasca retreats and ceremonies. Bufo Alvarius ceremonies are facilitated solely by Michael.

  • We cultivate and maintain "professional distance" at all times during retreat, ceremony, and immersion, meaning that all interactions and engagements with participants occur within the appropriate work environment and context, as the participant´s care and support needs are our sole focus.

  • In all activities, retreats, ceremonies, immersions, and additional plant medicine treatments, when physical touch is perceived to be necessary, we always state the purpose and obtain consent or permission from the participant before engaging or interacting with physical touch.

  • We share in-depth information about what you can expect in regards to all activities, retreats, ceremonies, immersions, and additional medicinal plant treatments.

  • All activities, ceremonies, and additional medicinal plant treatments on retreat and immersion are absolutely voluntary, and it is each participant´s free will choice to participate.

  • Participants are provided with clear guidelines about their rights and responsibilities in the Ayahuasca Retreat Terms & Conditions of Purchase, Ceremony Terms & Conditions of Purchase, and Bufo Alvarius Terms & Conditions of Purchase

  • We clearly communicate, respect, and adhere to our own interpersonal and professional boundaries, and we mutually inquire about, respect, and adhere to the expressed interpersonal and professional boundaries of our participants.

  • We actively support, guide, and encourage participants to access and utilize their own internal wisdom and personal experience to strengthen their own inner authority.

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MULTIDIMENSIONAL ETHICS:

 

  • We are adept and integrous multi-dimensional healers and professional channels, skilled in connecting consciously and collaboratively with spirit, polarized in service to your highest healing, good, and purpose, and in absolute honor and respect of your spiritual sovereignty.

  • We are trained Ceremony Leaders within what we refer to as the "Noya Rao path" of plant spirit healing.  This is a beautifully non-dual, multi-dimensional, and welcoming collective of souls, spirit, plants, trees, beings, and humans whose primary healing intention is that you discover and know the truth of who you are at the core of your being.

  • We create/intend/hold the ceremony space no further than the property boundaries of our Center, as to not infringe upon the sovereignty of any other beings.

  • We set the intention for all healing work to be done in absolute alignment with your very own Higher Self, and we perceive your Higher Self as the expert, the true healer, in you.

  • We trust your inner love and intelligence, allow you the dignity of your own experience, and empower you to be attentive to your own truth, whatever that may be.

  • We recognize that we are learning alongside you, gaining understanding from your experiences, and growing from your insights and new-found awarenesses.  We are sincerely grateful to be doing so.

  • From our non-dual foundation, we allow all things to be present and we see all experiences as teachers.  We do not engage in defense, attack, battle, manipulation, coercion, control, violation, harm, infringement, abuse, entrapment, or enslavement.  Instead, we greet all energetic challenges as a learning opportunity.

  • Our wholehearted desire is to dissolve karma within this 3rd density experience, and not to perpetuate it.  We therefore strive to embody the adage, "Do No Harm" in all of our work.

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PROFESSIONAL CODES OF CONDUCT:

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  • At Casa Galactica, we say in Spanish that, "El pasajero es primero."  This translates to,"The participant is of primary importance."  This means that all employees, apprentices, staff, volunteers, and participants who participate in our retreats are to behave in a professional manner that places the highest safety, health, healing, and well-being of the participants above all else.  This also means that every interaction, engagement, conversation, and healing session with the participants are to be entered into with kindness, compassion, respect, love, and professionalism.  The following behaviors are considered unprofessional, will not be tolerated by Casa Galactica, and will be considered grounds for termination of employment or expulsion from the retreat, ceremony, or immersion: excessive cussing; using derogatory words or language; forcing a participant to take a medicine or participate in a talk/workshop; disrespecting others; threatening others; stealing; performing criminal acts, carrying a weapon, exposing oneself, asking participants for money; engaging in "triangulation" dynamics; or any other unprofessional behavior.

  • We commit to non-discrimination, and we do not exclude people from our retreats, ceremonies, immersions, or employment on the basis of race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, cosmic origin, ancestry, age, religion or religious creed, disability or handicap, biological sex, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any other discriminatory characteristic or reason.

  • We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment in any form.  Sexual harassment is harmful, constitutes discrimination, and is illegal.  For the purposes of this policy, “sexual harassment” is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.  Sexual harassment may include a range of subtle and not-so-subtle behaviors and may involve individuals of the same or different biological sex or gender. The following behaviors are considered sexual harassment, will not be tolerated by Casa Galactica, and will be considered grounds for termination of employment or expulsion from a retreat, ceremony, or immersion: unwanted romantic advances or propositions; unwanted sexual advances or requests for sexual favors; sexual jokes and innuendo; verbal abuse of a sexual nature; commentary about an individual’s body, sexual prowess, or sexual deficiencies; leering, whistling or touching; insulting or obscene comments or gestures; display of sexually suggestive objects or pictures; and other physical, verbal or visual conduct of a sexual nature.

  • We also strictly prohibit any other harassment on the basis of any other discriminatory characteristic or reason. Under this policy, harassment is considered verbal, written, or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility, disdain, or aversion toward an individual on the basis of race, skin color, national or ethnic origin, cosmic origin, ancestry, age, religion or religious creed, disability or handicap, biological sex, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, genetic information, marital status, and that: a) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive healing and/or work environment, b) has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s experience, healing process, or work performance, or c) otherwise adversely affects an individual’s healing and/or employment opportunities.  Harassing conduct includes epithets, slurs or negative stereotyping; micro-aggressions; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes and comments; and written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group that is placed on walls or elsewhere on the employer’s premises or circulated in the workplace, on company time, or on social media sites.

  • All Casa Galactica employees, apprentices, staff, volunteers, and participants, and third parties are expected to join with and uphold these commitments to creating an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

  • Casa Galactica will take all available steps to promptly, thoroughly, and impartially investigate and address reports of discrimination, including discriminatory harassment and other harassing misconduct, by and against our participants, employees, apprentices, staff, and volunteers.

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