The Netherlands-based Synthesis Institute, which offered psychedelic retreats and practitioner training, has filed for bankruptcy, leaving almost 300 students enrolled in its psilocybin facilitator training course in Oregon with an uncertain future.
The company started expanding to the US in 2021, and Synthesis planned to establish a psilocybin service centre and facilitator training programme. It secured $7.25m in Series A funding in September 2021, with an unusual company structure in the form of a Steward-Ownership organisation.
The retreat may have met with bureaucratic roadblocks, but Synthesis’ psychedelic practitioner training programme was one of the first approved by the state of Oregon. The first students to embark on the Psychedelic Practitioner Core Training programme did so in November 2022. The course was due to take 13 months and had an upfront cost of just under $10,000.
Synthesis was a major player in the space and raised a quite a bit for this kind of company. That said, the fact that an important part of the practitioner space fell by the wayside is concerning.
