The Realities of Psychedelic Facilitation - Professional Masterclass with Natasja Pelgrom

This 4-part live online masterclass series explores the real-world demands of professional space holding in expanded-state work

Join individual sessions or access the full series. All sessions are recorded and available to participants.

About

This series examines the lived realities of professional space holding in psychedelic and expanded-state contexts. Each session engages with the often-unspoken demands of facilitation, from shadow dynamics and energetic stewardship to professional structure and the long-term cost of the role.

Grounded in somatic psychology, field dynamics, and shamanic perspectives, the series brings metaphysical insight into direct relationship with practical, accountable facilitation.

Sessions include case exploration, guided inquiry, and real-time reflection, allowing participants to work directly with the material rather than engage it conceptually.

Led by Natasja Pelgrom, each session is delivered live online via Zoom and runs for 90 minutes.

Highlights

• 4-part deep dive into the lived realities of facilitation
• Live interactive sessions with guided inquiry and real-time reflection
• Weekly sessions coversing shadow, energetics and business structure
• Live case exploration
• Bridges somatic psychology, shamanic perspectives, and clinical practice
• Recording available for all registered participants
• A unique opportunity to learn with an international online learning community
• Certificate of completion available

Who is This Masterclass For?

• Aspiring and practicing psychedelic facilitator
• Retreat leaders, ceremonial guides, and space holders
• Integration practitioners, therapists, and coaches working adjacent to psychedelic work
• Somatic and spiritual facilitators holding altered or expanded states
• Those considering facilitation and seeking a grounded reality check
• Experienced facilitators longing for reflection, supervision, and ethical anchoring

This workshop is not for those seeking facilitation techniques, altered-state induction, or spiritual status.

Curriculum:

Masterclass 1:  Shadow in the Facilitator Role: Projection, Power, and Distortion in Expanded States

Tuesday 9 June  7–8:30 PM UK / 2 PM EST

In expanded states, participants become more permeable, symbolic, and responsive to subtle cues, making the facilitator's unexamined material more consequential. Shadow here is not abstract. It shows up in pacing, in what you interrupt or allow, in where you place attention, and in the meanings you reinforce or subtly impose. This is an interactive session. Participants will work with real facilitation scenarios, micro-decision analysis, and guided self-inquiry to identify where their shadow begins to influence the space — and how to interrupt that pattern without losing presence.

• How shadow organises the field, not just your thoughts, but the group dynamic, emotional tone, and perceived "direction" of a session.
• Recognising saviour patterns, hesitation around authority, and inflation as energetic postures, not just behaviours.
• How projection and countertransference intensify in expanded states and begin to shape interpretation and intervention.
• The difference between tracking what is arising vs. steering it toward what feels meaningful or comfortable.
• Working with authority without collapsing into control or disappearing into passivity.

Masterclass 2:  Energetic Stewardship as Professional Duty: Holding the Field without Distortion, Projection, or Control

Tuesday 16 June  7–8:30 PM UK / 2 PM EST

This workshop will reframe "energy" from something vague or esoteric into a domain of professional responsibility. Drawing from somatic psychology, field dynamics, and shamanic perspectives on relational space, we examine how a facilitator's state does not just influence the room — it organizes it. This session bridges these lenses without mystification. It brings the metaphysical into dialogue with practical facilitation, where perception, interpretation, and intervention carry consequence. Participants will engage with real scenarios, subtle field analysis, and guided inquiry to translate energetic awareness into grounded, ethical, and accountable facilitation practice.

• What "holding the field" means in operational terms — attention, timing, boundary, and relational positioning
• How the facilitator's nervous system, attention, and internal narrative shape the symbolic and emotional tone of the space
• A shamanic lens on stewardship: tracking what belongs to the participant, the relational field, or the facilitator, and where entanglement begins
• Distinguishing perception from projection when working with intuitive or energetic information
• Recognizing when "energy work" becomes control, avoidance, or meaning-making imposed onto the participant
• Practical approaches to energetic hygiene as discipline: preparation, clearing, and post-session integration without reliance on ritual performance or belief

Masterclass 3:  The Business of Facilitation: Money, Boundaries, and Agreements as Part of the Container

Tuesday 23 June  7–8:30 PM UK / 2 PM EST

A direct examination of the structures that make this work viable and the internal dynamics that often distort them. In this field, questions of pricing, boundaries, and agreements are rarely neutral. Unexamined beliefs around worth can lead to undercharging, overextending, unclear agreements, or inconsistent decision-making. Over time, this does not preserve integrity — it erodes it. We approach business not as a compromise, but as a stabilizing structure. The session is interactive. Participants will work with real scenarios, review their own structures and agreements, and identify where internal beliefs are shaping external business decisions so these can be recalibrated with precision.

• How beliefs around worth, service, and money shape pricing, boundaries, and professional decisions.
• Recognizing where undercharging, overgiving, or ambiguity are driven by identity rather than discernment.
• Why agreements are part of the therapeutic and ceremonial container — not separate from it.
• Setting scope, roles, and expectations in ways that reduce relational confusion and implicit contracts.
• Clear communication as a form of risk management and ethical practice.
• Structuring offers, pricing, and policies without distortion, avoidance, or overcompensation.

Masterclass 4:  The Loneliness & Cost of Holding: Burnout, Isolation, and the Hidden Demands of Holding Others

Tuesday 30 June  7–8:30 PM UK / 2 PM EST

A direct look at the often-unspoken reality of facilitation: the cumulative cost of being the one who tracks, regulates, and holds others over time — and often without equivalent support. This class examines the psychological, relational, and energetic weight of the role. Not as a sign of failure, but as an inherent demand of the work. This is an interactive session with guided reflection and structured dialogue. Participants will map their current support systems, identify points of strain or isolation, and assess what is required to continue this work without depletion becoming the baseline.

• The dynamics of burnout, overextension, and invisible labour in facilitation roles.
• Why isolation emerges structurally — not just personally — in this line of work.
• How unprocessed emotional load and energetic residue accumulate over time.
• The tension between being "of service" and remaining in right relationship with your own limits and needs.
• Recognizing when your life begins to mirror imbalance in your work and how to respond without self-judgment or avoidance.
• The function of supervision, consultation, and peer structures as stabilizing — not optional — elements.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the series, you will leave with:

• A grounded understanding of what professional space holding requires.
• Language to articulate boundaries, responsibility, and scope of practice.
• Awareness of shadow dynamics and how they manifest in facilitation.
• Practical insight into energetic hygiene and metaphysical stewardship.
• Clarity around sustainability.
• Relief from idealised or performative facilitator narratives

Natasja Pelgrom

Natasja Pelgrom is a supervisor for leading facilitator and practitioners, speaker, educator and founder working at the intersection of psychedelic assisted care, and leadership. With over 20 years of experience across the wellness, creative, and hospitality sectors, she supports individuals and organizations navigating long-term transformation with integrity and discernment. She is the founder of Awaken the Medicine Within retreats and the Eudaimonia Institute, and has held space in over 1,000 ceremonial contexts. Natasja’s work focuses on professional space holding, shadow integration, energetic stewardship, and ethical leadership. She works internationally as a speaker and supervisor, and hosts The Awaken Podcast, exploring the meeting point of science, spirituality, and culture.

Your Organiser

Kate is an event coordinator at the Psychedelic Society. Her research background spans clinical sleep studies, altered states of consciousness, and personalised gene therapies. She currently works applying neuroscience to the arts at the neuroaesthetics lab, Kinda Studios. Working with Onaya Science, she explores how rituals, music, and plant medicines support trauma recovery. Kate brings curiosity and care to the ways we feel, connect, and transform (and will usually be found outside).

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

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