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About Us

Soma Institute is an international collaborative of therapists from different backgrounds who are committed to the development and delivery of healing practices rooted in Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness.

We draw our expertise from several decades of deep inner search, personal development and clinical work. We have undergone long therapeutic training and developed expert skills that converged into psychedelic-assisted practices. 

We work in the realm of Mind, Body and Spirit using psychotherapy, conscious breathwork, yoga therapy, psychedelic healing rituals and ceremonies, psychedelic preparation, integration and education.  We work with groups, couples and individuals, at retreats and remotely. 

If you are seeking a new approach to mental health, well-being and self-development through expanded states of consciousness, Soma is the place for you.

Co-Founders

Sonia Doulton - MA
Integrative Psychotherapist
Tereza Sai
Yoga Therapist | Body Therapist
Alessio Faggioli - MA, BSc
Psychotherapist | Psychologist

Team

Andrea Nagy - MA
Art Psychotherapist | Psychologist
Dr Howard Whitehouse - PhD
Psychologist | Scholar
Dr Alejandro Fiol - MD
Psychiatrist

Clinical Supervisor

Dr. Friederike Meckel Fischer
Dr. Friederike Meckel Fischer
MD | Psychotherapist

Advisory board

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Our Partners

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.”

Rumi

Contact

info@somainstitute.org

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Sonia Doulton - MA

Integrative Psychotherapist

Originally from Italy, Sonia Doulton earned her Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy from The Minster Centre, London, and her Master’s in Integrative Psychotherapy from Middlesex University.

She completed the program in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and the program in MDMA Psychotherapy with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 2018. 

She is a co-founder of Ceremony Health, a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic in Berkeley and facilitates psychedelic integration circles for San Francisco Psychedelic Society. Sonia is intake coordinator at Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic Polaris Insight Center in San Francisco and leads integration groups in the Polaris Insight Training Program,  as well as running her private practice. 

Sonia discovered non-ordinary states of consciousness early in her life and has been integrating them in her practice as a way to move beyond the natural limitations of traditional psychotherapy. At Soma Institute Sonia guides participants into non-ordinary states of consciousness and integration through music, movement and art.

Tereza Sai​

Yoga Therapist | Body Therapist

Originally from the Czech Republic, Tereza holds 3 different certificates in Yogic studies. She has been working in the field of bodywork therapies for the last 11 years, studying and earning a 3 year diploma in Craniosacral Therapy (Upledger Institute Ireland).

For over 10 years she has been working in the field of Body, Mind and Soul, running workshops and retreats. Her travels to South America led her to experience the work of ancestral medicine which resulted in diving into the psychedelic realms. As a result she enrolled into a transpersonal psychotherapeutic training under the Grof Legacy Training. Tereza abides on the healing principle of transformation and as a senior Yoga teacher is committed to her own transformational journey with her embodied practice. She believes that our goal is to live in a synchrony with a God/Goddess, Universe and Nature.

Alessio Faggioli​

Psychotherapist | Psychologist

Originally from Italy, Alessio Faggioli earned his first bachelor in science 20 years ago. Since then he embarked on a journey to earn his bachelor and accreditation in Psychotherapy in Ireland first and an MA in Psychology in Italy later. In his research he explored the therapeutic potential of psychedelic within clinical settings. 

He trained in Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy with the clinic Polaris in San Francisco and he works with PsyOn in Prague, Czech Republic, the first  ketamine clinic to open in Europe. Alessio’s interest in expanded states of consciousness began more than 20 years ago when he was introduced to meditation. His long depression led him to travel and live in South America and be initiated into the practice of psilocybin mushrooms in Huautla de Jiménez, in the lineage of Maria Sabina. 

Meditation, psychotherapy and psychedelic therapy are Alessio’s world and his way of living.  Supporting people who decide to embark on a similar pathway is his mission.

 

Andrea Nagy

Art Psychotherapist | Psychologist

Originally from Hungary, Andrea earned her Master’s degree in Psychology over 15 years ago. After moving to Ireland she worked for years with asylum seekers from all over the world.

Language became a sound, words transformed into images. The work inspired her to complete an MA in Art Therapy. For over 12 years she worked with individuals from all ages, held workshops and introductory courses on Art Therapy. In her journey to South America plant medicine opened the shamanic realms of healing and cosmology for her. As a result she developed a unique approach in her work where she combines art-making, eco-psychology and shamanic practices. In 2022 she began her first training with the Lyceum; a women-centred European shamanic practice that works with the HoneyBee as a living symbol, ally and motif.

Dr Howard Whitehouse

Psychologist | Scholar

Originally from Chicago, Dr Howard Whitehouse has been involved in psychedelic research for the last 40 years. He received a PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2005.

His dissertation research entitled, The Challenges of the Return from a Shamanic Odyssey: A Heuristic Exploration, involved a ten-year apprenticeship with Pablo Sanchez MSW, a Native American curandero, whose approach derives from the lineage of Maria Sabina, Oaxaca, Mexico. He received an M.A. in Humanistic Psychology from University of West Georgia in 1984, and a B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology from Northeastern Illinois University in 1976. He is co-founder of the Human Science Research Institute at University of West Georgia. Current research interests include shamanism, sacred initiation process for post-modern culture, psychedelic preparation and integration. Howard is also a certified massage therapist. 

Dr Alejandro Fiol - MD

Psychiatrist

Born and raised in Spain, Dr Fiol is a Psychiatrist who received his medical degree from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and he has completed a speciality in Psychiatry from Hospital Universitario Dr Negrín de Gran Canaria, Spain.

Alejandro holds a degree in Economy and postgraduate studies in health and humanitarian development cooperation. He is an experienced Psychiatrist working in the public and private sectors, currently working in private practice. In addition to medical training, Dr Fiol has completed extensive training in body-oriented psychotherapy including bioenergetics, gestalt and enneagram, just to name a few. He also has a long-standing history and regular practice of meditation, tai-chi, chikung and yoga.


In recent years Dr Fiol has embarked on intensive training and in-depth studies of psychedelic therapies, professionally and personally because he believes that psychedelic medicines can help people deal with mental health issues in different ways, sometimes as a complementary to psychotherapy and for others as an alternative treatment.

Dr. Friederike Meckel Fischer

Dr. Friederike Meckel Fischer

MD | Psychotherapist

Born in Germany in 1947, Friederike Meckel trained as a medical doctor and a medical psychotherapist in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Between 1989 and 1991, she trained as a Holotropic Breathwork© facilitator with Prof. Stanislav Grof in the US. She has also received training as a psycholytic therapist, couples therapist, family therapist, and family constellation therapist.

In 1994, she relocated to Switzerland where she practiced conventional psychotherapy, conducted Holotropic Breathwork© sessions for groups, and engaged in systemic family constellation work.

For nearly a decade, she provided substance-assisted therapy as an underground therapist, subsequently sharing her experiences as a keynote speaker at various conferences, including Breaking Convention and Beyond Psychedelics. She has also documented her journey in her book, “Therapy with Substance,” and contributed chapters to other books.

Although retired as a therapist, she continues to offer private psychological counseling in Zurich, advocating for best practices in psychedelic-assisted therapy and sharing her knowledge and experiences with the next generation of psychedelic therapists.

 

Soma Institute

Privacy Policy

In the following, we inform you about which data we process when you visit this website as well as when you make entries and enquiries about this website. In addition, we provide you with information that is necessary to ensure fair and transparent processing of personal data.

Our online offer contains links to Internet pages of other providers, We have no influence on whether these providers comply with the statutory data protection provisions.

Data processing when visiting this website

Personal data is not collected or processed when accessing this Internet site. For the provision of the offer and for quantitative measurement of the accesses, only the following data are temporarily stored in a log file:
– anonymised IP address
– name of the file accessed and amount of data transferred
– date and time of the call
– request details and destination address (protocol version, HTTP method, referrer, user agent string)
– message whether the call was successful

So called temporary cookies are used when calling up individual pages. These session cookies do not contain any personal data and expire at the end of the session. Session cookies and only used to enable and ensure the necessary technical functions or to make the website user-friendly and optimally adapt it to the user’s needs. No cookies are used to identify users and to evaluate user behaviour (no so-called web tracking).

Submissions and inquiries

Thw website only processes such data in connection with submissions and inquiries to this offer that are necessary to communicate with you and to properly document administrative actions. This includes in particular personal information (e.g. surname, first name, address, e-mail address, etc.) that we have received directly from you yourself, as well as information about the contact channel you have chosen (telephone, e-mail, contact form). The processing of the data is necessary for the performance of our tasks (cf. Article 6(1)(e) GDPR).

We will only pass on the data we receive from you to third parties if you have expressly consented to this or if we are obliged to do so by law or on the basis of a court decision.

The submission and inquiries in electronic form – as well as in paper form – is carried out in accordance with the time limits applicable to the storage of written material in the Registration Directive, which supplements the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries. As a rule, the retention periods for this are 10 years.

For information on the rights of persons affected by the processing of personal data and on how to lodge a complaint, please refer to the data protection information on the GDPR website of the European Union, which you can access via these links: https://gdpr.eu/tag/gdpr/ & https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

Disclaimer

At Soma Institute we are expertly trained, have years of experience with non-ordinary states of consciousness and we help with preparation, education and integration of psychedelic experiences. We offer a safe, non-judgmental, and confidential space to process non-ordinary states and their potential for growth and transformation. 

We do not provide, condone, or support the use of illegal substances. There are significant legal and medical risks associated with the use of psychedelics. These risks are amplified for people who are experiencing mental health difficulties. 

At Soma Institute we facilitate legal psychedelic retreats and/or provide help to those who have had a psychedelic journey and need support with unpacking and making sense of the psychic material that was brought up during the experience. We do not recommend or endorse any specific procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on this web site. We encourage you to do your own research and due-diligence.

The information available on this website is not intended as medical advice or a substitute for obtaining medical advice. Soma Institute assumes no responsibility for the suitability of psychedelic medicine for any purpose. You are encouraged to review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on, or accessed through, this website.