For the partners, family members, friends, and caregivers of Survivorship Collective participants

Someone you care about is participating in a Survivorship Collective program. This guide is for you. Participants are encouraged to share it with the people closest to them before or after the program.

Survivorship Collective supports people affected by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses through a program that includes preparation, a multi-day in-person retreat with psychedelic experiences, integration, individual support, and ongoing community.

While your loved one is the person participating in the program, the experience of returning home happens within relationships. You may notice changes in how they talk about their illness, body, relationships, priorities, spirituality, or future. They may want to share a great deal with you—or very little.

You do not need to understand psychedelics, agree with every insight they have, or know the "right" thing to say. This guide offers some simple ways you can support someone you care about as they return home and make sense of their experience.

Communication

Your loved one may come home wanting to tell you everything. They may also have no idea how to explain what happened.

Both are okay.

Give them the opportunity to share without pressuring them to do so. Listen without immediately interpreting the experience, questioning whether it was "real," or trying to decide what it means for them.

Some experiences can feel deeply personal or difficult to translate into language. They may need time before they understand what they want to share.

You don't have to understand everything. Being willing to listen is often enough.

Give Change Time

Your loved one may return with new perspectives about their health, identity, relationships, priorities, or future.

Some of these insights may become important and lasting. Others may evolve with time.

You can support them by being curious about what feels meaningful without assuming that every realization needs to become an immediate life change.

If they are considering a major decision, it can be helpful to give the experience time to settle. Integration is not about acting on every insight. It is about discovering what remains meaningful when someone returns to everyday life.

Community Matters

Community is a central part of Survivorship Collective.

Your loved one may have formed unusually close relationships with other participants. They have spent time with people who understand experiences that can be difficult to explain—serious illness, changes to the body, fear, grief, mortality, survivorship, and uncertainty.

Those relationships can remain important after the program end