Pioneering the care services of the future.
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SE RT
SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM
Compassionate and specialised support for spiritual & psychedelic crises.
Who you gonna call?
OUR STORY
SERT is a community-rooted initiative based in the Sacred Valley, Peru, offering guidance, resources, compassionate support and logistical coordination to individuals and organisations in cases of spiritual and psychedelic crisis.​
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It emerged as a community response to a very particular need, one that is increasingly present in today’s reality. With the rise of entheogens as an alternative to conventional medicine, the Sacred Valley of the Incas (Peru) has become a magnet for seekers, healers, and adventurers alike. And where there are big quests, there can also be big crises — that’s where we step in.
We are a team of professionals with a diversity of backgrounds and experience in mental health and psychedelic care. We are also concerned community members who have repeatedly witnessed or directly supported cases of acute spiritual crisis in the Valley. The shared frustration at seeing no sustainable support system established between cases eventually transformed into action, and into creating SERT.
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What do we mean by "spiritual emergency"?
(And what does this look like in Sacred Valley.)
THE SCIENCE
The concept was articulated by Stanislav and Christina Grof (1989), calling for discernment between classical psychiatric diagnoses and genuine spiritual awakenings. By spiritual emergencies they refer to
"crises of spiritual opening, during which the individual’s ordinary sense of identity, values, and worldview are challenged and transformed"(Grof & Grof, 1989), and which usually require both professional support and appropriate spiritual guidance.
THE EXPERIENCE
It can manifest in multiple ways, generally felt as a spontaneous, overwhelming, at times incapacitating, experience of high physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual intensity, that involves one’s entire being. The person has no control over it and it persists over time (escalating and severely disrupting life if not properly addressed).
THE SHAMANIC
When this kind of crises unfold within shamanic frameworks, these tend to include narratives around encounters with entities, intrusive forces, or possession. While interpretations differ, such experiences are very real and often deeply destabilising for those undergoing them. By acknowledging these realities, we ensure that individuals are accompanied with dignity, safety, and respect for their lived experience.
At SERT, we draw on the work of the Grofs and expand their framework to include our own observations. The Sacred Valley continuously receives visitors on personal healing and spiritual quests, making the region a busy (unregulated) spiritual hub in itself. In this light, emergencies here can often be understood, to varying degrees, as spiritual in nature.
OUR TAKE
This said...
(You can take a breather here.)
OUR VISION AND & MISSION
Mission
To provide compassionate, specialised support and coordinated response to spiritual emergencies and other complex situations arising in psychedelic and spiritual contexts in the Sacred Valley.
We also work towards offering ethical guidance and education on safety and professional ethics in the field of psychedelic care, locally and internationally.
Vision
To develop as a sustainable, long-term resource in Sacred Valley, where spiritual crisis is neither pathologised nor romanticised, but met with compassion, discernment and appropriate containment and care.
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​To cultivate reciprocal relationships and cooperation with other plant medicine communities and aligned services worldwide, supporting shared learning, knowledge exchange, and collective maturation of the field.​
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To contribute to the global conversation on the present and future of psychedelic practices, and how these are informing societies' (r)evolution.
...When to contact us?
(You can find our number at the top and bottom of this site.)
SERT’s intervention is always a response to a call for help. This may come from a plant medicine ceremonial space, from a concerned loved one, from impacted local community members, or directly from the person in need.
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The most common reasons for reaching out to SERT have to do with feeling out of one's depth in supporting someone in need or recognizing the need of external help for oneself.​
Here is a sample list of situations in which we can help:
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IF YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE (WHETHER OR NOT UNDER YOUR RESPONSIBILITY):
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Cannot self-regulate or return to baseline after substances or ceremony
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Feel unsafe, disoriented, or confused
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Are in an overwhelming emotional or psychological state
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Are losing touch with consensual reality, paranoia, extreme fear, disorganized thinking, visions, unusual sounds or voices
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Show unusual or risky behavior, wandering, agitation, impulsive actions.
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Are isolated, lost, or without safe support (retreats, shared houses, remote areas)
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Cannot care for basic needs (sleep, food, hygiene, shelter)
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Are dealing with unsafe dynamics, escalating conflict, coercion, or abuse in spiritual, ceremonial or psychedelic contexts.
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Feel that something is not right, even if you’re unsure.
SERT'S USERS INCLUDE:
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Passing travelers
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Retreat participants
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Retreat facilitators
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Community members
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Concerned loved ones
Now, who is us?
Meet the team.
Bárbara Espina
Co-founder, Director and Responder
Bárbara is a psychologist, plant medicine practitioner and educator, with nearly a decade of experience in the field of psychedelic care. She supports participants and practitioners as an integration specialist, ceremony guide, advisor and a crisis responder.
A student of the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition (Pucallpa, Peruvian Amazon) and Andean cosmovision, her practice is continuously informed by her regular engagement in global initiatives, such as ICEERS, which shine light on safety, good practices, integration, indigenous voices, and professional responsibility in spiritual and etheogenic work.
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She holds a MA in Applied Theatre, with focus on community healing and education through theatre-making and embodied storytelling. Her arts-based project Once Upon A Ceremony (2024) offers a sacred, guided group container for playful expression, active reflection, and ethical awareness around plant medicine experiences. This work culminates in Wisdom of the Holders (2026), a retreat focused on integration, ethics, and self-care for plant medicine practitioners.
Fernanda Baraybar
Co-founder, Secretary & Responder
Fernanda is a psychic strategist and writer, dedicated to the expansion of consciousness. She works as a consultant for Synergetic Press, supporting organizations committed to transformation. With an MSc in Spirituality, Consciousness, and Transpersonal Psychology from the Alef Trust, her research explores spiritual abuse and personalized healing. She's co-founder of Haramara Sal Sanctuary (2023), a local, community-rooted initiative supporting and advocating for survivors of spiritual abuse.
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Deepening her spiritual path, she studies with the Q’ero communities of Peru and the Incan Medicine School, honoring the lineage of her ancestors.
Bridget Sipe
Onboarding Coordinator & Responder
Bridget is an Integration Coach and advocate specializing in psychedelic-informed care during and after crisis, emergency or non-ordinary states of consciousness.
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She holds an MA in Integrative Health with a focus on Consciousness Studies and mental well-being, and has trained in trauma-informed psychedelic integration, with special focus on ethics and somatic approaches. Her professional brackground includes psychiatric inpatient units, group homes, and community settings.
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Informed by lived experience and global study of traditional and Indigenous medicine, Bridget believes healing unfolds through community, nature, relationship, creativity and the stories we are safe enough to tell.
Amanda Rodrigo
Clinical Advisor
Amanda Rodrigo, RN, serves as a Clinical Advisor for the Spiritual Emergency Response Team (SERT), bringing over 15 years of experience as a Trauma-Informed Registered Psychiatric Nurse specializing in Behavioral Health and Chemical Dependency. She has pursued extensive training in integrative healing modalities, including Kambo (Matses), Psychedelic Therapy (American Holistic Nurses Association), Microdosing (San Francisco Psychedelic Society), Breathwork, Trauma-Release Bodywork, and Reiki energy healing.
Now based in the Sacred Valley of Peru, Amanda owns and operates a holistic wellness center where science meets spirit. She offers a heart-centered, clinically grounded approach to risk mitigation and holistic care, believing each person is their own most powerful catalyst for healing and that spiritual emergencies are profound opportunities for growth.
Winn Mallard
Community Lead & Mediator
Winni has lived in Peru since 2009 and brings nearly two decades of deep, relational engagement within the Sacred Valley. Regarded as a trusted elder presence, she offers grounded conversation, mediation, and cultural insight informed by long-term community living and strong local ties. In 2022, she founded SolSeed, a Gnosis-based mystery school and living community hub in Pisac devoted to mystical practice, gatherings, and conscious community development.
Within SERT, Winni serves as a community connector and advisor, supporting social cohesion, offering perspective and orientation, and referring individuals to appropriate resources
Matt Haynes
Internal Management & Team Support
As a transpersonal psychology coach and creative consultant, Matt has an extensive background in leadership development and project creation.
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Facilitating as a transpersonal coach, he supports his clients to access insights, methods and means which helps them overcome their present challenges and access the highest, clearest flowing version of themselves.
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In the capacity as a creative consultant, Matt supports teams with fresh perspective and strategic solutions which helps projects to shape ideas, clarify vision, and strengthen creative direction.
