The Integration Center concept provides a way for individuals to effectively work to address the deep sickness that has grown in our natural environment, in our global culture, and in all the members of that culture.

Integration Centers provide a means for people to escape the vicious cycles of labor and debt that keep us stuck in these sicknesses. And by escaping, those people also empower themselves to provide real healing to others, to the culture, and to the environment.

While Integration Centers build a new culture and a new economy, they must navigate the current culture and economy. They do this by using two tools: money and the legal structure of a business.

Using these tools, founders of a new Integration Center follow this multi-stage business plan to acquire a parcel of land, build a permaculture design for the land, set up an educational/healing retreat center there, and grow an ecovillage around that retreat center.

The retreat center provides an optimal environment for healing: a healthy community that works to acquire and eat food together while nurturing the land that produces that food.

Some retreat participants will want to stay within that community, and so the village will grow.

The described business may be organized as a for-profit (depending on local legal code), but this plan does not provide direct return on investment. Rather, the return it offers is non-financial, enabling the funders to build a better life for themselves and a close-knit community to support that better life. The plan also empowers those funders with a way to take direct action against the massive environmental and societal crises we now face.

The retreat center provides funds to allow members to continue to participate in the outside economy; and it enables new members to join the village without massive financial burden. And when the village gets too large, the center provides funds to acquire a new parcel of land and seed a daughter Integration Center.

This is not an easy plan to implement, but it is doable by motivated people. It is set up to be implemented in stages, and thought is given to minimizing expenses at every turn. One individual probably cannot do this plan alone, but a small team of skilled and dedicated partners should have a strong chance of success.

As noted on the About page, this plan and all contents of this site are openly distributed under a Creative Commons license that gives anyone the freedom to use, modify, and distribute this plan, with proper attribution and under the same license.

Vision

The vision driving the development of Integration Centers is a world where all individuals are free and thriving within a supportive society that nurtures a flourishing local and global biosphere.

Mission

The mission of an individual Integration Center project is to build a thriving community working to facilitate individuals’ transition away from the extractive and isolating paradigms of the status quo, toward a healthy life guided by regenerative practices and heart-centered community.

Phased Plan

This plan sets out phases to minimize the amount of initial investment needed, to allow time for zoning negotiations, and to allow for healthy natural growth of the village.

The end goal of each Integration Center project is a thriving ecovillage of around 100-150 people, where many of the residents of the village are the operators of a healing retreat center.

Three weeks a month, the healing center hosts somewhere around a dozen people from a nearby city. Those people stay for 1-3 weeks and participate in programs as well as in village activities (especially related to growing and preparing food).

The last week+ of each month, past participants are invited to stay in the village and participate in village activities.

Some Integration Centers may have off-months for inclement weather, when there will be little garden/farm activity to do for guests. In those off-months, the Center will still be open for existing offsite members to stay there and participate in village activities.

Occasionally, past participants will decide to move to the village permanently; and when the village gets too large (150-200 people), a portion of the village will use Center funds to buy another noncontiguous parcel of land and move there to found a new Center, starting back at phase one.

Phase 0 – Startup. ~2 years. Gather financing, set up initial company, identify and purchase land, build at least one structure. This may be the most challenging step, as it requires navigating the current system to build the foundation for the bridge to the new system. See the Prerequisites section for more detail.

Phase 1 – Integration Center. 2-3 years. Start running retreats. At first, these can be sporadic, simplistic, and include just a few people in tents for a small fee. As things develop, they will turn into the standard retreat format at a standard, sliding-scale fee. The ideal target audience will be nearby people who have had a recent psychedelic experience, though the Center can serve anyone who seeks to heal within a natural community.

Phase 2 – Healing Center. 3-5 years. The retreats of the Integration Center will begin to include healing ceremonies. If allowed by local laws, the preferred type of ceremony would be psychedelic; with a very experienced, and very humble facilitator. In places where effective medicines are not accessible, the Center can continue as in Phase 1, since the difference is mostly one of branding. It is not the intention of this plan to promote illegal activities; and it is not recommended that implementers of this plan try to do ceremonies that are not legal. This project is likely to require significant government involvement for zoning changes, and so it needs to be as compliant with local laws as possible.

Phase 3 – Village. 5-7 years. Gradually but continually through the earlier stages, the Center will be building additional permanent housing, as Colleague and Associate members will one by one want to live on-site permanently and become Partner members. Under optimal conditions, this phase could happen earlier in the process. However, due to likely zoning difficulties, it may nonetheless take years to get the village density approved.

Phase 4 – Mitosis. Perhaps every 5-7 years. The village splits when it grows too large for the capacity of the land to readily support, or when it gets larger than about 150 people (reference Dunbar’s Number). Reserve funds are used to purchase a non-contiguous parcel of land, and a splinter group leaves to found a new Center there.

Phase X – Stabilization. Over time, as more Centers grow nearby, an individual Integration Center may wish to wind down its retreat center activities and stabilize into a village that is less prone to growth and mitosis. That village would likely then focus on a different village industry, providing regeneratively-produced products or services to the outside economy and/or to other Integration Center villages.

Site Plan

An Integration Center can start out with one building large enough to accommodate 10+ people. Even without a building, guests could be accommodated in tents, cabins, RVs, or other creative forms of shelter (though perhaps not practically in inclement weather/seasons).

The goal from there is to have a building or group of buildings that has a large common room, a large communal kitchen, and several private or semi-private rooms and/or adjoining residences. These central structures would act as the healing retreat center, and over time would begin to be surrounded by homes (preferably in a cohousing format) of permanent residents.

In the long-term, there may be separate but proximate buildings for community center functions and healing center functions; as the commotion from the former must not interfere with the latter.

If the site is big enough, then the design will allow for commercial buildings to be built over time, such as community stores and workshops.

Over time, the plan will make accommodations for child and elder care near the Center.

All construction will be dictated by a continually evolving permaculture site design, and buildings will be constructed to flow with their surroundings using natural building techniques. (Bio-Veda designs set a good standard for the kind of construction that would be both appropriate and affordable.) These structures do not need to include every modern amenity, as the Center will be teaching people how to live more simply. For example, there may be some clothes washing machines and stoves, but there are unlikely to be clothes dryers nor microwave ovens.

When possible, construction costs can be kept low by using natural building techniques and materials, leveraging access to significant volunteer labor (though there may not be much volunteer labor before there are accommodations), using pre-owned and salvaged materials, and minimizing technological and luxurious amenities. 

Other elements of the site will be heavily influenced by the nature of the property, but should include: large gardens for annuals, 2+ large greenhouses (for seedlings, medicines, and off-season crops), many perennial food plants (food forest), a large chicken coop/run, a natural swimming pool, an all-ages playground/movement-space, and probably a barn/stables.

Retreat Format

The format of retreats will evolve over time, with different Centers trying different approaches and offering their learnings back to the model. Linked here is the basis for the Curriculum.

At their core, integration retreats will always be about connecting to nature in a basic way, connecting to a healthy community, and connecting to one’s true and untraumatized self.

Given the deep illnesses in individuals, society, and the environment, one-to-three weeks of intensive program-participation cannot bring someone to anything like optimal health. However it does give them a huge boost on their personal healing journey, while providing a container in which they can continue that journey. If they decide to move in to the village, they will be able to benefit from the full advantages of that container and have all the tools they need to work toward a truly healthy and thriving state.

Membership

The philosophy behind the setup and continuance of Integration Centers is based on reconnecting to nature, and thus to un-othering what is outside the individual. Therefore all governance- and finance- related features of the model are set up to be egalitarian. However, starting up the Centers within the current economic model requires them to have elements of the current extractive/competitive model. In using these elements, this plan works to make them have minimal negative impact on the village society and to make them removable at a time when they are no longer necessary.

The initial structure of the organization running an Integration Center is probably most similar in the United States to a multi-stakeholder cooperative (with elements of a fraternal benefit society). Everyone who works at, lives at, or patronizes the Center will be a member. The three main classes of membership will be:

• Associates: the primary receivers of the programs of the Center (analogous to customers).
• Colleagues: people who contribute to the programs of the Center (analogous to staff) and/or are in desperate need of community assistance. 
• Partners: the founders and core administrators of the Center. These are the people responsible for developing and delivering the programming of the Center. Over time, most of the people in the village will be Partners.

Each level of membership will have prerequisites:

• Associate members: 
  • Complete at least a week of programs at the Center.
  • After the first year, pay membership dues.
• Colleague members: 
  • Already be an Associate member. 
  • Commit to providing a designated amount of work to the Center each month.
  • Commit to a year-long program of multi-modality personal growth and healing.
  • Commit to upholding the principles of the Center.
  • Be accepted by consensus of current Partners.
• Partners: 
  • Have completed a year of Colleague-level multi-modality curriculum.
  • Commit to their own continual personal growth and to supporting the development of others within the community.
  • Commit to providing a designated amount of work to the Center for an extended period of time and to eventually moving their residence to the village.
  • Commit to upholding the principles of the Center.
  • Commit to the long-term prosperity of the Center and the village.
  • Take responsibility/liability as a designated “owner” of the company.
  • Be accepted by consensus of current Partners.

All members of an Integration Center will receive forms of housing, food, and voting rights; and all members will give services to support the community and to nurture the land. Each member type may have an “offsite” subtype, encompassing individuals participating in the Center but not presently residing at the village. See supporting spreadsheet detailing the sub-types of membership and the value exchanges for each.

The end-goal of the Centers is a world where everyone is a Partner in the village of an Integration Center, and the healing center functions have simplified into a structure that helps village members deal with recent and current trauma (as those will be the only traumas left unresolved).

Governance

All members will have some voting rights in the company and in the village, with Associate members’ votes having only limited impact and/or only being able to vote on a limited set of things. Colleague members will have expanded voting rights, and Partner members will have full voting rights.

The specifics of governance of the company will depend in large part on the legal structure the company needs to take in order to fit the local government’s understanding of what it is. As much as possible, it should attempt to match the governance style of the village.

The governance of the village should be based on principles of open-source governance. A consent-and-consensus model is recommended, where actions can be proposed by anyone and voted on by anyone (or at least any Partner). However, no member is required to vote, and their abstention implies their consent to the decision of the voters.

In the recommended decision-making process, anyone can offer a solution to a proposed issue, and voters can vote for all solutions they agree with. If multiple answers to a proposal remain in a pareto front, then another round of proposal-refinement and voting occurs. This continues until only one answer remains, showing consensus among the voters.

This decision-making process is implemented in the Vilfredo tool. While Vilfredo is enacted in software, it can be implemented on paper as well. There may be better decision-making systems, but this should be considered the baseline standard.

Prerequisites

This model is meant to be flexible and adaptable. There are many variables that can be changed to match circumstances. This model is also meant to be achievable, and so it is set forth in a staged strategy, starting with relatively small resources and growing incrementally as more resources become available.

The basic prerequisites to get started are, in summary:

• Partners forming a company.
• The company buying land that is:
  • suitable for implementing the design.
  • in a suitable political locality (zoning).
  • accessible to a population center.
• Financing to achieve the above and to last until solvency.

For a detailed examination of those factors, see the Prerequisites page.

This plan is a detailed outline, but significant further planning will be needed by anyone trying to effect this plan. As soon as one has a sense of the cost of land in the area, work on building a solid budget with real numbers should commence.

Expenses

If the founding Partners cannot raise sufficient funds, there may be substantial loan carrying costs (though as noted above, these should be looked at as a last resort due to the bank-debt currency model). And/or there could be investment-return costs, if financing can be secured from regenerative investment sources. Ideally both of these sources of funding will be zero.

Various one-time construction costs will probably be expensive and are heavily dependent on the site plan. Founders should strive to keep construction costs much lower than conventional rates as noted in the Prerequisites section. Also the site plan should be staged so that some costs are not realized until later.

There can be numerous one-time landscaping costs (again, dictated by the permaculture design). These could include significant earthworks (much of this may be needed very early in development), as well as significant numbers of trees/bushes. Greenhouses might be able to be used to reduce plant costs, though that will delay tree productivity and take away from production capacity for annuals. 

There will be notable furnishing costs, which potentially can be kept low through salvage and buying used furnishings. Still, many new items will be needed, such as lightbulbs, bedding, etc.

There will be several one-time costs for vehicles (the site will need at least one car or van), equipment (e.g. for earth-moving), and many tools (for farming, landscaping, construction, maintenance, cleaning, and cooking).

Ongoing building/site maintenance costs should be kept very low by using on-site labor, natural materials, and intelligent site design. However, there are likely to be some notable costs here, such as parts and expert help for technological systems (e.g., solar panels, water systems, etc.).

External supply costs will be kept to a minimum through a focus on self-sufficiency. Still, there are likely to be costs for communications, supplemental food (especially at first), supplemental (grid) electricity, raw materials, manufactured goods, plant seeds/stock, supplemental animal feed, and possibly livestock (including veterinary costs).

Personnel will be a major cost center. Human resources will be needed to handle administrative functions, manage the buildings and grounds, manage the food and the kitchen, manage participant registration and fee-collection, manage participant activities throughout the day, and coach/teach the participants various classes in various fields. This could be done with maybe as few as two on-site people, but practically will need four or preferably more. These people will be given free room and board, but they will be working hard most days and will need additional compensation. (See proposed economic model spreadsheet in the membership definitions section: these people will not be employees as much as members within a defined membership class.)

There are likely to be costs for outside personnel and services, such as accounting and legal council. 

There will be ongoing insurance costs for liability and property/disaster.

Marketing costs are quite variable. Underground psychedelic retreats are often marketed strictly by word of mouth, and while all Center activities will be above-ground, similar marketing may be possible. Beyond that, marketing would be targeted to local and online groups focusing on psychedelics, permaculture, trauma healing, and intentional community.

Apart from labor, program costs should be quite low. There may be some expenses for lesson materials, tools, guest lecturers, fees for off-site outings, etc.

Revenues

Most revenues will come from participation fees. Participants will be paying for one or more weeks of accommodations, all meals, and intensive programming including classes, coaching, therapy, bodywork, and healing ceremonies. It is reasonable to charge a lot of money for that (see Market Research section). However, this programming needs to be widely-accessible, and so an aggressive sliding-scale should be employed. The standard fee should be set to close to double the necessary rate, so that the sliding scale can go down to an almost-symbolic low cost for people with no money.

Initial and ongoing revenues may come through donations, both from investors/contributors and from former participants. Centers are unlikely to accommodate investors, as the model is not about providing a return to a singular individual or entity. However, contributions are reasonable to expect.

Ongoing revenue will come from membership fees. All participants will be granted Associate membership for one year, and then be asked to renew their membership each year. In return, they will be given benefits such as access to the premises and food, participation in events, discounts on return visits, etc. They will also be receiving non-monetizable benefits in the form of community and social support. (See Membership section.)

Additional revenues may be available through providing accommodations and/or as an event venue on weeks/months that the Center is not running programming. However, theses option should be avoided if at all possible, as they are basically inviting people to use the land instead of to nurture it.

Solid though not necessarily large revenues could come from selling food to local chefs, farmers’ markets, or other outlets. Potential foods include eggs; perennial surplus harvests (e.g. nuts, fruits, etc.), mushrooms, herbs, surplus annuals from the kitchen gardens, and/or a few small-scale/high-value dedicated cash crops (possibly including cannabis where legal).

If there are human resources to spare (which will happen eventually as more people come to live in the village), the Center might provide other externally-facing services such as teaching courses (in person and online), providing therapy, and eventually possibly selling/trading goods that are manufactured in the village.

Market Research

There are no direct comparables to this concept, as several aspects of the programming, the business model, and the development plan are novel. This plan is differentiated by combining psychedelics and permaculture, embedding within a community, using a cooperative/membership model, and by providing a natural (as opposed to luxurious) experience where communal growing, harvesting, and preparation of food is a core focus; and where there is no dedicated cleaning staff.

There are numerous businesses doing individual aspects of this plan. Partially comparable programs include: retreats/workshops centered around wellness, meditation, and yoga; healing medicine/psychedelic retreats; farm and homesteading retreats; and one organization running psychedelic integration retreats. Some of these are detailed in the Comparables spreadsheet (to be uploaded), though much more work needs to be done here.

Prior to launch, it is advisable to visit several successful ecovillages, farmstay or homesteading retreats, medicine retreats, and wellness retreats.

Marketing

Initially, marketing will be word-of-mouth within the founding Partners’ community. First they need to attract the right human resources and preferably to attract additional financial contributions. Then they will market for “client” type members, still from within their own community and to people connected to it.

A founding group may be able to attract sufficient people simply through nurturing those connections. If they see a need to reach out further, they should start with various communities they are connected to in the fields of psychedelics, permaculture, intentional community, trauma healing, homesteading, and wellness. When possible, founding Partner members should leverage contacts within those communities to develop cooperative direct marketing to their members.

How programming at the Center is messaged will be critical to drawing in the appropriate audience, and will need to be tailored to the local area. Potential offer/takeaway messages might be along the lines of:

• What holds you back? Use the safe space of an accepting, loving community to explore and make peace with your past traumas. 
• What drives you? Learn more about your true self, free of the judgement and expectations of modern society.
• What are you? Learn how to integrate your body more fully into your sense of self, how to move your body more freely, and how to promote physical health through better movement.
• What do you need? Connect directly with your food by nourishing the land and the life that nourishes you.
• What is healthy living? Connect with healthy community by participating in nurturing natural activities with individuals who support you, are vulnerable to you, and respect your freedom.
• What is health? Connect with nature by living a natural human lifestyle: within a small collaborative village integrated into its local environment.

Budget

It would be extraordinarily difficult to provide a generic budget with projections that can work on any land anywhere in the world. This business plan is set up more as a lean startup, where the business process evolves as the project evolves. Until one or more projects have made it through the first couple of phases, this site will be unlikely to provide detailed guidance on budgeting.

Following is a spreadsheet providing a basic chart of accounts. Most numbers are variable depending on the local price of land, human resources, materials, and construction; as well as the skillsets of the founding Partners. So there are no actual numbers in the spreadsheet, just suggestions as to the relative quantity of each item for each phase. Cells that are left blank are expected to be zero. The file is in ODS format, and should be openable by most spreadsheet applications.

As noted above, this plan is a detailed outline, but significant further planning will be needed by anyone trying to effect this plan. As soon as one has a sense of the cost of land in the area, work on building a solid budget with real numbers should commence. From there, one should then work on preliminary projections for phases zero and one.

Further Reading: Why Integration Centers Heal Individuals, Society, and Nature.
Further Reading: Psychedelic Integration in a Healthy Setting.