By Charles Johnston · October 2, 2026
Why 28 days? Preparation, integration, and the jungle in ibogaine care
The video above is the full conversation, filmed by the river on our campus in Paraty. You can also listen to it or read the transcript. What follows is the same argument in writing, with more of the background behind it and the research it touches.
People often ask me why Nekawa only runs residential programs of 28 days or longer, when many ibogaine programs last a week or less. The short answer: the medicine is one day. Getting ready for it, and learning to live differently afterwards, takes weeks. Research on addiction treatment in general points the same way: time in care matters, and longer stays tend to go with better outcomes (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
I came to ibogaine as a patient first. After years of heroin and cocaine addiction, I went through ibogaine treatment in Tijuana in 2013. Afterwards I helped launch six ibogaine projects in Mexico and Costa Rica before we founded Nekawa in Brazil. In those years I saw many people arrive, take the medicine, and fly home a few days later. That experience is where my belief that longer is better comes from.
1. Why the length of a program matters
When I say longer is better, I am speaking from what I have lived and seen, and I want to be clear about where the evidence stands.
The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse lists adequate time in treatment as one of its core principles. Its guide says most people with addiction need at least three months in treatment to significantly reduce or stop their drug use, and that the best outcomes come with longer treatment (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). That guidance is about addiction treatment broadly. Nobody has run a trial comparing a 7-day ibogaine program with a 28-day one, so I cannot point to a study that proves our length is the right one.
What I can tell you is why we chose it. Twenty-eight days gives time for three things that a short stay cannot hold: preparation before the medicine, integration that you actually practice, and time in the jungle. Read more about how the Nekawa ibogaine treatment program is structured.
2. Preparation: you don't run a marathon on day one
What a lot of people forget is the preparation. An ibogaine experience is a marathon of sorts, and nobody starts a marathon on day one. You walk first, then you jog, then you get your body ready. Ibogaine is no different.
For us, that means natural food from the garden, time in the sun, getting outside every day, and training in how to navigate the ibogaine process before you go through it. It means taking care of your gut and, above all, your heart.
That last part is not only philosophy. Ibogaine can disturb the heart's electrical timing, which is known as QT prolongation and can raise the risk of dangerous arrhythmias (Knuijver et al., 2022). Heart rhythm problems are among the most serious adverse events in the published reports (Ona et al., 2022). Screening, heart monitoring, and a review of every medication you take are part of preparation. See Nekawa's safety information for the medical side.
Some medications cannot be safely combined with ibogaine, and coming off them takes time. That has to happen with your prescribing doctor and the independent medical team, never on your own. This is one of the reasons some people arrive weeks before treatment day. Some come six weeks early because they want a full reset of their body first. They are not asking the ibogaine to reset them. They reset first and get ready for the marathon.
3. Integration is action
Integration is one of the most used words in psychedelics and mental health, and one of the least understood. Here is how I define it: integration is action. It is what you do every day with what you learned in the experience, so that you build new patterns and new behaviors and go home resilient.
The first piece is the body. Exercise several times a day, sun, hours outside. Most addiction treatment happens inside a building, and you spend most of your time in a room. We spend most of ours outside. The research on exercise and substance use disorders is encouraging: a meta-analysis of 22 studies found that exercise was linked to higher abstinence rates, eased withdrawal symptoms, and reduced anxiety and depression (Wang et al., 2014). Those studies were not about ibogaine, but the principle carries.
4. People who have walked the same path
The second piece of integration is conversation with people who understand exactly what you went through. A coach can help. A therapist can help. But I find it more helpful to talk with people who have been there directly, whether it was alcohol, opioids, or a hard road through mental health challenges and antidepressants. People who know what it is to suffer, and what it takes to come back, are the people I would most want to be talking to.
Research on peer support in addiction treatment points in a similar direction. A review found it associated with less substance use and better engagement in treatment, while noting that rigorous studies are still limited (Tracy & Wallace, 2016).
Integration means putting yourself around the right people and in the right environment to stay healthy. Twenty-eight days gives time to build those relationships, not just meet them.
5. Purpose and a way to give back
The third piece is one people forget: purpose. When I look back at how I came out of opioid addiction, I believe it was because I had a strong sense of purpose. We see the same in many of the veterans and others who come through ibogaine. They come out wanting to tell the world, to advocate for this treatment, and that is a purpose in itself.
At Nekawa we work on purpose directly. We spend time journaling and talking about it. We even work on business plans and on what kind of work you want to do going forward, so you leave with a feeling of service and a way to give back. In my experience, when you have a way to give back, the pull back toward addiction gets weaker, because you are busy helping other people. And by helping other people, you help yourself.
Because the program is long, this is not only something we talk about. We practice it while you are here.
6. The jungle as a teacher
The last thing is the jungle itself. Running water you hear all day. Trees you can walk into. A garden where you watch things take root. People here spend hours at the river and walk for hours every day.
Most ibogaine and addiction programs happen in a house or a clinic. I ask how you are supposed to open your mind when it is closed in a box, surrounded by technology and wires. You can only really discover who you are if you step out of the environment you came from and spend time somewhere different.
It is our hypothesis, not a proven finding, that time in nature is one of the most important parts of integration. The wider research supports taking it seriously: a consensus statement from researchers across the natural, social, and health sciences describes a growing body of evidence linking nature experience with emotional well-being, cognitive functioning, and other dimensions of mental health (Bratman et al., 2019). Brazil is far away for most of our students. Being in the Atlantic rainforest is what makes the distance worth it.
7. What research supports and what remains uncertain
Personal experience and clinical evidence are different things, and you deserve both, clearly labeled.
The general case for longer treatment is well supported in addiction care (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018), and so are the benefits of exercise (Wang et al., 2014), peer support (Tracy & Wallace, 2016), and time in nature (Bratman et al., 2019), with the limits each of those papers names.
For ibogaine itself, the evidence is smaller. In an observational study of 30 people treated for opioid use disorder, many reported less withdrawal and less drug use afterwards, though only about a quarter reported a month without opioids at the one-year mark (Brown & Alper, 2018). With no comparison group, a study like that cannot show that ibogaine beats other treatments or that it cures anything. No published study has tested whether a 28-day ibogaine program produces better outcomes than a shorter one. A longer stay also does not remove the cardiac risk. Screening and monitoring are needed however long you stay.
8. Questions to ask any ibogaine program
If you are considering ibogaine, for yourself or someone you love, ask:
- How long is the program, and what happens on each day before and after the medicine?
- What does preparation involve, and how long is it?
- Who checks my heart and my medications, and who supervises any medication changes?
- What does integration look like day to day, not just in conversation?
- Will I spend time with people who have been through addiction themselves?
- What support continues after I go home, and for how long?
The 2016 clinical guidelines for ibogaine-assisted detoxification are a useful educational reference for these questions (Dickinson et al., 2016). They are not a regulatory standard.
For someone who has been through it, and for all the people I have seen since, longer is always better. If you want to find out whether a 28-day program is a fit for you, start Nekawa's screening process or book a free discovery call, and talk it through with a qualified clinician as well. You will get an honest assessment, not a promise.
This conversation is one of the four subjects in our live webinar with Tricycle Day on October 24.
Related reading
- Nekawa ibogaine treatment program
- Ibogaine versus Iboga and the difference between plant and molecule
- Is ibogaine safe?
- What is ibogaine?
- Frequently asked questions
About the author
Charles D. Johnston is co-founder and lead teacher of Nekawa. After years of heroin and cocaine addiction, he went through ibogaine treatment in 2013 and helped launch six ibogaine projects in Mexico and Costa Rica before founding Nekawa in Brazil. He is initiated in Bwiti and continues training with Gabonese elders in Brazil and Gabon. He is the author of Facets of Ayahuasca (2018) and executive producer of Curandera (2025). Read his story.
Common questions
References (8)
- Bratman, G. N., Anderson, C. B., Berman, M. G., Cochran, B., de Vries, S., Flanders, J., Folke, C., Frumkin, H., Gross, J. J., Hartig, T., Kahn, P. H., Kuo, M., Lawler, J. J., Levin, P. S., Lindahl, T., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Mitchell, R., Ouyang, Z., Roe, J., … Daily, G. C. (2019). Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Science Advances, 5(7), eaax0903. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903
- Brown, T. K., & Alper, K. (2018). Treatment of opioid use disorder with ibogaine: Detoxification and drug use outcomes. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44(1), 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2017.1320802
- Dickinson, J., McAlpin, J., Wilkins, C., Fitzsimmons, C., Guion, P., Paterson, T., Greene, D., & Rasmussen Chaves, B. (2016). Clinical guidelines for ibogaine-assisted detoxification (1st ed., Version 1.1). https://ibogaineguidelines.com/
- Knuijver, T., Schellekens, A., Belgers, M., Donders, R., van Oosteren, T., Kramers, K., & Verkes, R. (2022). Safety of ibogaine administration in detoxification of opioid-dependent individuals: A descriptive open-label observational study. Addiction, 117(1), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15448
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2018). Principles of drug addiction treatment: A research-based guide (3rd ed.). https://nida.nih.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition
- Ona, G., Rocha, J. M., Bouso, J. C., Hallak, J. E. C., Borràs, T., Colomina, M. T., & dos Santos, R. G. (2022). The adverse events of ibogaine in humans: An updated systematic review of the literature (2015–2020). Psychopharmacology, 239(6), 1977–1987. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-05964-y
- Tracy, K., & Wallace, S. P. (2016). Benefits of peer support groups in the treatment of addiction. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 7, 143–154. https://doi.org/10.2147/SAR.S81535
- Wang, D., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Li, R., & Zhou, C. (2014). Impact of physical exercise on substance use disorders: A meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 9(10), e110728. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110728
Transcript
[0:00] For someone who's been through it, and to all the people that I've seen, that longer is always better.
[0:10] Why do we do a 28 day program here in Brazil at Nekawa? Isn't it obvious? The more time you spend after a psychedelic experience, the better off you are. You get time to integrate, you get time to process the experience, but I think what a lot of people forget is the preparation.
[0:27] They forget this idea that you're going into a really big experience, a marathon of sorts, and you don't just start running a marathon day one. You have to prepare, you have to jog, you have to walk first, you have to get your body healthy. Ibogaine is no different. You have to get your heart healthy, you have to get your intestines healthy, you have to clean and cleanse your body so that you're ready to have your experience.
[0:50] So we focus on first, an excellent preparation with natural food from the garden, with experience of training you to prepare for navigating the ibogaine process, and making sure that you're healthy, that you're getting out, that you're in the sun, that you're detoxing off all your medications, that you're detoxing out of life, and that you're ready to have a productive experience with ibogaine. So that when you run that marathon, you get the best time you've ever gotten, and you move on with your life, and you're able to integrate and make the most of it.
[1:23] Integration is this thing, this term that's used so often in psychedelics and in the world of mental health even, and a lot of people don't actually know what it means. So I'm going to clarify that right now.
[1:36] Integration is action. It's what are you doing every day to encapsulate what you learned in the experience, and have a new lifestyle, new patterns, new behaviors, and getting yourself in a strong way so that when you go back into the world, you are resilient, you're fortified.
[1:56] And so that's why in integration what we focus on is number one, exercise. That's key. Exercising multiple times a day, being in the sun, going in the jungle, spending time outside. That's something that we offer that is a priority for us, that I feel is unique in the addiction space. Most addiction treatments and mental health, you're in a building or in a room, and you spend most of your time inside. So we spend a lot of time outside.
[2:22] The second piece of integration that I find is really important is having conversations with people who understand exactly what you went through, and have walked the same path. Yeah, sure, you can have a coach, you can talk to a therapist, but I find it more helpful to talk to people who actually know what you went through directly, whether it's alcohol abuse, whether it's opiates, whether it's extreme mental health challenges and being on antidepressants. Having people that understand what it is to suffer and understand what it is to overcome that suffering is, I don't think there's anything better than that, or anyone you'd rather be talking to. So integration means putting yourself around the right people, means putting yourself in the right environment to be healthy.
[3:10] And then another piece of it that a lot of people forget is purpose. Myself, I feel that my success coming out of opioid addiction was because I had a very strong sense of purpose. And we see that a lot with a lot of the veterans and a lot of the people going through ibogaine is they get this sense of purpose of wanting to tell the world, wanting to advocate for this amazing treatment. That's a purpose in and of itself.
[3:34] But what we do here specifically around purpose is we spend time journaling, we spend time talking about it, we even spend time developing business plans and understanding what kind of work you can do going forward in your life so you have a feeling of service and a way to give back. When you have a way to give back, the idea of falling back into addiction goes away because you're ready to be out there and helping other people. And by helping other people, you help yourself. So that's a really important piece of what we do is finding purpose and actually not just talking about it, but doing it in live right when we're here because we have a long-term program.
[4:15] The last thing I want to talk about really is the jungle, is all of this. These guys being in this beautiful place where you hear the water running all the time, where you can go into the trees, where you get to see nature taking root. And that in and of itself, that alone can heal anyone. Is spending time in nature, spending time by yourself listening to what Mother Earth has to teach you.
[4:40] So I mentioned that before is like most ibogaine treatments, most addiction treatments are in a house. How are you supposed to heal your mind if your mind is closed off, stuck in a box and stuck around a bunch of technology and wires and everything? You can only truly heal and get back to yourself. This idea of recovery, right? Recovering. But you can only truly discover who you are if you separate yourself from the environment that you are in. If you go into a place that's exotic and unique and you spend time there.
[5:14] We have people that spend hours a day at the river. We have people that are walking multiple hours a day, spending time going, being by trees, being in the garden. And so it's this kind of activity that it's our hypothesis that is the most important piece of integration and of your experience healing is being in the jungle. It's where we come from. It's where life is. So that's why we are here. Brazil's far away, but we get to be in the jungle. So it makes it worth it.
[5:51] So it's those three things. Being in the jungle, your environment, being surrounded by life. Second, doing integration, but not just talking about integration, but living it. Actionable, real life integration happening in the moment while you're with us. And then third, preparation.
[6:10] Having plenty of time. Some people come here for six weeks before they do ibogaine because they know that they need to come. They need to get a full reset on their body. They're not wanting the ibogaine to reset them. They're actually resetting first and getting ready for the marathon that is ibogaine. So those are the three things that we feel a 28 and longer day program provides and why we offer residential 28 day programs.
[6:36] It's the only way that we operate. We don't operate, do anything shorter. We do 28 day or longer programs. And this, I think this is what the industry will understand is the best approach. It's very clear to me for someone who's been through it and to all the people that I've seen that longer is always better.
