Heather Gillin is a psychotherapist with over 16 years of clinical practice, and the founder of Awaken Within, a psilocybin-assisted therapy retreat and integration practice held in the luminous landscape of the Algarve, Portugal. 

Her approach to facilitation is heart-centred, somatically informed, and rooted in the traditions of depth psychology and the formations of the unconscious. She brings this understanding into every dimension of her work,a finely attuned lens for meeting whatever emerges with curiosity, care, clinical depth and a genuine trust in each person's innate inner healing intelligence. She holds space not by directing the journey, but by remaining present, steady in holding space for each person to encounter their own inner wisdom, the part of them that already knows what healing and transformation ask for. 

Beginning the preparation process, which attends carefully to the mental, emotional, and physical readiness of each person, through the psilocybin session itself, held within a safe and ethically grounded container, To the integration that follows, where what has surfaced is met with curiosity and care, given time to unfold, insight becomes embodied and allowed to become a lived transformation.

 Alongside the relational and verbal dimensions of her practice, she draws on art therapy as a tool for integration, offering a non-verbal pathway into what words alone cannot always reach. The image, the mark, the symbol, these too speak the language of the unconscious. 

Heather trained with the Synthesis Institute and completed her Synthesis Practicum with Beckley Retreats, bringing supervised, real-world facilitation experience alongside her extensive clinical background. She is a member of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy (IPT), reflecting her commitment to the ethical and professional standards this evolving field demands.