Our Team
The founders, the full-time medical team, and the wider circle who hold every stay, photographed where we have a true photo, named where our guests name them, and never invented where we don't.
Our Team
New Life is a private sanctuary, not a large facility, and that is deliberate. As owners, we are personally involved in the care of every guest, and our medical team lives this work on site, full-time. At most eight guests are ever here at once, so nobody is a number, and nobody heals alone. One guest counted “more than 15 people taking care of guests” in a house of five suites. That ratio is the experience.
From your first screening call to the day you leave, the same small team walks the whole journey with you: preparation, ceremony, the quiet days after, and integration.
Your program is shaped around your screening, your history, and your intentions. With five private rooms, care here is built around one person at a time: you.
Every stage of the process follows carefully established safety protocols: full screening before treatment, continuous medical presence during it, and honest counsel whenever the answer is “not yet.”
Founders
Founder & Director
“Ibogaine transformed my life. That experience became my purpose.”
Samantha founded New Life Riviera Maya out of her own experience of this medicine, and she is personally involved in the care of every guest who comes through the door.
Her experience with Ibogaine came at a pivotal moment in her life and became the foundation for New Life. Having experienced the process firsthand, she understands the importance of choosing the right environment, one where every guest feels safe, cared for, and genuinely supported. For Samantha, New Life is more than a business. It is her life’s purpose.
Co-founder
Co-founder, Chief of Growth and Admissions
Jake is the voice on the WhatsApp line, the first conversation for most guests. Admissions starts with him: a real conversation about what you are carrying, honest answers about the programs, and the screening call that begins every stay.
When you call New Life, I’m the one who picks up, and I understand, because I’ve been there. I bring over two decades in professional sales, leadership, and management, and I’ve walked with plant medicines for just as long. Then Ibogaine and Bufo found me, and they changed my life. They launched me into the best version of myself, and I am deeply, deeply grateful. Now my mission is simple: to serve, and to bring awareness to this work, so others can find the same freedom. I’m married to a sweet wife; together we have six children, two dogs, and hearts pointed to Christ.
Medical Team
Behind the calm is the safety structure this medicine demands. Your well-being is supported by an experienced medical team, with personalized care and attention throughout your journey.
Medical Director
A medical doctor and surgeon with ACLS and BLS certifications and experience in advanced medical care. Trained in cardiac monitoring, electrocardiography, and emergency care, he leads the medical experience with precision, consistent presence, and a rigorous focus on patient safety.
Medical Coordinator
With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare, he oversees medical evaluations and safety protocols, helping ensure that each experience is carried out with the highest standards of professional care and attention.
Psychotherapist · REBT/CBT · Trauma & EMDR
Specialized in trauma, anxiety, depression, and emotional regulation, she brings a clinically grounded and compassionate approach to patient support.
Psychologist · Gestalt Therapist · Yoga Teacher
She integrates meditation, mindfulness, and emotional work to support healing, reconnection, clarity, and overall wellbeing.
Our surgeon is committed to the sanctuary full-time: reviewing every screening, overseeing treatment days, and making the final call on whether treatment proceeds. Our on-site medical team combines years of experience in Ibogaine treatment with attentive, professional care.
Two full-time nurses provide the around-the-clock human presence of a New Life stay: at your side through the treatment itself, monitoring and caring for you through the night, and the steady reassurance of someone always nearby in the days around it.
Our psychologist meets you before your ceremony to prepare, and twice afterwards to help you weave what you saw into the life you are going home to. And with your permission, the team keeps the people who sent you to us updated during and after your stay.
Guest Experience & Ceremony
Two more of the people who hold every stay: the warmth that greets you when you arrive, and the guides who hold the Bufo (5-MeO) ceremony.
Guest Experience Manager
A lifelong traveler and nature lover, she is guided by a deep sense of gratitude, service, and care for others. She brings warmth, presence, and genuine hospitality to the guest experience, helping create an atmosphere that feels personal, welcoming, and deeply cared for. She is the “Rose” and “Rosa” our guests thank by name in their reviews.
Bufo (5-MeO) Facilitators · Spiritual Guides
With 25 years of experience in healing practices and spiritual guidance, they support each person in connecting with their intention. Their approach is centered on bringing body, mind, and spirit into harmony, creating space for reflection, renewal, and a deeper connection with oneself and with nature.
The Wider Circle
A stay at New Life is held by more than the treatment days. These are the people and practices woven through every day on site.
Breathwork is one of the on-site wellness offerings during your stay: guided sessions, one-on-one and in small circles, that are part of the rhythm of the sanctuary days.
Yoga is one of the on-site wellness offerings during your stay, practised out on the lawn under the trees.
Massages are one of the on-site wellness offerings during your stay, in the open-air pavilion and in your room.
Temazcal saunas and ceremonies are among the on-site wellness offerings during your stay, held in the sanctuary’s temazcal domes.
Mineral baths are one of the on-site wellness offerings during your stay: warm stone tubs outdoors, under the trees.
Meals are cooked on site and shared at the sanctuary table throughout your stay, fresh, healthy, and adapted to the healing process, as our guests keep telling us.
“From the staff greeting us when we arrived to five star chef service all week, to over the top accommodating service and transportation, the healing we got while here was life changing.”
Kacee Jackson · Guest review, Google
In Our Guests’ Own Words
Some of our team are thanked by name in guests’ reviews. We let those reviews speak for themselves, exactly as our guests wrote them.
“Sam, Rose, Apolo and their fantastic team made us feel at home from the moment we arrived.”
Kylie Littlefair · Guest review, Google
“Rose and Sammy truly are the best hosts, and the food is amazing.”
Chevy Hastings · Guest review, Google
“Rosa and Sam were amazing.”
“I had a nurse and a doctor there with IVs in my arm and a defibrillator. I couldn't have found anything else to feel more safe.”
“Now I'm at least 50% less rumination thoughts in my mind which is what I couldn't get under control and why I came. I think it may have changed everything 🙌 Jake Sam Rosa Mario 🙌”
Garrett Smith · Guest review, Google
“I'm deeply grateful to Samantha and the entire team for their support and care throughout the process. I always felt safe, supported, and well taken care of.”
Azu V. Mtz · Guest review, Google
“The chef is simply incredible and somehow turns even the simplest meals into a five-star experience. Sammy and Rosy do a fantastic job making sure your stay feels personalized to you”
Gisele Gomes · Guest review, Google
“For a place that has 5 suites, i think there were more than 15 people taking care of guests. From the staff greeting us when we arrived to five star chef service all week, to over the top accommodating service and transportation, the healing we got while here was life changing.”
Kacee Jackson · Guest review, Google
Medical Safety
Ibogaine is powerful medicine, and we treat it that way. Every guest is thoroughly screened before treatment. Your well-being is supported by an experienced medical team, with personalized care and attention throughout your journey. A full-time surgeon and two full-time nurses care for a maximum of eight guests at a time.
“We turn people away when treatment isn’t safe. Your life matters more than your booking.”
Screening begins on your very first call. If anything in your results says treatment would be unsafe, we will tell you plainly, and help you think about what to do instead.
“I found peace again. I left feeling like a completely different person, with a new perspective on myself and my life.”
Ana K. · Guest review, Google
No pressure, no obligation, and nothing you say leaves the room. Tell us what you’re carrying, or what someone you love is carrying, and we’ll walk you through exactly what screening involves and whether New Life is right for you.
Confidential screening call, or message us on WhatsApp, whichever is easier. We respond within 24 hours.
