Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is a treatment that produces rapid improvements for a number of conditions through a deep psychotherapeutic process.
Ketamine is a well researched, safe medicine.
Conditions that have seen improvements include anxiety, depression, suicidality, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is usable with most other psychiatric treatments, and it can create powerful, sustained healing when all other traditional interventions fail.
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Throughout the process, we will support you with integration sessions.
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Our team collaborates with your psychiatrists and other therapists when needed. The sessions are conducted with the support of a therapist and a physician. Sessions that include medicine consumption typically last 3 hours and the experience is focused on therapy. The ketamine guides clients into shifts of their consciousness, meaning the medicine shuts down our “default mode” and enables us to access other parts of our brain we don’t typically use in our everyday life. In a medicine session, you may be able to relate to yourself, your trauma, your emotions, and to others in a different way- and in this process, heal parts of you that are too hard or too painful to access in traditional talk therapy.
Medicine has the power to heal within the therapeutic relationship.
How we work:
In many clinics, patients are being given Ketamine and left alone in a hospital room or sent home with Ketamine prescriptions to do alone in their home. We believe that the medicine is most impactful for the client when done in the context of community and the therapeutic relationship.
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SET and SETTING
Set and Setting refer to the internal and external factors that influence your psychedelic session. The “Set” is YOU! What is happening internally will impact your journey; your mood, your current thoughts, present emotions, how rested you are etc. You will collaboratively explore your inner landscape with your therapist in the preparation session(s) and set intentions for your journey based on what is present for you.
The “Setting” is your environment and energy in the space you are in. We collaborate with you to create an environment that is safe and supportive of your journey.
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DOSE
Ever had a bad experience with a medication? Dose is very important and has a significant impact on your psychedelic journey. Our medical team and therapist collaborate to determine the appropriate dose for you, for each session.
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INTEGRATION
One of our teachers, Lauren Taus, says life is an action sport! While the psychedelic session itself can be a catalyst for change - you will have to DO things post medicine sessions to aid and maintain that change.
“Integration” is the process of making meaning of your journey, how it applies to your life and determining the actions that will support your healing. Post medicine session, we always follow up with a client within 48 hours to support integration.
Typical Session Progression:
Below is a common structure for how your therapy sessions may progress. We also recognize and honor that every individual is different and requires their own unique level of support, number of sessions and way of working with the medicine.
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All clients must first complete a medical assessment.
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Session 1 will be a psychological intake and assessment.
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Sessions 2-5 will be preparation sessions. These sessions may extend past session 5 if the client and therapist determine more preparation is needed.
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Session 6 is the medication session. This is a 3 hour session that includes intention setting, journey with the medication and post session integration. Following a medication session, you will have an integration session with your therapist within 48 hours.
The therapist and client will then determine how many medication and integration sessions are needed.
Other Common Questions
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What about other psychedelic medicines?
Ketamine is currently the only legal FDA-approved psychedelic medicine in California. Other medications are currently being researched and will only be available to use in medical and therapeutic settings when FDA-approved.
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Will Ketamine show up on an employment drug test?
Research shows that Ketamine is typically out of the system in 2-4 days. Most employer drug tests do not test for Ketamine, however, it would be important to gather this information before taking a test.
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Will my insurance cover this?
To possibly cover the costs of treatment, we provide 'Superbills' directly to you so that you can receive potential reimbursement from your insurance company.
Have other questions or interested in scheduling sessions?
