What is ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP)?
Ketamine Assisted Therapy
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy combines the medicine of ketamine with the depth and safety of trauma-informed therapy.
Ketamine has been used safely in medical settings for more than 50 years and is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. In therapeutic settings, low doses can temporarily increase neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to form new connections), allowing rigid emotional patterns to soften and new insights to emerge.
When paired with skilled psychotherapy, this opening can support meaningful emotional healing and lasting change.
What KAP Can Help With
KAP can be especially helpful for people experiencing:
• anxiety, rumination, or burnout
• trauma or PTSD, including developmental trauma
• grief, perfectionism, or harsh self-criticism
• feeling stuck in patterns that don’t shift through talk therapy
• emotional numbness or disconnection
• spiritual or existential questions about life and purpose
This work can be particularly powerful for highly sensitive and neurodivergent people whose nervous systems process experience deeply.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy unfolds in three stages:
Preparation
Before your first medicine session, we meet to explore your intentions, hopes, and questions. This helps your nervous system feel grounded and ready for the experience. You will also meet with a licensed medical provider who reviews your health history and prescribes the medication.
Medicine Session
Sessions take place in my peaceful, comfortable office. You take a prescribed sublingual (under the tongue) dose of ketamine and recline with music and optional eye shades.
The medicine experience typically lasts about 40–60 minutes, with the full session lasting around 3 hours including preparation and grounding. I remain present with you throughout the experience.
Integration
Integration sessions occur within a few days while your brain is still in a window of heightened neuroplasticity. This is where we explore insights, emotions, and themes that emerged so they can translate into real change in your life.
The KAP Process
My work is relational, trauma-informed, and deeply attuned to highly sensitive and neurodivergent nervous systems.
Rather than pushing for intensity, I focus on helping you move at a pace your body and psyche can integrate. My role is to provide a steady, grounded presence while supporting you in making meaning of what emerges.
The medicine may open the door, but therapy is what helps transformation take root.
My approach
- feel stuck in patterns that haven’t shifted through talk therapy
- want to work with trauma in a supported way
- feel ready for a deeper breakthrough or shift
- sense that something inside you wants to move but hasn’t found the path yet
Is KAP Right for You?
Many ketamine clinics provide medication without psychotherapy.
While this can bring temporary relief, deeper change usually happens when the medicine experience is integrated within an ongoing therapeutic process.
KAP combines both (preparation, medicine session, and integration) so the experience becomes meaningful and lasting.
Ketamine therapy vs ketamine clinics
FREE 20 MINUTE CONSULTation
Next Steps
If you're curious about whether KAP might be supportive for you, we can explore it together.
I offer a free 20-minute consultation to discuss your goals and whether this approach feels like the right fit.
Free consultation