MindStream Integrative Medicine

Ketamine Assisted Therapy

At MindStream, we offer Ketamine Assisted Therapy, which is shown to be very effective for the treatment of many mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and other chronic conditions that affect mood. Learn more about Ketamine Assisted Therapy and how it might help you.

What to Expect

Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatment

It is important to understand that the frequency of boosters depends on the needs of each patient, which is why we work with each patient to develop the right strategy for them. For patients seeking relief from mental health symptoms, ketamine is typically offered in a series of 2 sessions per week for 3-4 weeks. Those who respond well to ketamine usually do best with repeat “booster” sessions every 3-8 weeks. For this reason, we also offer at-home sessions and group sessions. For more information about MindStream's Ketamine Assisted Therapy process, please reference the graphic below.

Preparation Sessions

What is Preparation and Integration

As mentioned above, we feel that ketamine is best used in conjunction with therapy. Therefore, our Ketamine Assisted Therapy process always involves a period of talk therapy before the medicine session (Preparation Sessions) and a period of talk therapy afterward to integrate the experience following each medicine session (Integration Sessions).

These sessions of talk therapy are vital to the process of building insight and awareness from the work of the medicine sessions. Patients often have profound awarenesses that appear during ketamine therapy, but without working to anchor it, the awareness will fade with time.

Goals of Preparation

• Feeling fully informed about Ketamine Assisted Therapy
• Feeling safe with the therapist, the location, and the mindset going into the medicine session
• Having realistic expectations about the treatment
• Establishing the nature of the treatment - understanding that it is non-linear and often surprising
• Clarifying who the support system is
• Reviewing the role of music and touch, and obtaining consent and preferences for these supports during a medicine session
• Discussing tips and techniques on self-regulation
• Preparing for the session (fasting, clothing, medication adjustments, clearing the calendar, providing for role support as needed,such as time off work or childcare)

Goals of Integration

• Meaning-making: reviewing the experience to unpack what happened and offer thoughts around the possible "why"
• Metabolizing the experience: working with how the medicine session showed up in the body, perhaps allowing past experiences to move through the body
• Exploring ways to apply new insights
• Looking at the world around and seeing if changes in self-concept will also invite us to change behaviors, relationships and worldview (sometimes called the "therapeutic bends")
• Reflecting on self

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