Ketamine Assisted Therapy
Go beyond managing your symptoms to a place of deep healing.
Supporting Portsmouth, Maine and the New Hampshire Seacoast Community.
You value the deep wisdom of the Universe, and yearn for your mental health healing to reflect this value.
You’re interested in the connection between spirituality and mental health healing.
You are already working consistently with a therapist, and would like to explore another form of support to deepen your healing.
What is Ketamine
Assisted Psychotherapy?
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) combines ketamine, a medicine with psychoactive properties, with therapeutic support often including relational guidance, mindfulness, somatic focus and when appropriate, trauma-specific intervention.
Here’s How KAP Can Help
-
You're dedicated to your healing.
You have been working to learn and practice skills to manage your symptoms, and you use the skills regularly. This is great, because we need our conscious brains and egos to help us organize in day-to-day life. However, our brains can only be responsible for so much, and sometimes we need to turn the reins over to something greater. My favorite term for this something greater is “Inner Healing Wisdom”. KAP can allow us a direct path to the energy within, this Inner Healing Wisdom, that already knows what we need to heal.
-
You're looking for a "root cause" approach.
Just as many people have learned that Western medicine fails to address the root cause, I believe the same can be true for mental health. Many modalities work to suppress symptoms long enough that a person can get back to living their life. The trouble with this approach is that, like a trick birthday candle, the symptoms usually come back. KAP allows us to explore what is underneath the symptoms so we can express and move through the root cause.
-
Feeling and finding gratitude for your emotions is difficult.
Many people learn over the course of their life that it isn’t safe to feel their feelings. This can make mental health healing difficult. I believe that a big part of the healing process is learning how to feel your feelings safely. KAP can widen our tolerance for emotions, we sometimes call this the Window of Tolerance. With more tolerance for exploring and feeling emotions, we can come away with new perspectives, and often even gratitude, surrounding our emotions.
-
You're interested in spiritual interventions for healing.
The belief that the mind, body, and soul are separate from one another has long existed. I believe these pieces are all part of one person and that each person is part of something bigger. I like to think of this as the great orchestra of life. KAP can create opportunities for you to learn to connect with your spirituality and to use that connection to support your mental and emotional health.
Hi, Im Carli
I am so grateful that my personal and professional experiences have unfolded in the way they have, leading me to Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and ketamine work. It is an honor to hold such a sacred space for people.
To learn more about my journey, visit my About Me page.
Who is KAP for?
In a world where we are asked to put so much emphasis on production and getting through, this type of psychedelic medicine has the potential to call in being with what is present, instead of trying to push through it. In my experience with KAP, slow is fast. Though many KAP providers and clinics take a standard 4-6 session high dose approach, I prefer to work more slowly and intentionally, sometimes using lower doses to encourage opportunity for relational exploration. This approach allows us to tailor your experience to your specific needs, but can sometimes feel different for people who have become accustomed to navigating in a more linear world.
My approach tends not to be a great fit for folks who don't feel quite ready to explore the true roots of their current symptoms, which may include navigating challenging material and making important changes in day to day life. This slower approach is often not the right fit for folks who are looking to treat depression that has not responded to other forms of therapy and medicine.
Please note that my private practice is not set up to provide emergency or 24/7 support. Because of this, I am not able to work with individuals who are in an active crisis or have been hospitalized within the last year. If we conclude that my speciality is not the right fit, I will provide you with names of clinicians and/or agencies who can provide more immediate, wrap-around care and healing.
Combining KAP
& EMDR
Sometimes during KAP work, specific memories or experiences can arise. In these situations, it can be helpful to incorporate another deep healing modality called Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Combining the two allows us to take advantage of the increased flexibility and openness that the medicine provides to process memories that might otherwise feel out of reach or too painful. For others, utilizing the modalities together is appealing because of the potential for an increased sense of oneness or spiritual connection that can be an incredibly supportive component of healing.
If we choose to utilize both EMDR and KAP in our work together, we may utilize small doses of medicine during EMDR sessions or schedule EMDR sessions within a couple of days following a psychedelic dose of medicine.
FAQs
-
Ketamine is a technically in a class of medicines called “dissociative anesthetics” which means it can create a perceived separation from one’s body. When taken in specific doses, it can produce psychedelic experiences. Over the last several decades, ketamine has been used off-label for the treatment of depressive disorders, with research presently growing to support its effectiveness in the field of mental health. Ketamine has a rigorous safety profile, especially when used in therapeutic settings, doses, and frequencies.
-
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) uses the catalyst of the medicine and psychedelic experience combined with psychotherapy to help you move beyond patterns that might keep you stuck.
It is important to remember that taking a root-cause approach to healing sometimes requires us to move through painful material. Some sessions may be beautiful and inspiring, and others may feel more complicated or difficult. One of the benefits of ketamine is that it increases tolerance of painful material. That, alongside your Inner Healing Wisdom, encourages you to trust that the medicine will show you exactly what you need to be shown (even if it doesn’t make sense in the moment).
Ketamine is considered a “non-specific amplifier,” which means it takes what is present in a person’s experience and increases awareness around it. During a medicine session, individuals may experience altered states of consciousness that create room for flexibility in thinking and perspective shifts.
Specific experiences during a medicine session can vary depending on the route of administration, intention, setting, and even when all of those variables are maintained, journeys can differ from session to session. Some journeys include mystical experiences, which can loosely be defined as oneness, deeply felt positive feelings, connection to a spiritual knowing and receiving of healing messages, though this does not happen in every session.
In therapy, we integrate the lessons learned during medicine sessions in a window of high neuroplasticity and neurogenesis (read: your brain is much more receptive to change during and following ketamine medicine sessions) during what we call “integration”. Because mystical or transcendental experiences are possible with ketamine, our integration time will also be used to make sense of experiences that might feel new or different. Using the safety of the therapeutic relationship at Soul’s Nest Counseling, we use this powerful combination of relationship and medicine to rewrite the narrative surrounding pain.
-
The combination of medicine and community can be very potent. Group work provides an opportunity to explore collective and relational healing in a safe and supported way.
I am lucky to collaborate with Shauna Sedler of Bird’s Eye Wellness to be to offer both private and public group KAP experiences. Public groups are filled based on interested and availability.
Private groups and couples KAP sessions are designed and scheduled upon inquiry. Location may vary depending on the size and structure of the group.
The Healer Experiential
The Sage Group for Healers is a specially designed two-week KAP group for those in the healing field.
“Healers” refers to those who work with the physical, mental, spiritual and/or energetic bodies to promote health, wellness and connection. They may include, but are not limited to, therapists, mental health providers, medical providers and body workers. We hold a flexible definition of “healer” and believe that healing work occurs at many different levels, within many different systems and in many different mediums.
We currently have healer experiential groups scheduled for June and September of 2024. Click here to learn more about June’s group. Click here to learn more about September’s group.
-
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy consists of four main parts: Screening, Preparation, Medicine Sessions & Integration.
Screening: The screening process involves the completion of an initial online screening form, followed up by a phone-call if appropriate. This screening process is meant to keep both of us safe and to make sure you receive care that is the best fit for you.
*Being actively engaged in the process of psychotherapy is a very important part of the process. I require that clients be connected with a talk therapist for at least three months prior to beginning treatment, and that they continue to engage in regular talk therapy appointments through the course of our work together.
Preparation Session: During this 75-minute session, we will get to know each other better, discuss your history, goals and intentions, what to expect and how to prepare for and navigate your medicine session. We will typically meet for 1-4 preparation sessions, which will be scheduled in the days and weeks leading up to your medicine session.
Medicine Session: Following screening and medical and psychological intake appointments, KAP work with me typically involves a combination of individual and group experiences. The individual sessions taking place at my office in Newington and the group experiences taking place alongside my colleague, Shauna Sedler, in Biddeford, ME. Although the group approach can feel vulnerable, we have found the container to be an especially potent and profound medicine in and of itself.
Integration session: During these 50-minute sessions, we will process the material and experiences that arose during your medicine session. These sessions are scheduled within one to two days of your medicine session.
Please note that ketamine requires a prescription. I work very closely with Bird’s Eye Wellness in Biddeford, Maine providing specialized group ketamine work, group integration, and intramuscular ketamine sessions.
-
I do not prescribe ketamine. As a therapist, my work will focus on holding you safely emotionally and therapeutically leading up to, during, and following medicine sessions. Because ketamine requires a prescription, all clients will be required to complete a medical screening and medical intake appointment with a prescriber to be cleared for and to obtain a prescription for ketamine.
If we decide we are a good fit, I will help to connect you with ketamine prescribers I know and trust, and I will work collaboratively with them to develop a treatment plan that makes sense for you.
Please note that a medical intake is not a guarantee of treatment.
Your medical intake is not included in the prices listed below but is typically a one time appointment costing $350.
-
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is a time-intensive treatment. It differs from more traditional forms of therapy and psychiatric care in that the cost of treatment occurs upfront, instead of over the course of months or years.
Intensive forms of therapy, like KAP, can lower the amount you need to spend on your mental health in the future. It is important that you are aware of the cost and time commitment of KAP.
Part of my process as a KAP clinician is to connect and collaborate with your primary therapist and treatment team. This allows for supportive integration of your experience and whole-person care. The prices below are reflective of this collaborative time which will occur outside of our appointments.
Initial Intake: 75-minute: $250
50-minute preparation session (1-3 sessions): $150
Oral medicine session (3 hours) with integration session (50-minutes) (typically 4-6 sessions): $800
Additional integration session (50-minutes): $150
**Please note that I do not prescribe ketamine. Please review the above information regarding ketamine prescription for information on pricing.
-
Many people who come to KAP have been on their healing journey for a long time. Although the research is encouraging, KAP is not a silver bullet.
Typically, if symptoms are not changing or improving within four sessions, we will pause treatment and explore alternative therapies.
My approach tends not to be a great fit for folks who don't feel quite ready to explore the true roots of their current symptoms, which may include navigating challenging material and making important changes in day to day life. My approach is often not the right fit for folks who are looking to treat depression that has not responded to other forms of therapy and medicine.
Stepping into intensive therapy requires a certain level of safety and stability in the present. Without those things, these treatments can exacerbate symptoms. As a solo practitioner my screening procedures are rigorous to keep both of us safe and to make sure you receive care that is the best fit for you. If for any reason I suspect that we are not a good fit, I will let you know as soon as possible and will recommend alternative options.
Learn more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy at Soul’s Nest Counseling here.
Ready to take the next step?
Begin your journey here!