You’re looking for depth. Deeper joy, vibrancy, and a connection to your body and the world around you.
You’re feeling stuck and dry. No matter how much therapy you do, mantras you chant, or journals you fill, you’re still running in place.
You want so deeply to get past the past and heal what got hurt along the way.
You’ve tried traditional talk therapy, medications, CBT, and nothing has worked.
You feel like… if you just had a reset button for your brain, then maybe you could get more out of therapy
At Empower Marriage and Family Therapy, we offer unconventional therapies, which create space for you to have a new and different experience of yourself and the world. Psychedelic Assisted Therapy is a unique offering that combines psychotherapy with transformational medicines in order to induce an altered state of consciousness and modify brain functioning.
Ketamine Assisted Therapy
Using Ketamine, a dissociative psychedelic along with intensive psychotherapy can help to address the core issues at the root without our defense system getting in the way.
At one time, our defenses served us, but over time, they can over-respond causing you to be reactive, triggered, and activated in the present moment, even when there is no threat present.
Ketamine bypasses your defenses and allows you to experience yourself and your world with a new perspective.
With the right preparation, support, and integration - these psychedelic experiences can be profoundly healing and lead to feeling better, thinking clearer, and creating new habits or thoughts.
Known for its anesthetic effects and therapeutic properties, ketamine is increasingly being used to treat a variety of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, OCD, and eating disorders.
Ketamine has also been shown to offer relief from negative thoughts and beliefs by altering connectivity in the part of the brain called the “default mode network.”
Chronic trauma, anxiety, and depression can alter the brain by destroying nerve cells. Ketamine helps form new connections to rebuild and offers a sense of powerful relief.
Not only can Ketamine help decrease negative beliefs, but it can also create new neural pathways, which help the brain create healthier patterns - which makes it a powerful medicine for improving mental wellness.
Ketamine has been shown to have rapid-acting antidepressant effects. This means that it can quickly alleviate symptoms of depression and provide relief to individuals who have not responded to traditional treatments.
therapeutic benefits of Ketamine assisted psychotherapy
1. Rapid onset of effects: Ketamine is known for its rapid onset of effects, which means that patients may experience relief from their symptoms within hours of treatment. This can be particularly helpful for patients who are experiencing severe depression, anxiety, or PTSD and need immediate relief.
2. Increased self-awareness: Ketamine can help patients access deeper parts of their psyche, leading to increased self-awareness and insight. This can be particularly beneficial for patients who struggle with unresolved trauma or difficult emotions that are difficult to access through traditional talk therapy.
3. Improved mood and sense of well-being: Ketamine has been shown to improve mood and increase feelings of well-being. This can be particularly helpful for patients who have treatment-resistant depression or anxiety and have not responded to other treatments.
4. Reduced symptoms of PTSD: Ketamine can help reduce symptoms of PTSD, including flashbacks, nightmares, and hyperarousal. This can be particularly beneficial for patients who have not responded to other treatments for PTSD.
5. Improved interpersonal relationships: Ketamine can help patients improve their interpersonal relationships by increasing empathy, reducing social anxiety, and improving communication skills. This can be particularly helpful for patients who struggle with social anxiety or interpersonal difficulties.
Overall, KAP has the potential to provide profound healing and transformation for patients struggling with a variety of mental health challenges. However, it is important to work with a trained and experienced therapist who can provide safe and effective treatment.
“Psychedelic experience is only a glimpse of genuine mystical insight, but a glimpse which can be matured and deepened by the various ways of meditation in which drugs are no longer necessary or useful. If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen.” - Alan Watts
Ketamine is a Schedule 3 drug and will be administered by a licensed medical doctor. Although Ketamine can be purchased online, we recommend that our clients contact Ark Integrative Medicine or other participating clinics that provide the infusions (Note: Empower Marriage and Family Therapy Inc. does not prescribe, sell, or administer ketamine.)
What is Ketamine Assisted Therapy?
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy combines two highly effective, evidence-based tools - integrating the medicinal qualities of Ketamine with psychotherapy in order to access and address negative thought patterns, trauma, and old neural pathways that our brains have created in order to cope with past experiences.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is like a warm hug for your brain and an exhale for your body, providing rapid relief from symptoms and long-term insight, self-knowledge, and neural rebalancing.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that when used in conjunction with psychotherapy, Ketamine treatment can lead to significantly better outcomes than traditional approaches. This combination of therapy and medication can provide a more comprehensive and effective solution for individuals struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health conditions.
what to expect
You will meet with Katy for an initial assessment and preparation session where we’ll get to know each other and talk through the process. You’ll have plenty of space to ask questions, identify/learn coping techniques, and plan out your Ketamine journey in collaboration with your therapist. The assessment and preparation stage will feel very structured and you’ll know exactly what to expect going into your first treatment.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy combines two types of sessions: ketamine sessions and integration sessions. The ketamine sessions are when you will do the Ketamine at a participating clinic, with or without a therapist present, and the integration sessions are held between ketamine sessions.
What is the cost?
Our treatment protocol is grounded in evidence-based practices that are tailored to help our clients achieve their desired outcomes. We understand that each client's needs are unique, so our pricing is based on individualized packages that are tailored to your specific needs. We typically recommend a series of six Ketamine sessions over a period of four to six weeks. This personalized approach to treatment has been proven to extend the effects of the treatment, resulting in longer-lasting relief for our clients.
By pairing multiple sessions together, we have seen a significant increase in the efficacy of our treatments. This approach is supported by research and the results of other health centers that have demonstrated the benefits of extended treatment sessions. Our goal is to help our clients achieve long-term relief from their mental health challenges, and we believe that our evidence-based treatment protocol is an effective and sustainable solution.
The cost of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) can vary depending on several factors, including the location of the ketamine clinic, the frequency of sessions, and the support needed. KAP is considered a specialized and innovative treatment that is not yet covered by most insurance plans.
It is also worth considering the potential long-term benefits of KAP, as it may be more cost-effective in the long run than other treatments that require ongoing therapy or medication. Here at Empower, we have a team that can help support you with your decision to move forward.
heal your mind. change your life.
Katy Bird, lead integration specialist
Katy Bird (she/her) is an MA, AMFT with both lived and clinical experience with plant medicine. Katy has a wealth of experience in spiritual alchemy, having volunteered in spiritual communities in South America and studied plant medicine and shamanistic healing practices with the Matsés tribe in the Peruvian Amazon.
Katy Bird is a graduate of Antioch University, Los Angeles, where she earned her Master's degree in Clinical Psychology. Katy is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #137091 and Associate Professional Clinical Counselor APCC #13076 under the supervision of Sara Povey, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #119296
Read more about Katy here