Ketamine for Trauma

If you're embarking on your journey towards trauma healing and are exploring the potential benefits of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, you're in the right place. Across various trauma treatment modalities, a common thread is the emphasis on creating a secure space for clients to look at traumatic experiences. In methodologies like EMDR, this involves using eye movements or tapping to diminish activity in the amygdala. Internal Family Systems teaches clients to disengage from certain aspects of themselves and approach healing with a regulated nervous system. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for trauma, PTSD, or CPTSD shares similarities in using the dissociative aspects of Ketamine to make trauma processing much easier.

Prior to their Ketamine sessions, clients undergo comprehensive preparation to navigate any challenging internal experiences that may arise. Simultaneously, the dissociative anesthetic nature of the medicine helps establish distance and reduces reactivity to traumatic memories. Imagine confronting your trauma directly as akin to swimming with a shark, while addressing it under the influence of Ketamine is more akin to observing the shark safely in an aquarium.

Since 2019, I've been guiding clients through trauma healing using Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. Additionally, I'm trained in EMDR and parts work, serving as complementary tools if they prove beneficial. If you're interested in learning more, I warmly encourage you to schedule a free consultation by clicking the button below, which is directly linked to my calendar.

Charlie Shockley, LCSW

“What people don’t talk about as much is that to heal trauma, you have to grieve—a lot. You need to grieve the life you didn’t have, the love you didn’t get, the years lost, the way you treated yourself and others… We don’t like to feel this way, so most people avoid it. Suppress it. Disassociate. They will stay frozen in their grief for years. And it will show up as depression, stagnancy, and disconnection from their emotions and relationships. It’s some of the most arduous emotional work that a person can ever do, but it’s the only way through because without that grieving, without that letting go, the trauma stays with you. It poisons your body, your mind, and your spirit and makes you keep reliving and recreating the past as if it’s still present. The only way out of this is by going into the emotions that weren’t safe for you to feel when the trauma happened. If you can feel those emotions, it is a sign that you are already healing. “You can’t heal what you don’t feel” has a profound truth in it. When we feel, we remember our souls again. We regain our connection to life and all that is. When we grieve, we heal our hearts and our connection to every other living being. Underneath all the feelings you don’t want to feel is your aliveness, your vitality, your laughter, your love for life and others, & your soul. ”
— Laura Matsue

Why Ketamine Therapy (KAP)?

Ketamine has a long history of safe use as an anesthetic, and its new “breakthrough” potential to resolve treatment-resistant depression has created quite a buzz. Ketamine induces a non-ordinary state of consciousness, or psychedelic effect, which can be a powerful, potentially life-changing experience. This experience is the focus of Charlie’s approach to psychotherapy services while the medical aspect is managed by Journey Clinical.

A key feature of psychedelic medicine is its ability to temporarily shut down the Default Mode Network (your ego) so that you can experience reality without your typical filter. What we understand is the story you manufacture about who you are and how you relate to the world can become too rigid in treatment-resistant disorders and may color your reality in negative ways. Ketamine has the potential to help you step outside of beliefs that no longer serve you. It’s a big shift and one that has the potential to help you change your perceptions and thus change your reality.

This sounds wonderful, and it can be. In a recent clinical trial with cancer patients, using a similar medication, greater than 80% of participants reported “moderately or greater increased well-being/life satisfaction.” (Griffiths, et al. 2016) This study was the beginning of the current research renaissance into psychedelics and the data continues to confirm benefits. What’s important to note is that these outcomes quantify a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Though the medicine itself can have restorative impacts on the brain, the ego-based narratives that a Ketamine treatment may expose often require psychotherapy to fully resolve.

Many clients have felt trapped for years or even a lifetime by negative beliefs such as “I’m unlovable, a disappointment, a failure, it’s hopeless, or the world is a bad place.” Many report that Ketamine is able to essentially dissolve these stories for a time, but they may have a tendency to return depending on multiple biological, social, and psychological variables. That’s why it’s important to support this Ketamine-produced window of insight with cognitive and behavioral change in order to truly integrate the experience into your psyche.

In addition, Ketamine is a non-specific amplifier of internal experiences be they cognitive, emotional, or somatic. The client does not get to choose what gets amplified and what doesn’t. Those who have a strong resistance to internal experiences may try to fight the medicine in order to retain a sense of control. Opening the door on repressed feelings can be uncomfortable and a trained counselor’s job is to make the process much less challenging.

Charlie offers a clinical assessment, treatment planning, preparation and integration therapy. They want to assure your journey is transformational, long-term, and the opportunity to heal that you’ve been waiting for.

KAP + Medication Management

Please enjoy these helpful flyers to answer your questions about how the protocol works. To understand more about how this intervention might work for you, feel free to schedule a consultation.

KAP Protocol

I offer a therapeutic modality called Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with an organization called Journey Clinical. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a holistic modality in which ketamine is used as a complement to psychotherapy to help eligible patients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustained improvement in symptoms. I take on the psychotherapy portion of the experience, while Journey Clinical’s medical team supports you on all medical aspects. This includes determining eligibility, developing a custom treatment plan, prescribing the medicine and monitoring outcomes. Below is more information about KAP to help you navigate if it may be a good fit for you.

What is Ketamine?

● Ketamine is a legal, safe and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and PTSD. Ketamine has rapidly-acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which can begin to take effect within 1-2 hrs. after treatment and last for up to 2 weeks. It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors, which are thought to help form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement.

● Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways, including IV infusion, intramuscular injection, via nasal spray and using sublingual lozenges. In my work with Journey Clinical we only use the sublingual lozenge form.

How Does Ketamine Feel?

● The effects of ketamine, which most patients find pleasant, last for approximately 45 minutes. These effects can make you feel “far from” your body, and facilitate shifts in perception that can often feel expansive in nature. Your motor and verbal abilities will be reduced, so you’ll be lying down in a comfortable position during the experience. Once these effects subsided, we’ll spend the remainder of our appointment giving you space to process and discuss your experience. While it may feel hard to articulate what happened during the experience, patients feel like the insights gained are none-the-less clear. Studies have shown that the benefits to mood and neurological growth can last up to two weeks after the Ketamine experience.

How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work?

1. Your therapist connects you with Journey Clinical

● You schedule an initial evaluation with a clinician from the Journey Clinical medical team via zoom. They will go over your medical and psychiatric history with you, provide education on the treatment and determine if you are eligible for KAP.

● If Journey Clinical’s medical team determines that you are eligible for KAP, they will develop a personalized Ketamine prescription and outcome monitoring plan for you.

● Journey Clinical’s medical staff will write a ketamine prescription for you, and a small amount of oral ketamine will be sent to your home, enough for the first 2 KAP sessions. You will be taught to take your vitals and self-administer the ketamine lozenges by Journey Clinical’s medical team in advance of our KAP sessions.

2. Preparation sessions:

● Once you receive your ketamine lozenges, we will schedule time together for our KAP preparation, dosing and integration sessions. Preparation session(s) will be scheduled just like regular therapy sessions prior to the KAP dosing session. The goal of a preparation session(s) is to align on the process and set intentions for our KAP sessions together.

3. KAP Dosing Session:

● A typical ketamine dosing session lasts between 1-2 hours and can take place either in-person at my office, or remotely via telehealth.

● During a dosing session, you will self-administer your ketamine lozenge either in my office or in your home. You will be in a comfortable, reclining position wearing an eye mask and listening to calming music. Although a KAP dosing session may be largely an internal experience, I will be present with you the entire time to hold space and provide support as needed.

4. Integration Sessions:

● After our KAP dosing session, we will meet for multiple integration therapy sessions to review the memories, thoughts & insights that arose during your dosing session, and to prepare for the next dosing session.

5. Follow-up consultations with Journey Clinical:

● After our first KAP session, Journey Clinical’s medical team schedules regular follow ups with you to monitor outcomes and prescribe ketamine lozenge refills, as appropriate. The frequency of follow ups depends on your unique treatment plan, at a minimum of once per quarter.

Follow-up Consultations with Journey Clinical:

● After our first KAP session, Journey Clinical’s medical team schedules regular follow ups with you to monitor outcomes and prescribe ketamine lozenge refills, as appropriate. The frequency of follow ups depends on your unique treatment plan, at a minimum of once per quarter.

What is the Cost of Treatment?

● Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is an affordable, accessible modality. Although the medical intake, follow ups, and therapy are not covered by insurance, they are eligible for out-of-network reimbursement. The average cost for medical and psychotherapy support is $2500.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

■ My typical hourly rate is $150/hr. There is no difference in cost between different types of sessions eg. dosing, integration, or assessment. We will generally meet once per week and have medicine sessions once per week. In this way, the expense is spread out over months and you can stop your protocol at any time. The psychotherapy portion of the protocol includes:

  • Full clinical assessment to determine the root cause of your suffering and the mechanisms that keep you stuck.

  • 2 Preparation sessions to teach you how to be with the medicine and identify intentions.

  • 2 hr initial dosing session with KAP, in person.

  • 1 hr integration sessions after each subsequent medicine session. For best results, 6-8 weekly sessions are recommended.

  • Closing session to identify ongoing integration strategies. Additional session are always available. Integration is a longterm process of practicing a new way of being. It is easy to fall back into old patterns. Integration is there to help you manage this and stay on track. It can take some practice.

Journey Clinical Medical Costs

● Initial medical consultation with Journey Clinical: $250

● Cost of medication: $85 (enough for 2 sessions)

● Follow-up medical consultation with Journey Clinical $150 (at least 1X per quarter)

● Cost of medication: $145 (enough for up to 6 sessions)