I am able to offer both in-person as well as virtual sessions. I currently have limited in-person availability, as I only work out of my Berkeley office (located about a 15-minute walk from the Downtown Berkeley BART station) a few days per week. I can only offer in-person sessions to clients who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

In order to foster a process of deep therapeutic exploration and change, I generally only accept clients who can be seen on a weekly basis. Weekly therapy sessions support the relational framework, sustain momentum, and allow for a more immersive experience of the work.

I request a 48-hour notice for cancellations and rescheduling. Please provide as much advance notice for cancellation/rescheduling as possible. All cancellations made with less than 48-hours advance notice will be charged the full session rate, unless we are able to find a mutually convenient time to reschedule within the week.

Length of therapy will depend on your unique needs and goals, and will be discussed and determined collaboratively with each client. I typically do longer-term work with clients looking to shift their relationships with themselves, others, and their lives in unquantifiable ways, but I also see some clients on a shorter-term basis to work on specific goals or during a particularly challenging period of life.

Ketamine is a medicine that has been used safely and legally as an anesthetic and analgesic agent in surgical settings and pain management for decades.

More recently it is increasingly used clinically in various forms (including intravenously, intramuscularly, and sublingually) as an off-label treatment for a variety of mental health conditions. Today there is a growing body of medical literature documenting beneficial effects of ketamine to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance use disorders, and other psychiatric diagnoses.

KAP is a hybrid (medical and psychological) approach to mental health treatment, and refers to the process of using ketamine in conjunction with therapy to catalyze change through non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC). Transpersonal, mystical, empathogenic, out-of-body, and mindfulness experiences are just some of the ketamine-elicited states that allow for a softening of psychological defenses, broadening of perspective, and expansion of consciousness leading to powerful change.

The process begins with a medical and psychological evaluation to determine if KAP is right for you. The medical evaluation is performed by a physician with whom I work closely, and I conduct the 90-minute psychological evaluation.

If we decide to move forward together, our next appx. 2-4 meetings will be preparation sessions (50-min), followed by the 3-hr KAP session (with physician-prescribed sublingual lozenges), and then appx. 1-3 (50-min) integration sessions. Clients may choose to undergo one or many of these cycles. 3-6 KAP sessions are often recommended for optimal benefits, though some do more or less. Number of KAP sessions and medication dosage are determined in close collaboration with a medical provider.

Medicine sessions are in-person only, while prep and integration sessions may be virtual. Some choose to see me for KAP only, while others may utilize the KAP approach within the context of longer-term psychotherapy.

Prior to our first meeting, I will send you a detailed questionnaire to help facilitate the intake process and enable us to to dive deeper when we meet for the first time. We will then spend several sessions prior to any medicine session to help prepare you for the KAP experience. This will include everything from exploring intentions, to walking you through the flow of the day, to exploring ritual and music selection used in session. I aim to help you feel as safe, supported, and grounded as possible prior to entering into the unknown. Curiosity, an open mind, and genuine desire to heal are also useful ingredients to making the process as fruitful as possible!

Yes! There are lots of resources out there to help you better understand the ketamine experience and potential benefits of KAP. These range from scientific journal articles reporting research findings on ketamine for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, and OCD, to articles published by the Yale School of Medicine, Smithsonian Magazine, podcast episodes, and many more.

Treatment sessions longer than 1 hour (i.e. the 3-hr ketamine medicine session) are rarely covered by insurance, but many clients are reimbursed for intake, preparation, and integration sessions (and even the 1st hour of the KAP session) as individual therapy sessions. If you have out-of-network mental or behavioral health benefits, these sessions may be reimbursed the way a psychotherapy session would be when submitting a superbill.

No problem - there is a lot to digest about this process! If you are interested in learning more about KAP and if this might be the right treatment for you, feel free to reach out and schedule a consultation.