This article will explore why Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is uniquely positioned for:
Healing from complex trauma (cptsd) and PTSD
Accommodating neurodivergence and relieving overwhelm
Deepening spiritual practices, meditation and creativity
Finding hope and meaning in our wounding
How KAP Brought my Practice to a Sweet and Steady Pace
When I first entered the world of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), I was already feeling the weight of the work I was doing with my neurodivergent and queer clients, many of whom were healing from complex and systemic trauma. Though I hadn’t yet personally experienced the medicine, something about the approach immediately slowed me down. It was as if the pace of my practice shifted into a more sustainable rhythm.
As both a provider and a lifelong client in the mental health space, I knew that in order to better support my clients, I had to deepen my own healing journey. Enter psychedelic medicine.
For me, personal healing has always intertwined with my therapeutic work—one continuously informing the other. Over the years, I’ve found that psychedelic medicine has been an invaluable tool in my own journey with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. It has allowed me to refresh my internal "software", clearing out old patterns, and paving the way for greater healing in my relationships, my mind-body connection, and my daily life. These personal transformations fueled by psychedelic medicine guided me to begin offering this avenue of care to my clients.
Incorporating psychedelic-assisted therapies into Intentions Therapy has also been a slow, deliberate process; one that has required discernment, clinical training, deep mindfulness and a willingness to be flexible and change my approach. In early 2024, I began the professional process of training and incorporating Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy into my practice. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of supporting my clients through preparation. dosing and integration sessions and have gained a deeper understanding of how Ketamine works both through personal experience and through clinical work. While I am still in the early stages of learning about Ketamine and its healing properties, I can report that as a KAP therapist, I have been consistently surprised by the positive transformation this medicine offers.
Ketamine is unique in that it’s a legal dissociative and hallucinogenic agent, with therapeutic potential. If you’re new to the world of psychedelics, I highly recommend checking out the work of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). They provide a wealth of information on the various healing applications of psychedelics. If you’re interested specifically in Ketamine, this MAPS’ article titled Paradigms of Ketamine Treatment is a great starting point to learn more about Ketamine, including the different routes of administration, the various therapeutic Ketamine services available and the effects of the medicine at dissociative doses as well as at higher psychedelic doses. Here’s the link: Paradigms of Ketamine Treatment
To learn more about the therapeutic ketamine services I offer, head to my KAP webpage. I am currently offering both remote KAP sessions to individuals in both Florida and Illinois, and in-home KAP sessions for folks in the Chicagoland area.
How KAP Heals Trauma
Ketamine medicine sessions open up a critical learning period where our brain has increased neuroplasticity. In the days and weeks following the medicine session, clients are practicing behaviors they want to reinforce, noticing and modifying stuck cognitive patterns, and processing their experience both in the altered state and in their daily life.
Ketamine therapy disrupts the processes that sustain trauma, when clients return to traumatic memories and engage with the triggers that used to lead to terror and avoidance. Ketamine's intrinsic anti-depressant and anti-anxiety properties allow hope and possibility to emerge in places where there used to be great fear, pain and wounding. KAP treatment makes it possible for those impacted by trauma and oppression to experience themselves in new, different and distinct ways. This helps us shed over-identification with our trauma and ground into a present, more resourced self.
The Pace of Healing with KAP
One of the most unexpected yet rewarding outcomes of integrating KAP into my practice is the shift toward a more balanced, spacious pace.
As a therapist, I’m often wrestling with my own inner critic—especially when I feel the clock ticking during an hour-long session. I find myself juggling the responsibility of witnessing my client’s process while also offering support and resourcing. Sometimes, in the face of great suffering and mental health struggles, the 60 minute minute meetings don't get close to meeting the needs that present.
But with KAP, both my clients and I are experiencing the benefits of a slower, more intentional pace. There's time to be in moments of deep reflection, explore inner landscapes, and build containers that anchor the healing process. As we move through preparation, dosing and integration sessions, we have more time and space to actually practice meditation and perform rituals to make meaning as their journey takes shape. It's a spaciousness I never anticipated—an openness that allows both of us to be more present with what’s arising.
While accompanying my first client through their inner preparations and first few ketamine dosing sessions, I felt myself slowing down to listen deeper, attuning to my own body and its needs with a quiet compassion, and - shockingly - at the same time I was able to attune to my client. This was profound, unusual. As we went through intention-setting, contracted with resistant parts of self, and discussed the effects of the medicine, I felt myself paying deeper attention to both myself and my client. This kind of reciprocal attunement is one of the greatest gifts of KAP. The beginners mindset allowed us to set flexible expectations for the process and build systems of support that cushion the client as they move through dosing and integration.
What Does Slowing Down with KAP Allow?
The answer: deeper healing and enhanced opportunities to find relief, feel differently, and intentionally change your experience.
When psychedelic medicine is called upon, the pace of the clinical work can feel slower, while the progress and healing speed up. I’ve witnessed remarkable client growth in only a few sessions. The slower pace of conversation and the spaciousness accessed in KAP create fertile opportunities to explore what moving from overwhelm into regulation feels like, to see life from a new perspective, and to cultivate greater discernment.
KAP and Neurodivergence
One of the things I’ve noticed in my work with neurodivergent individuals is the immense potential for healing that KAP offers. For many, the mind and sensory system are constantly active—often overwhelming. Ketamine has the unique ability to quiet the internal noise, allowing for a sense of spaciousness and calm that is rare in the daily experience of those with sensory sensitivities, including Autistic and ADHD individuals.
The beauty of KAP is that it creates a window of relief—whether it's the quiet of a dissociative state or the expansive shift in perspective that follows. For neurodivergent folks, this experience of inner spaciousness can feel oceans away from the usual loud thoughts and overwhelming sensations.
Throughout the course of KAP treatment, we are tracking shifts in sensation and perception while working to accommodate our unique body-minds.
In the brief altered state and in the days following, my clients report relief from overwhelm and overstimulation. They also have access to new perspective about the hustle and bustle of their minds and their lives; after medicine sessions clients report better sleep and distresss tolerance, increased optimism, motivation and clarity as well as a deeper connection with self.
KAP is just one of my range of services that are tailored to meet the unique needs of the individual in focus. Check out my service offerings to explore working together. I offer neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ inclusive services with an emphasis on healing grief and trauma.
Spiritual Healing and Development
As a clinical social worker I have had the privilege of working alongside LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent clients as they repair their spirit. I have long-revered the complementary and alternative practices and ritual work that surrounded the sacred medicine world. I have always had a passion for ethically integrating my own spiritual practices into my work as a therapist. I love to support clients healing from religious trauma and help individuals identify the practices and beliefs that offer hope, insight and a renewed sense of belonging in the world.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy offers the perfect playground for client and therapist to explore and experiment with many different approaches, modalities and practices. My work as a KAP therapist is a natural extension of my own spiritual practices: such as tarot and oracle readings, guided visualizations, and connection to ancestral wisdom, animal, plant and spirit guides.
I am heartened by the ways I feel more full and alive in my work as a ketamine assisted psychotherapist.
How I Show Up as a KAP Provider:
I am simply an accomplice along your journey and a willing guide open to exploring the mysteries you face in your inner darkness.
I use ritual, breathwork, mindfulness, writing and guided practice to contain the change we cultivate. I know the importance of a sacred container. I believe the relationship between us is both a vessel and a portal.
In this work, we take our time, orienting to the present moment with diligence and a commitment to the truth. We move with intention at the pace of safety, we listen to and learn the language of our nervous system. Informed consent is at the heart of our paced inner exploration.
I am a therapist who wants to offer slow and attuned medicine. I am a spiritually oriented care worker, a witch. I work with humans living through loss and transfiguring self. The work we do together involves alchemy, presence, and a commitment to intentional adaptation.
In the psychotherapy, I partner with my client on their transformation, and we partner with the Ketamine. With this medicine, we reopen critical learning periods of enhanced neuroplasticity that allow us to build new neural pathways and inner circuitry around our intentions. I respectfully collaborate with psychedelic medicine welcoming greater vulnerability, gratitude and acceptance into the healing work.
Getting Started
I’m currently offering both in-person and remote KAP sessions to individuals in Florida and Illinois. My clients often identify as LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, or as individuals seeking embodied self-alignment and a deeper sense of self-compassion. I also specialize in supporting trans and gender-expansive individuals, QTBIPOC, disabled care workers and creatives healing from complex trauma.
If this resonates with you and you're ready to explore what healing with KAP could look like, let's connect.
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