Ketamine is a safe and legal medicine which is often used in emergency rooms and on the battlefield as an anesthetic. At lower doses, ketamine produces a dissociative psychedelic experience in which an individual can explore parts of their psyche that may be otherwise be difficult to access. It is also known to bring on mystical experiences that can be healing for some. While once known as a party drug, ketamine has been shown to relieve the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and trauma when therapeutically administered with the proper mindset and setting.

Field Trip Health is an award-winning provider of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Their Chicago team provides Willow & Leaf clients with the following services:

1. Ketamine Treatment Screening: Field Trip Health’s psychiatric evaluation team, consisting of psychiatrists, PAs, and NPs, will screen all potential clients to ensure that this method of healing is appropriate and safe for them.
2. Ketamine Prescription and Dosing/Administration: For each KAP session, Field Trip Health’s trained and experienced medical providers (NP, MD, PA, or ND) will administer the ketamine to approved clients. This administration is typically through intramuscular injection.
3. Continuous Safety Monitoring: Throughout the ketamine and exploratory session, our medical staff will continually monitor the client in a manner that will not intrude on the therapeutic space the therapist is providing.

It is a form of therapy and treatment that combines the research-led science of psychedelic medicine with personalized psychotherapy. The ketamine-assisted sessions would allow you to enter an altered state of consciousness – under the supervision of a Field Trip health practitioner – to access internal feelings and thoughts in a meaningful way. These learnings are applied to your day-to-day life as part of a personalized plan developed with your therapist to ensure better wellbeing, a deeper connection to yourself, and longevity in positive mental health outcomes; as well as maintaining enough lucidity to engage with the supervising therapist.

Typically Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy consists of three phases: Preparation, Exploration, Integration. More information on each of these phases coming soon to the blog.

There’s growing awareness that conventional treatments to mental health – like SSRI medication and talk therapy – only work for a segment of the population. In fact, 75% of people don’t adhere to anti-depressants and 40-71% of individuals experience relapse. For those who feel like they’ve been left behind or lost in the system, ketamine-assisted therapy is a treatment showing great promise for treating anxiety, treatment-resistant depression, and trauma. It serves to help people embrace a deeper connection to others and themselves and feel greater self-fulfillment and empowerment in their life. Over the last decade, there’s been a growing body of research and evidence demonstrating the benefits and promise of ketamine medicine and mental health outcomes when paired with psychotherapy. Instead of treating symptoms, this model – a bio-medical-psycho-social-spiritual approach – recognizes the best source of healing comes from your inner self.

Pigott HE. The STAR*D Trial: It Is Time to Reexamine the Clinical Beliefs That Guide the Treatment of Major Depression. Can J Psychiatry. 2015;60(1):9-13. doi:10.1177/070674371506000104

If you are experiencing feelings of isolation, over-thinking, anxiety, depression, or trauma, our personalized treatment program may be a good fit for you. We help patients access their intrinsic ability to heal with the guidance of our medical practitioners. Individuals who haven’t found significant success in classic treatments, like talk therapy and medication, may find psychedelic-assisted therapy is a safe and effective treatment option – especially against treatment-resistant conditions. Certain medical and psychiatric contraindications do exist. Contact Willow & Leaf to discuss eligibility.

Part of the healing journey begins with setting your mind at ease and entering your ketamine-assisted sessions with an intention of what you hope to gain from the experience. Each of our health centers are carefully designed to enhance a feeling of safety and security, so that you can dive deep into the thoughts and feelings that surface during your session and navigate the self-work and integration under the supervision of a therapist who’ll help you implement those learnings into your day-to-day life. IV ketamine clinics proceed solely with a biomedical approach where patients often receive ketamine as a medicine in isolation. The reliance on ketamine without the initial preparation and integration of psychotherapy often has patients returning for more frequent maintenance dosing.