Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Program

Have you struggled to find relief from your symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD or OCD using conventional methods of treatment?

We offer a cutting edge Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) program that combines both ancient and modern healing practices. We have designed a program that supports mind, body and spirit and ensures that each client feels held in their sacred healing journey.

Our program is intensive, combining Ketamine treatments with trauma healing therapy sessions. This program is designed to help individuals to heal the root of their pain, to create movement where their system feels “stuck” and to find the innate internal strength that each person holds. The Ketamine helps individuals to see their lives, themselves and their world from a different perspective. Ketamine creates the opening, and the trauma therapy supports and guides each individual to deeper and lasting healing.

The Science of Ketamine

Depression and chronic stress deplete the connections between neurons in the brain. Ketamine helps us to grow new neurons and increases the connection between brain cells. Ketamine does this by activating the release of a neurotransmitter called glutamate in the brain, as well as increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which causes an increase in functionality (neuroplasticity) of the brain. This opens our system to growth and transformation, and accelerates the healing process.

Ketamine activates a different pathway in the brain from that of most other psychiatric medications including SSRIs, SNRIs, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines. Because it works on a different neurotransmitter, Ketamine can be effective in treating mental health conditions where other medications have failed.

Why Pair Ketamine with Trauma Healing Therapy?

After each ketamine journey, there is a two week window of time when the neuroplasticity of the brain is significantly increased due to the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF acts like a fertilizer to the brain, allowing the brain to create new neurons and increasing the connectivity between neurons. Your brain and body will be in an ideal state to shift patterns, to learn and to create healthier habits. This period is crucial to have your trauma healing sessions as your body is more open and receptive to healing.

Often times when our environment is unhealthy, vulnerable parts of us can believe we are the cause; if something bad happens to us then it must be our fault. Ketamine can help us to release and move beyond our long held, deeply rooted negative beliefs. The ketamine creates the opening, and the trauma therapy supports and guides each individual toward deep and lasting healing.

Individuals with depression and anxiety tend to have a very strong Default Mode Network (DMN), which is our protective system that works to keep us safe. This system can go into overdrive, creating a fortress-like rigid defense system. Ketamine dissolves the walls from this rigid defense system to see the world and self from a different perspective. This experience creates new neural pathways and “muscle memory” of a new way of being and responding to the world. The trauma healing therapy is essential in supporting the ketamine treatment.

Am I a fit for the KAP program?

Some experiences that ketamine can be helpful for:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- PTSD/Trauma
- OCD
- Grief/loss
- Feeling “stuck” in life
- Existential crisis/Quarter-Life and Mid-Life crisis
- Wanting to optimize personal/spiritual growth and relationships
- Expanding your perspective, seeing life through a more expansive lens
Unfortunately, for your own safety, we are not able to offer KAP services if you experience the following conditions:
- Bipolar Disorder
- Current or past psychosis
- History of heart disease or uncontrolled hypertension
- Active suicidality or suicide attempts within the past 6 months
- Active substance abuse, in recovery for at least 6 months
- Head injuries including traumatic brain injury, intracranial tumors, increased intracranial pressure, recent stroke
- Glaucoma or recent ocular surgery
- Pregnancy
- High dose benzodiazepines

Is Ketamine Safe?

Ketamine is the only legally prescribable psychedelic medicine in Hawaii. It is fast acting and has a short duration of 40-90 minutes. It has been used medically since the 1970’s and has been highly researched for decades, showing positive and safe outcomes with few negative side effects. Ketamine is a medication that has historically been used in anesthesia and pain management. In the early 1990’s, research found that ketamine has positive impacts on mood and anxiety, and further research over the last three decades has supported these findings. Though there have been many studies and decades of clinical experience showing the benefits of ketamine for depression and other mental health conditions, its use remains off label for these conditions. We utilize both oral lozenges and intramuscular injections to administer ketamine.

How Does a Ketamine Journey Feel?

Ketamine medicine sessions last an average of three hours, with the active effects of ketamine lasting an average of 45-90 minutes. Ketamine works as a dissociative, which means it can quickly induce a state in which individuals feel detached from their body and their everyday awareness and perception.

Ketamine activates visual, auditory and other sensory changes, which means that time and space are likely to feel altered. Ketamine often induces feelings of openness, wonder, creativity, gratitude, empathy and connection, although ketamine journeys can also put us in touch with pain, suffering, grief, loss and past trauma. This may be painful, yet it creates a different perspective as we experience grief and loss. Ketamine can create a non-ordinary (“altered”) state of consciousness that can lead to profound transpersonal (“transcendental”, “mystical”, “spiritual”, “religious”) peak experiences. These experiences build with each journey and can lead to deep personal transformation.

Your experience will be unique to you. KAP journeys are journeys that cannot be pre-programmed. They evolve from your own inner world and vary in intensity. Some experiences are enjoyable and filled with awe, and some are difficult. Each journey is important and brings opportunity for healing and growth.

“Recent data suggest that ketamine…might be the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades. First and most important, several studies demonstrate that ketamine reduces depression within six hours, with effects that are equal to or greater than the effects of six weeks of treatment with other antidepressant medications. Second, ketamine’s effects have been noted in people with treatment-resistant depression. This promises a new option for people with some of the most disabling and chronic forms of depression...Third, it appears that one of the earliest effects of the drug is a profound reduction in suicidal thoughts.”
~ Dr. Tom Insel MD -Former Provost of Harvard University and former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health

KAP Program Packages & Pricing

One Journey Package

One Initial Assessment with Psychiatrist
One Initial Assessment with Psychotherapist
One Preparation psychotherapy session – Deepening into Goals and Intentions
One 3 hour Ketamine Healing Journey with Psychiatrist
Two Integration psychotherapy sessions with Psychotherapist

Cost:

With insurance (HMSA, HMSA Quest, UHA, Tricare, and TriWest), total out of pocket price: $650 plus copays/coinsurance and GE Tax

Without insurance, total out of pocket price: $1975 plus GE Tax

Three Journey Package

One Initial Assessment with Psychiatrist
One Initial Assessment with Psychotherapist
One Preparation psychotherapy session – Deepening into Goals and Intentions
Three 3 hour Ketamine Healing Journeys with Psychiatrist
Six Integration psychotherapy sessions with Psychotherapist (two after each journey)

Cost:

With insurance (HMSA, HMSA Quest, UHA, Tricare, and TriWest), total out of pocket price: $1875 plus copays/coinsurance and GE Tax

Without insurance, total out of pocket price: $4215 plus GE Tax

Five Journey Package

One Initial Assessment with Psychiatrist
One Initial Assessment with Psychotherapist
One Preparation therapy session – Deepening into Goals and Intentions
Five 3 hour Ketamine Healing Journeys with Psychiatrist
Ten Integration psychotherapy sessions with Psychotherapist (two after each journey)

Cost:

With insurance (HMSA, HMSA Quest, UHA, Tricare, and TriWest), total out of pocket price: $2,950 plus copays/coinsurance and GE Tax

Without insurance, total out of pocket price: $6,455 plus GE Tax

One Journey Booster Package

This is a follow-up program for participants who have completed a previous KAP Program through our Center and are wanting a booster to continue deepening their healing work. A follow-up psychiatric assessment will be required if more than 6 months have passed since completing previous KAP program.

One Initial Assessment with Psychiatrist (If over 6 months since previous program)
One Preparation therapy session – Deepening into Goals and Intentions
One 3 hour Ketamine Healing Journey with Psychiatrist
Two Integration psychotherapy sessions with Psychotherapist

Cost:

With insurance (HMSA, HMSA Quest, UHA, Tricare, and TriWest), total out of pocket price: $625 plus copays/coinsurance and GE Tax

Without insurance, total out of pocket price: $1,305 plus GE Tax (if need Psychiatric Assessment add $300)