Ketamine is a substance that was first synthesized at Wayne State University in the early 1960s. It was used as a medicine to induce anesthesia. Gradually, it was discovered that it had pain relieving attributes at lower doses. It has recently been discovered to help with depression as well. Ketamine has been studied to see its possible benefits in helping to treat a number of mental health problems, including: substance dependencies, depression, PTSD, bipolar depression and chronic pain. Esketamine (a form of Ketamine) was studied and then approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for use in Treatment Resistant Depression. This has resulted in the efficacious use of this medicine to treat depression that has been resistant to a variety of other traditional antidepressants.

Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can benefit a number of people, including:

• Those who have experienced non-ordinary states of consciousness and have had difficulty returning to the previous defenses they have outgrown
• Those who are over reliant on substances
• Those who have unhealthy patterns of attachment
• Those who have undergone trauma
• Those who are thriving in life but feel the need to explore existential issues
• Couples who are having difficulties and want to do individual work before their couples therapy can yield better results
• Those who feel stuck in traditional psychotherapy

All cancellations require a 48 hour notice either through the patient portal. Full visit charges will apply for notice given less than 48 hours before the assigned appointment time.

While we don’t accept insurance assignments for payment, many patients with out-of-network benefits are reimbursed for some charges after satisfying their deductibles. It is your sole responsibility to determine whether such reimbursement will apply by contacting your insurance company.Our practice is also quite ideal for those with high deductibles or Medical Savings Plans (MSA) or Health Savings Plan (HSA).

You will be given a coded invoice that you can submit to your insurance company. Some insurance companies honor the charges, some will reimburse you for a portion of the charges, and many do not cover them at all. If this is important, please ask your insurance company BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT what they reimburse for out-of-network practitioners that you pay out of pocket.

Once you have established treatment with a Blossom approved therapist, they will coordinate your medical clearance and KAP sessions directly with Blossom staff.

During a KAP session, you will be under the care of your therapist, with whom you would have already established a sense of safety. You will wear an eye mask and listen to the specially curated music, while you are administered the medicine. Depending on the work you are doing in psychotherapy your session might look different. For example the dose would be adjusted to help facilitate the type of therapy taking place.

After contacting a therapist that you resonate with, you will be setting up an appointment. In the appointment your therapist and yourself will discuss your goals and both of you will get to know each other. Once you are feeling safe and have a connection, both of you can decide on starting Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. You will need a medical clearance for that and once cleared you will have your Ketamine session. Depending on the frequency with which you are receiving Ketamine, you might have an integration session with your therapist after the Ketamine session.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy consists of Ketamine sessions and Integration sessions. Ketamine sessions are prolonged therapy session in which you will be engaging in psychotherapy under the influence of Ketamine. Sometimes there is a lot of surprising material that comes up in these sessions and people like to explore that in therapy before returning to do a Ketamine session. For example most people do a Ketamine session one week and then an integration session 1 week with the therapist.

For people who respond to Ketamine, sometimes they do not need another Ketamine session after the initial set, unless they are starting to relapse. For some people the relapse can be a year and for some 18 months. For some people once a month sessions are needed after the response. It all depends on your individual case and can be decided in conjunction with your therapist and medical team.

IV Ketamine costs anywhere from $400-$500 dollars an infusion at most IV clinics. We add the therapy time of 2.5hrs to the Ketamine delivery fee and come up with our per-session fee. The 2.5hrs of therapy time take into account the commute of the therapist, supervision and psychotherapy integration during the session.

It varies. If you are using Ketamine in the context of Psychotherapy than your sessions are determined by your therapist and yourself. Depending on why you are using Ketamine, you might do Ketamine once every week or once every two weeks. An average number of sessions that people engage in are 6. If there is depression or ptsd guiding treatment, then you might be following a protocol similar to the Yale protocol of 6 sessions in 3 weeks followed by a session after 1 week and then a session after 2 weeks.

An integration session is just like a psychotherapy session and is billed by your therapist at their hourly rate. Please see the details of a therapist to see their rates.

Ketamine use can become a problem when used in non medically supervised settings. We believe that Ketamine assisted Psychotherapy improves the odds of any addictive tendencies, since in those sessions, Ketamine is used to feel emotions rather than avoiding them. Addictions are typically marked by avoidance of emotions and over a period of time needing more and more of the substance to avoid.

Medical clearance will determine the eligibility for Ketamine. Medical practitioners are ACLS trained. Your therapist is BLS trained. We have medical staff on the premises that can intervene in case of a medical emergency. The medical staff can refer to the nearby ER as well if indicated.

If you have uncontrolled blood pressure or heart disease, then Ketamine can be dangerous for you. Similarly people with Grave’s disease can also potentially have problems with Ketamine.

Nausea can happen to a small minority of people and sometimes it is severe enough that Ketamine cannot be utilized in treatment. We premedicate with medicine for people who are susceptible to nausea. Other side effects that can happen are the dissociative side effects of Ketamine during most of which you will have your eye shades on. Sometimes cystitis (inflammation of the urinary bladder) can also happen but typically it is seen in heavy users that are using Ketamine outside of medical supervision.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy like any other therapy is a specialty that needs to be learned by the therapist before they can practice it.

The therapists on our website are therapists that are approved by Blossom. These are therapists that have trained with Dr. Javed. Our therapist community is diverse and is growing. Our therapists have different experience levels and modalities of treatment. For example some of our therapists treat trauma with EMDR and can skillfully use the principles of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in conjunction with EMDR.

Our therapists can be in contact with your own therapist and obtain a history and come up with a treatment plan. Once you are finished with your Ketamine series your care can be transferred back to your therapist.

We would love to have your psychiatrist involved in your treatment. Blossom is not a Psychiatric clinic and only provides Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. As a result you will need your regular mental health team once you are finished with the Ketamine services.

Blossom is a clinic that only provides Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. You will need your regular mental health team once you are finished with ketamine treatment. And we would be happy to close the loop with your mental health team to see how you did.

In case of an emergency, please contact 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. Therapists and medical practitioners associated with Blossom do not offer emergency management of symptoms unless it is related to Ketamine. You are also welcome to contact your psychiatric team if there is a worsening of your symptoms. We are here to help also but are limited in our ability to work on anything else other than Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.