Adult Counseling
Teen counseling
Young adult counseling
Online therapy
Individual
family
Group
Our specialties
Healing can feel out of reach when you're burdened by grief, deep emotional pain, or overwhelming depression or anxiety. The frustration of trying to overcome these barriers through traditional therapies or your own strength can leave you feeling stuck.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) offers an additional path to healing, creating a state of openness in the mind and body. Ketamine therapy helps you access deeper layers of emotion and memory, often uncovering insights that spark transformation.
At Denver Metro Counseling we have seen the powerful impacts of KAP in helping clients navigate depression, grief, suicidality, trauma, and anxiety. When done with thoughtful preparation and ongoing integration, this approach can foster profound healing, growth, and connection to self.
If you’ve been seeking a way forward, Ketamine therapy may offer the clarity and support you need to begin that journey.
explore new pathways to healing with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
Ketamine-assisted therapy is a groundbreaking approach to mental health care that utilizes the therapeutic potential of ketamine, a medication known for its ability to enhance neuroplasticity and support emotional healing.
Originally used as an anesthetic, ketamine has been extensively studied for its benefits in treating conditions such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and chronic pain.
Ketamine therapy works by creating a unique state in which the brain can process emotions and memories more freely, bypassing habitual mental barriers.
Ketamine interacts with the brain’s glutamate system, which plays a key role in learning, memory, and emotional regulation.
This process often enables clients to gain new insights, break free from entrenched thought patterns, and access parts of their emotional experience that traditional therapies may not reach.
During ketamine treatment clients often report a sense of detachment from habitual thought patterns, allowing them to approach their struggles from a fresh perspective.
When combined with preparation and integration sessions, this therapy offers a holistic path to healing.
what is ketamine therapy?
Living with anxiety or depression can feel overwhelming, like you are carrying a weight that’s impossible to set down.
These challenges often stem from unresolved trauma, grief, or persistent thought patterns that keep you in an unhelpful thought pattern.
Ketamine-assisted therapy offers a way to break through, giving you the space to explore and heal in ways you may not have thought possible.
Ketamine works by supporting your brain’s ability to create new pathways, helping you move beyond the repetitive cycles of worry, hopelessness, or numbness.
Through thoughtful preparation, guided ketamine sessions, and integration work, we partner with you to help uncover what lies beneath the surface.
This isn’t just about relieving symptoms - it’s about finding clarity, connection, and a path forward that feels meaningful and sustainable.
If you’re ready to explore what’s next, Ketamine therapy could be the step that helps you find balance and hope again.
Ketamine Therapy for anxiety and depression
Talk to one of our Ketamine Therapists
Build Trust and Understanding:
At the beginning of the preparation process, we take time to get to know you - your history, goals for therapy, and what you hope to achieve. We’ll discuss whether Ketamine-assisted therapy is the best approach for your current needs, making sure it aligns with your healing journey.
Education About Ketamine:
We’ll educate you on how ketamine works to enhance neural pathways and promote emotional healing. Understanding the science behind the treatment helps you feel more confident and supported as you prepare for the experience.
Set Intentions:
Together, we’ll define clear intentions for your upcoming ketamine session. This includes exploring the themes you’d like to focus on and clarifying your hopes for the work ahead.
Create a Safe and Supportive Environment:
We’ll review the setting for your ketamine session, including details like the dosage of ketamine administration, the music that will be played, and comfort items to help you feel at ease. We’ll also discuss who will be present during your session and answer any questions you or your supportive loved one may have.
Prepare for the Internal Work:
One of the key aspects of ketamine therapy is the deep emotional exploration it can facilitate. We’ll guide you in turning inward to prepare for the insights and experiences that may arise, helping you feel mentally and emotionally ready.
Address Potential Themes:
During preparation, we’ll explore any emotional themes that may come up, including trauma, grief, fears and safety, dissociation, spirituality, oppressive experiences, suicidality, and hopes. Your KAP therapist will help you feel supported in navigating whatever may surface during your ketamine session.
Collaborate with a Supportive Loved One:
If you have a loved one who will be supporting you before and after your session, we’ll work with them too, making sure they understand their role in your healing journey and how they can help you feel grounded and safe during and after each session.
Preparation is a crucial step in the ketamine therapy process, setting you up to be fully supported and ready for the transformative work ahead.
Steps to prepare for ketamine therapy:
As with most forms of therapy, a gradual and gentle approach often leads to the most healing. Ketamine therapy is a powerful tool that can work for those who are good candidates for this approach to therapy.
To provide the most effective and supportive experience, preparation is a key component of the process. We work closely with you to establish a foundation of trust, understanding, and readiness for the internal work that will unfold.
Preparation for Ketamine treatments
Ketamine therapy offers transformative benefits, especially for individuals struggling with conditions like depression, anxiety, and suicidality. By targeting the brain's neuroplasticity, ketamine therapy can stimulate the growth of new neural pathways, which can significantly enhance emotional regulation and healing.
the benefits of ketamine therapy
benefits of ketamine therapy can include:
- Decreased Depression and Anxiety: When combined with therapy, ketamine is especially effective for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. While this is not a miracle approach to care, for those who are good candidates, results are remarkable.
- Reduced Symptoms of PTSD and Trauma: Ketamine-assisted therapy can help people process past trauma by promoting neuroplasticity, allowing new neural pathways to develop. This supports recovery from emotional and psychological wounds.
- Improved Cognitive Function: Ketamine therapy has been shown to improve cognitive clarity, focus, and decision-making by enhancing brain connectivity.
- Support for Suicidal Thoughts: In cases of severe depression, ketamine has been found to significantly reduce suicidal ideation​.
- Overall Emotional and Physical Relief: Ketamine helps alleviate both emotional and physical manifestations of trauma, including chronic pain supporting a whole-person approach to wellness.
Common Questions about Ketamine therapy Answered
During a typical ketamine therapy session, you will be in a comfortable environment for 2-2.5 hours.
Initially, your therapist will revisit your intentions for the session and review agreements between you and your therapist while you are in an altered ketamine state.
If you and your therapist have decided on a sublingual Ketamine dose, you’ll take the prescribed dose of ketamine, swish it in your mouth for 15-20 minutes, and then spit it out.
If you have decided on an Intramuscular (IM) Ketamine dose, the prescriber will inject your shoulder with the ketamine using a small needle.
Both of these administrations of ketamine are done as you settle into the couch with your eyes covered and music started. While the ketamine begins to take effect, you will be alert and able to engage. However, you will be encouraged to settle into the couch and turn inward.
What happens during a ketamine therapy session?
As the ketamine is felt in the system you will feel a sense of heaviness and may find it difficult to move, but rest assured, you will be safe throughout the session. Your therapist will sit next to or across from you and provide support as needed during this time. There are times when you and your KAP therapist may plan to have a prolonged therapy session scheduled right after to dive deeper into the work. There are other times when a client and therapist decide the client will take lower doses of a sublingual form of ketamine and engage in an EMDR or IFS session.
Once the medicine wears off, your therapist will take note of anything reported by the client for future exploration during integration sessions.
How does the ketamine assisted therapy work with EMDR or IFS?
Because of ketamine’s ability to bypass the brain’s conscious thinking centers, it directly influences the subconscious areas responsible for emotions and memories.
After taking a lower sublingual dose of ketamine, you and your therapist may choose to incorporate additional therapeutic techniques during a medicine session such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or IFS (Internal Family Systems). These techniques can enhance the healing process and deepen the work being done with ketamine, helping you process emotions and trauma more effectively.
If you are taking a higher does of ketamine, either sublingual, IM or IV, EMDR and IFS may be incorporated in preparation, integration and on going therapy.
In addition to other somatic (mind-body) approaches, both EMDR and IFS may be incorporated throughout the entire ketamine experience with your ketamine assisted therapist during preparation, integration and ongoing therapy.
what is the purpose of integration sessions?
Does denver metro counseling offer sublingual, IM, or iv ketamine?
At this time, our office focuses on sublingual and IM (intramuscular) medicine sessions and does not offer ketamine infusions through or intravenous (IV) methods.
If you're interested in IV ketamine treatment, we have worked with clinics that provide ketamine infusions and can give you insights regarding each one to help you make an informed decision. Should you choose this path, your therapist will do our part to work closely with your medical provider to guide you through the preparation, integration, and follow-up process, making sure that you receive the necessary support throughout the treatment process.
We highly encourage you to take your time in making a choice about ketamine and work with your therapist in scheduling medicine sessions, even IV which are done outside of our clinic, to improve outcomes overall. We have seen, first hand, the often disruptive impact of engaging in ketamine sessions without proper preparation and support with a trusted therapist along side for the journey. We do our best to mitigate that by slowing down and making thoughtful plans with clients when making choices regarding their care in adding ketamine to their therapeutic work.
In addition to preparation sessions, integration sessions are a key component of ketamine therapy. These sessions are scheduled close to the medicine sessions to help our clients lean into the neuroplasticity triggered by ketamine. We find that true integration can take more than one session and that this is the start of a journey of integration, new learnings, and a compassionate connection to self. In fact, integration of new material and insights gained from this experience may continue over months and even years. This is a journey to becoming more connected with yourself and navigating your discoveries along the way.
How many preparation sessions will I need for ketamine assisted therapy?
We believe preparation is the most important component to ketamine assisted therapy and the number of sessions a person may need or want varies. During preparation, we go over reasons for seeking a ketamine experience, help you connect with your inner guide, or self, so you are more resourced during and after sessions, provide education on ketamine assisted therapy and answer your questions, make plans with those who will be supporting you before and after medicine sessions.
We have first hand experience in knowing the importance of setting agreements, understandings and expectations with clients and will not bypass this important component of ketamine therapy.
What happens if i need support during the ketamine session?
Your therapist will be present throughout your session, sitting next to or across from you. They are there to provide verbal support as needed, whether that means offering grounding techniques or simply being a calming presence while you navigate the experience. If you ever feel uncomfortable, your therapist will guide you through the process to keep you safe and supported at all times.
You and your therapist will make agreements on what is okay and not okay as far as support from therapist goes during preparation sessions and will review them prior to taking medicine on your medicine day. This may include holding a hand, touching a shoulder, grounding, encouragement.
is there follow up after my ketamine session?
Yes! We do brief 15-minute check-ins the day after a medicine session especially if there isn't a scheduled integration appointment the day after. This provides an opportunity to touch base and address any immediate thoughts or feelings you may have as the effects of ketamine wear off. Integration sessions are scheduled prior to medicine sessions and fall in the day or days following each session.
Ongoing communication is an integral part of the process with both you and your supportive loved one so that you are able to progress fully supported before, during, and after each medicine session.
How many ketamine assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) sessions will i need?
Ketamine assisted psychotherapy, or KAP, is used in therapy for a variety of reasons. Initially approved for the treatment of treatment resistant depression and suicidality, it is also used to help people go deeper to unlock blocks to their healing and connection to self. For this reason, the number of sessions is decided between you and your trained ketamine assisted therapist and can be shifted as treatments begin to more or less.
For those seeking relief from chronic depression and/or thoughts of suicide, we recommend the standard KAP treatment: 2 sessions/week for 3 consecutive weeks. For other beneficial applications to your therapy, frequency and method of receiving ketamine (sublingual, IM, or IV) will be discussed between you and your therapists through planning and preparation.
More questions? we have answers. Reach out today
What to Expect from our trained ketamine specialists in Denver
At the end of the first meeting you and your therapist will know your therapy goals and establish a method to achieve them.
Generally, preparation and integration sessions are 50-minutes, however may vary based on conversations between you and your therapist based on your needs and wants. Costs vary based on clinician and certifications.
Create therapy goals
Should you choose to work with one of our trained ketamine therapists, you will schedule an initial 90-minute intake appointment.
During this first session, we want to get to know more about you and your journey to seeking ketamine treatment. We are careful not to make this too overwhelming and won’t get into anything too deep this first meeting.
Schedule your intake appointment
Your initial consultation will be scheduled with one or more of our KAP specialists of your choice.
Therapists are matched based on a variety of factors to ensure that you receive the most effective care possible and that you feel comfortable working with the therapist for your specific and unique needs.
Choose your therapist
If you would like to learn more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, schedule a complimentary 20-minute consult to discuss your concerns with a trained ketamine therapist.
She will walk you through the process of getting onboarded and scheduling your first appointment.
SCHEDULE A CONSULT
Thank you!
To book your complimentary consultation, call our office using the call button below and take the first step towards better mental health today.
Contact us today to book a 20-minute consult
Book a complimentary consultation
