Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in Irvine, CA

Sometimes you already understand why you feel the way you do.

You know the patterns. You understand your history. You have talked about the anxiety, grief, relationships, trauma, or beliefs that keep coming up.

And yet something still does not change.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, also known as KAP, offers another way of approaching therapy. Ketamine can create a temporary shift in how you experience your thoughts, emotions, body, and sense of self. That shift can sometimes allow you to see familiar problems from a different perspective and access emotions or insights that may be harder to reach in ordinary therapy.

At Hur Psyche Sanctuary in Irvine, California, I provide Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, preparation, and integration in person and through secure Zoom sessions when clinically appropriate.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy combines psychotherapy with the altered state of consciousness that can occur with ketamine.

The intention is not simply to have an experience.

The intention is to use that experience therapeutically.

Ketamine may help create some distance from your usual thoughts and defenses. You may notice memories, emotions, physical sensations, imagery, or new perspectives emerging.

Some experiences feel profound. Others are subtle.

There is no specific experience you are supposed to have.

My role is to help you approach whatever arises with curiosity, safety, and intention, and then help you make sense of it afterward.

My work is rooted in clinical psychology, somatic therapy, trauma informed care, mindfulness, breathwork, guided imagery, and psychedelic preparation and integration.

I work with many people who are highly self aware.

They understand themselves intellectually, but they still find themselves repeating the same patterns.

They may know exactly why they react a certain way and still feel unable to respond differently.

This is where I find Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy especially meaningful.

Rather than only talking about what is happening, we can also pay attention to what is happening in the body.

Where do you tighten?

What happens when you stop trying to control the experience?

What emotion is underneath the anxiety?

What happens when you allow yourself to feel something instead of immediately explaining it?

Sometimes the body reveals something before the mind has words for it.

Preparation is an important part of the process.

Before a ketamine session, we spend time understanding what you are bringing into the experience.

We may explore your current stressors, emotional patterns, relationships, fears, expectations, previous experiences with altered states, and what you hope to understand or work through.

We also develop an intention.

An intention is different from trying to control what happens.

You might come in wanting to explore grief, fear, self worth, relationships, feeling stuck, or simply a desire to reconnect with yourself.

The experience may take you somewhere unexpected.

Part of the work is learning how to meet what comes up.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy can take place in person at Hur Psyche Sanctuary in Irvine or through Zoom, depending on your treatment plan, medical care, and what is clinically appropriate.

During the experience, there may be periods of conversation and periods of silence.

You may be invited to notice your breath, body, emotions, memories, imagery, or physical sensations.

There is no pressure to analyze everything while it is happening.

Sometimes the most meaningful part of the experience is allowing yourself to be with something without immediately trying to understand it.

The experience itself is only part of the work.

Integration is where we begin to understand what happened and how it relates to your life.

We might explore questions such as:

What stayed with you?

What surprised you?

What did you feel that you usually avoid?

What became clearer?

What patterns were easier to see?

What might need to change now?

Integration is also about action.

Insight becomes more meaningful when it changes the way you live.

That might mean setting a boundary, changing a habit, allowing yourself to grieve, having a difficult conversation, responding differently to anxiety, or making a decision you have been avoiding.

Ketamine may create an opening.

The work afterward is learning how to live differently because of what you saw.

People come to this work for many different reasons.

You may be interested in KAP if you are experiencing:

Depression

Anxiety

Grief or loss

Trauma related symptoms

Burnout

Emotional numbness

Relationship patterns that keep repeating

Difficulty accessing or expressing emotion

Major life transitions

Feeling disconnected from yourself

Feeling stuck despite years of therapy or personal growth

A desire for deeper self exploration

Ketamine is not appropriate for everyone. Medical eligibility must be determined by an appropriately licensed medical provider.

Traditional therapy can help us understand our patterns and make meaningful changes.

But sometimes people reach a point where they understand themselves very well and still feel stuck.

Ketamine may temporarily change the way you relate to your thoughts and emotions.

Instead of feeling completely inside a problem, you may experience more space around it.

That change in perspective can sometimes create an opportunity to approach familiar material differently.

The goal is not to escape your life.

It is to develop a different relationship with yourself and with the things you are facing.

I do not view ketamine as something that does the work for you.

A meaningful experience can give you insight, but insight alone does not automatically change your life.

What matters is what you do with what you learn.

Are you willing to look at the patterns that became clearer?

Are you willing to change something that no longer serves you?

Are you willing to practice a different response when your nervous system wants to return to what is familiar?

The medicine may help open the door.

You still have to walk through it.

I provide the psychological component of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, including preparation, therapeutic support, and integration.

I also collaborate with psychiatrists and other qualified medical providers who can evaluate whether ketamine is medically appropriate for you. If you do not already have a prescribing provider, I can help connect you with a psychiatrist for a separate medical evaluation.

The prescribing decision, dosing, and medical management are handled independently by the prescribing clinician.

With your permission, I can collaborate with your psychiatrist throughout the process so that the medical and therapeutic parts of your care feel connected rather than separate.

Hur Psyche Sanctuary provides Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in Irvine, California, with an emphasis on somatic therapy, preparation, integration, and deeper psychological work.

Sessions may be offered in person or through Zoom when clinically appropriate.

I also provide ketamine preparation and integration therapy for individuals who are receiving ketamine through an outside medical provider.

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you are welcome to reach out and learn more about whether this approach may be a good fit for you.

You do not need to know exactly what you want to uncover.

Sometimes the starting point is simply recognizing that something needs to change and that the ways you have been approaching it have taken you as far as they can.

We can begin there.

Contact Hur Psyche Sanctuary to learn more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, preparation, and integration in Irvine, Orange County, and throughout California.

Ketamine is a prescription medication. Medical screening, prescribing, dosing, and medical management are provided by appropriately licensed medical professionals. Ketamine is not prescribed by Hur Psyche Sanctuary. Referral to a prescribing provider does not guarantee that ketamine will be prescribed. No particular outcome from ketamine treatment or psychotherapy can be guaranteed.