Treatment Tips
Before Your Ketamine Treatment
What to Bring
- Comfortable eye mask
- Comfortable clothing
- Headphones
- Water
- A playlist or two to keep handy during your session
- Items from home that may increase your sense of comfort
Preparing for your session
Allow yourself to quiet your mind and acknowledge your journey as a timeline for being with yourself. Minimize distractions such as your phone, social media, or the news. Make a list of anything you need to do in the future or that is on your mind from the past. Remind yourself that there will be time to address these items later. This is your time to receive, to allow, to accept what is.
Avoid alcohol, cannabis, and benzodiazepines (such as clonazepam, lorazepam, and alprazolam) for 24 hours prior to your treatment. Hold lamotrigine on the day of your treatment session. On the day of treatment, please avoid taking any other prescribed psychiatric medications until after your session.
Please do not eat food for at least 3-6 hours to help prevent nausea. Come hydrated.
Set an Intention
Setting an intention gives way to increased clarity and depth in your experience while supporting your strength and ability to persevere through your journey. You may practice setting an intent by placing your hands at your navel area, breathing deeply, and imagining you are receiving this medicine in a way that is healing for you.
It may be helpful to ask yourself:
What am I grateful for?
What are my fears? Worries?
Who is an ally I can call on internally during my journey?
What might I let go of?
Who might I let go of?
Who might I forgive?
What dreams do I have for my life?
What are my desires, intentions, expectations for this experience?
What parts of myself so I wish to know more?
How to navigate your ketamine journey
During Your Session
Prepare for any potential discomfort, as you will experience a non-ordinary state of consciousness, and your normal perception of reality will be altered. Whenever you feel discomfort, allow yourself to let go and embrace the challenge as a learning experience rather than reacting to it.
“Trust, Let Go, Be Open” is a commonly used mantra in psychedelic therapy.
Trust your clinician to prepare and help support you, as well as your inner healing intelligence, your ability to live in wholeness.
Let go of any expectations about what should or should not come up during your experience: open yourself to whatever may be unfolding during the journey–positive, enlightening, scary, or difficult. Know that whatever is happening is OK and that the experience WILL end.
Be open to where the medicine will take you. Your journey may be centered around your intentions, or not, and that is OK. You may not be able to make sense of what is occurring during your journey at the time.
After Your Ketamine Treatment
- You may take any of your prescribed medications and resume normal food/liquid intake after your session.
- DO NOT drive for the rest of the day following your treatment. Please plan to have a family member or close friend provide you with transportation home. You may take an Uber/Lyft/taxi if needed; however, we encourage you to avoid doing so after your first session.
- Please plan to take the rest of the day off after your session to allow you time to engage in resting. We recommend taking a bath, going for a walk in silence, journal writing, making art, playing music, and getting a massage if possible.
- Feel free to go back to your work/activity schedule the day following your session and notice any changes.
- Remember to hydrate with water after your session to support the liver and kidneys with their job of metabolizing all substances that enter the body.
