What brings someone to Ketamine – Assisted Therapy? (KAT)
By the time clients with depression and anxiety find their way to Ketamine – Assisted Therapy (KAT), many have tried a number of tools to heal. Traditional anti-depressants, talk therapy, holistic and alternative approaches – you name it. Although some symptom relief has come from time to time with these approaches, what they all have in common is a desire to get to the root of their depression and find long lasting relief. Something that typical treatment approaches have not offered so far.
KAT offers the opportunity to heal on deeper level, for those who are willing to show up for the work and dive in. My former client, “Bill W.” ( a pseudonym), did just that. He came to KAT with a desire to heal, after many years of suffering without significant or long lasting relief. Showing up fully open to the process, he brought a willingness to walk through the challenging pieces of Ketamine work with curiosity and courage.
He has earned all of the relief and transformation that he is currently experiencing by opening himself to the process of understanding his past, healing traumas that have impacted him throughout his life, and charting a path towards the man he wants to be and the life he wants to have.
Bill W. reached out to me with a desire to share his personal story of healing. He chose the pseudonym with permission to share it with the world. I hope his story inspires you or someone you love to consider if Ketamine – Assisted Therapy might be the right tool to help them be the person they have always wanted to be.
As always, deepest gratitude to my former client Bill W. for allowing me to support you on this journey and for being willing to share your story with others. I am continually humbled by this work and the humans courageous enough to do it.
Bill W.’s Ketamine – Assisted Therapy Experience
My story is one of a deeply engrained depression, illuminated and lifted.
I am a 65 yr old professional and business owner who has carried lifelong depression and early life trauma. I have been engaged in traditional psychotherapy for decades, seeking relief with marginal success. This past year I had a fairly benign conversation trigger a renewed cycle of depression that prompted me to seek out psychotherapy yet again. I have been on a variety of SSRI’s for decades which helped in the past but effectiveness has wained in the past few years.
I stumbled upon the possibility of ketamine as an assist to psychotherapy about a year ago. This was from various podcasts (Andrew Huberman being the most influential voice .. with psilocybin assisted therapy also intriguing but legally unavailable).
My goal was to find a traditional psychotherapy context, a one on one setting (not group and not woo-woo) based on talk .. so that my therapist would know my history and story .. my why (and not just seek out ketamine alone, without that depth of support).
I found Rachael from multiple searches online. We set up an interview and the connection felt right and the context, office setting, and her presentation was comforting.
Now I’m on the other side of a few months of ketamine – assisted therapy work with Rachael .. who I can’t say enough good things about. She made the process, which is quite the adventure .. feel normal, if that’s possible.
I feel I melted through years worth of psychotherapy in a period of months. The process was not easy and it was not linear .. but in the end I found relief, light and unexpected perspective on my inner self.
-Bill W.
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