Director of Patient Care & CEO of CIT Clinics provides some tips on "How to find the right Ketamine Provider"
Ketamine and psychedelic assisted therapy are becoming increasingly popular, and more importantly, increasingly accepted by the medical and scientific community. This has resulted in an explosion of providers, all offering different protocols, treatment philosophies and modes of administrations. There are ketamine clinics offering unguided ketamine infusions; psychotherapists are offering intramuscular ketamine injections at their offices. There even are companies that will send you ketamine lozenges in the mail so you can take the medicine in your own home.
The challenge, especially for new patients, is to figure out what kind provider and what mode of administration is best for you.
The following are some ideas that may help you make this important decision, as well as know what questions to ask providers prior to engaging in any treatments:
GOALS
First, it’s important to have clear goals. “Why are you wanting to explore ketamine treatments? What are you hoping the treatments will do for you? Is your goal to simply try ketamine and see what happens, or are you interested in a holistic and integrative approach? Patients come to see us usually because they are tired and exhausted of feeling anxious, depressed and in pain. It’s clear that they want to rid themselves of this, but when asked what they would like instead, it’s not uncommon for them to draw a blank. They don’t have a clear idea of what they DO want. So, my first recommendation is that you get clear about your goals and make sure that your providers are a good match for helping you attain those goals.
PSYCHEDELICS EXPERIENCE
The second important variable to explore has to do with your level of experience with psychedelics and other consciousness altering compounds. When was the last time you took MDMA or psilocybin or Ayahuasca or Ketamine for that matter? How did it go? Did you feel safe? Was it a healing experience or was it scary and unsettling? Or, is this in fact the first time you’ll be experiencing a psychedelic medicine?
You see, psychedelics are powerful medicines that are also unpredictable from patient to patient and session to session.
SUPPORT
The third question to ask is “what level of support do you need? How will you ensure that you are safe and that these treatments are contributing to your healing and wellbeing? Will you do this alone, or do you want someone supporting you? What qualifications and expertise does this person have? What happens if you experience a dreaded “bad trip”?
You see, In our experience it is vital that you receive comprehensive support from a variety of experts who can keep you safe by preparing you, guiding you and helping you integrate your experience.
IN SUMMARY
There are of course other variables to consider when choosing a ketamine provider including cost and location, but I hope these 3 I mentioned - Setting clear goals, soberly assessing your level of experience with psychedelics, as well as being clear about the level of support you’ll need are important considerations when assessing which provider is best for you.
-----------------------
Want to learn more?
If you would like to explore whether or not Ketamine may be an appropriate treatment for you, please set up a free 30-minute consultation with a CIT Clinics Patient Care Coordinator.