Riverside Therapy Center offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with an organization named Journey Clinical

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KAP is a holistic modality in which ketamine is used as a complement to psychotherapy to help eligible patients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustained improvement in symptoms. Staff at Riverside Therapy Center take on the psychotherapy portion of the experience, while Journey Clinical's medical team supports you on all medical aspects. This includes determining eligibility, developing a custom treatment plan, prescribing the medicine, and monitoring outcomes. 

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What is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a legal, safe, and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Ketamine has rapidly-acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which can begin to take effect within 1-2 hours after your treatment and last up to two weeks. Scientifically, it works by blocking the brain's NMDA receptors as well as stimulating AMPA receptors, which are thought to help form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been show to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement. There are various forms of administering ketamine. At Riverside Therapy Center, our clients use a sublingual lozenge form.

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In short, ketamine may open up new ways of coping, open up new experiences and thought patterns, heal depression and anxiety, assist with PTSD, and create new ways of thinking and seeing the world. It can also create feelings of inner peace and comfort. Some report an increase in spiritually connectiveness. 

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What will happen?​

Many describe ketamine as a dissassociative dream-like state. Everyone's experience is different depending on their treatment goals, current and past experiences, and the intention that they set for their ketamine journey. You will be under the influence of ketamine for approximately 30-60 minutes and your therapist will remain in the room with you the entire time. After dosing, your therapist will be with you and process with you if you wish. They will remain with you until you are ready to go. 

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Full Treatment Schedule:

First, you will meet with your therapist for an initial intake session. There will be additional sessions with your therapist to build rapport and trust with your therapist. This is an important part of successful ketamine treatment. Once your therapist and you feel that it is appropriate, a referral is made to Journey Clinical to meet with their prescriber. The prescriber will meet with you and determine if you qualify for ketamine treatment. If so, the ketamine is mailed to your home. 

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Your therapist and you will work to create an intention for your ketamine journey. After this, the dosing session is scheduled. The dosing session is a 3-hour session. This can be done over telehealth or in-person in our Spokane Valley office. You will need a chaperone at your home if doing it over telehealth and you will need a driver to take you home if doing it in the office. After your dosing session, you will have a follow-up appointment scheduled within a few days to do an "integration" session, which involves making meaning of what happened in your dosing journey and it involves creating new pathways toward thinking. 

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