Telos Transformational Therapies
I run an organization called Telos Transformational Therapies, which currently offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), and eventually will offer both MDMA-assisted therapy and psilocybin-assisted therapy. We have multiple providers, all trained in KAP with direct personal experience with ketamine. Our emphasis is on offering personalized, nuanced, compassionate care in well supported, intentional spaces.
To learn more or get started with one of our providers, please visit our website: http://www.telostherapies.com.
My own work with ketamine
I have personally conducted over 200 ketamine sessions and have found ketamine, administered at psychedelic doses, to be a transformative healing medicine both in my own life and in the lives of my clients, dealing with issues including existential distress, complex trauma, chronic pain, and depression. When used with mindful intention, ketamine is a phenomenal medicine for helping us to let go of our tight grip on life, and teaching us how to instead dynamically flow with it. This immense flow state that ketamine opens can be helpful in unblocking our access to love, joy, peace, creativity, and a fuller connection to the whole thing.
My ketamine practice is usually booked out 3-4 months. If you are interested in working with me, I am happy to meet for an initial session and collaborate in planning out your treatment in advance. Although KAP is and personalized therapy, below are the primary ways I utilize KAP with clients:
1. KAP as catalyst for long term therapy. For current or prospective clients looking to establish a longer term relationship with a therapist (typically a minimum of 6 months), I am able to integrate KAP into our work as a catalyst for therapeutic growth and change. This gives us a chance to develop rapport and trust, and to develop a shared thematic vision of your life. What I find is that integrating KAP within these longer term therapeutic relationships allows a level of trust, letting go, and therapeutic nuance that is quite profound.
This option is good for bipolar, chronic depression, complex-PTSD, deeper relational and attachment work.
2. KAP therapeutic intensive. This format is a way to do in depth therapeutic work in a significantly shorter timespan than long term therapy. I have found that often what we are able to work through in this form of KAP is equivalent to 1-2 years of weekly psychotherapy. The basic format looks like this:
Total length of treatment: 2-3 months
-2 Initial sessions (intake session, preparation/intention setting session)
- 1 KAP session every 2-3 weeks (for a total of 3-4 sessions)
-Integration therapy sessions 2x per month
-1-2 ketamine lozenge prescriptions for home use
-Ketamine booster sessions, prescription refills (given at booster sessions), and integration sessions as needed post-initial round of treatment.
This option is good for deep dive trauma work, resolving existential distress, trauma-related chronic pain, attachment issues/relational trauma, spiritual/religious/metaphysical work.
3. KAP for chronic mood challenges. Diagnostically, chronic mood challenges would mainly fall into the Bipolar Disorders and Major Depressive Disorder. These challenges are often not resolvable in the same way as other concerns, but rather, treatment comes down to learning to navigate the ebb and flow of these mood states more effectively. Most psychiatric medication aims to improve stability of ones mood. But with ketamine what I typically see is that it is helpful in helping us to move through these mood states rather than to remain chronically stuck in them. This is particularly true of the depressive state. Unlike clinics that use ketamine exclusively as a pharmaceutical drug rather than as an adjunct to therapy- I see the ketamine experiences as essentially training us how to move and flow with our life in all of the variable states and moods we encounter. When you approach KAP in this way, you can learn to navigate more freely even when you discontinue your use of ketamine. In this way it is similar to other intensive mindfulness practices.
Chronic conditions develop over years, so it's common that lasting change doesn't happen overnight. This is particularly true with chronic mood challenges. For this reason I encourage longer term KAP for clients who are coming in for these reasons. Here is a typical treatment format for this option:
-2 initial sessions (intake session, preparation/intention setting session)
-6 KAP sessions over 3 months
-1 integration session per month
-2-3 ketamine lozenge prescriptions for home use
-Ketamine booster sessions, prescription refills (given at booster sessions), and integration sessions as needed post-initial round of treatment.
If you would like to get started with me and are comfortable with a 3-4 month wait before starting the KAP treatment, please reach out to me directly at scott.ross@salishseacounseling.com. If you can include a few paragraph summary of the concerns/interests that have drawn you to pursue KAP, this would be helpful for me to get a preliminary understanding of what you're looking for.
