View our New Being at Dharma K Documentary

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is a novel, breakthrough approach to awakened mind and the healing of trauma and depression.

The Ketamine Training Center is the premier organization in the field having provided training to over 800 practitioners in our 6-day residential retreat events.

In the news

The Pharmacokinetics of Ketamine in the Breast Milk of Lactating Women:
Quantification of Ketamine and Metabolites

In the news

Read the New Yorker Article that mentions our work here:
Ketamine Therapy Is Going Mainstream. Are We Ready?

Ketamine Code of Ethics

About Our Trainings

We have arranged with PeerPoint to provide a certificate of training, which will go out to each participant after the conclusion of each training. This will provide 30 AMA Category I credits, which apply to medical practitioners and therapists—acceptable to licensing boards in over 40 states. Do confirm this with your Board if you have a question about this. Embedded in our fee structure for CE is $150 and is included in your tuition.

We look forward to being with you in profound learning, experiential, and connecting events that continue to move KAP forward and support our developing practices.

You will learn and enjoy yourselves. We look forward to being with you. 

BIPOC Scholarship.

The Ketamine Training Center has created a scholarship program to make attending its trainings more affordable for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Upcoming Trainings

Upcoming Events—Scroll Down for the Specifics for each event
September 24-29th Advanced Sharing for KAP practitioners Menla – New York

Fundamentals in Albuquerque with PSYK-ed hosting October 14th-18th
Fundamentals at Bishops Ranch in Northern California February 23-28, 2025
Dharma K 3.0 at Menla in the Catskills April 22-27, 2025
Fundamentals at Menla in the Catskills May 5-11 2025

In design for the Fall of 2025:
September 24th -29th
October 29th – November 3rd

KTC Presents Our Renowned KAP Fundamentals Training at The Bishop's Ranch in the Splendor of the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma

February 23rd - 28th, 2025

The Fundamentals Program is a community experiential journey of learning what KAP is truly about both personally and didactically.

With Phil Wolfson, and our remarkable KAP leadership staff

The Bishop’s Ranch—Northern California—about 1 and ½ hours from
SFO—for views:  http://www.bishopsranch.org/

Limited participation for licensed health practitioners only.

CEs provided as part of Tuition.

Four BIPOC scholarships are available by application as above. Consideration for scholarships occurs with application after admission to the program.

Registration is now open, and we welcome your application and presence. The
registration fee is $500 for all applicants, $400 of which is refundable depending on date of cancellation. We predict the training will fill up rapidly, so we suggest you apply soon.

Tuition, CEs, Room and Board–Inclusive

$4,500 Single Rooms—14 rooms available—first come, first serve.
$4,000 Double Rooms—11 rooms available

DHARMA K RETURNS TO MENLA

April 22nd - 27th, 2025

Presenting Our Third Dharma K Program—an exploration of spirituality, meditation, yoga, and consciousness in concert with the ego dissolution properties of the legal psychedelic medicine ketamine. Our aim is to share with each other and to experience the impact of ketamine on contemplative practice and realization, emptiness and fullness, silence and connection, community and compassion, tolerance and respect for differences, love, and empathy. The ketamine experiences will be embedded in a program of meditation, explorations of the integration of contemplative and psychedelic practices, community building, and exploration of the clinical applications of ketamine combined with contemplative practice. The event will be largely experiential in an environment designed to be safe and supportive, with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality of personal disclosures.  

Dharma K 3.0 will be held at the Menla Retreat Center in Phoenicia, New York between 4 PM on April 22nd and noon on April 27. To help create a safe, intimate experience, enrollment will be limited to 20.  The program is sponsored by the non-profit Ketamine Training Center of the Ketamine Research Foundation and by the Menla Retreat Center.

We are requesting that applicants have some experience with both mindfulness or other contemplative practices and psychedelic medicine, though not necessarily ketamine. While this is designed to be a mutual exploration and is open to all, mental health professionals will also have the opportunity to learn about and discuss clinical applications and earn CE credits. This program will therefore inform and enrich clinical practice with ketamine but is not a full substitute for learning the therapeutics of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in one of our formal training programs.

Participants will have the opportunity to personally experience ketamine at different doses in the context of contemplative practice, as well as to sit for others. Our plan is to administer ketamine as an intramuscular injection. If anyone would prefer oral administration, that will also be provided.

Organizers are Ron Siegel and Phil Wolfson in association with Gina Arons, Will Hamilton, Lisa Sherman, and Gita Vaid. 

We wish to make this program as accessible financially as possible and is therefore designed to be non-profit. While the maximum (and initial) cost will be $3000 plus room and board at Menla, tuition will be partially refunded based on total actual enrollment and expenses. The KRF BIPOC scholarship fund will also offer scholarships and there will be limited general scholarship support by application acceptance to the program.  

Continuing Education Credits and CMEs will also be offered for professionals seeking a clinical training component. The maximum cost will be $350. Since the program is non-profit, partial rebates will be offered based on final number of participants electing credits. Participants seeking credit will be asked to attend a pre-retreat zoom session offering an introduction to Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, as well as break-out sessions during the retreat to discuss the clinical integration of ketamine and contemplative practice.

There is a non-refundable $100 application fee, plus a $400 deposit which will be applied toward tuition if you are admitted to the program. On acceptance, you will be given a link to select and pay for your room and board at Menla.

A link to Phil’s Tricycle paper on Buddhism and intoxication is posted here: https://tricycle.org/article/was-buddha-atheist/

Other papers will be suggested as we move towards April.  We welcome your suggestions.

We welcome you to our unique and exciting program and to the conscious and loving community we will form together.

Renowned Fundamentals Training in the May Spring Splendor of Our Inspirational Menla Retreat Center

May 5-11, 2025

The Fundamentals Training of KAP Is a community experiential journey of learning what KAP is truly about both personally and didactically. CE credits are provided. Over 900 practitioners have experienced our programs, and many have gone on to practice KAP and to become members of our international Ketamine Psychotherapy Associates program fostering their practices and building our community. .We are a non-profit 501c3 organization

With Phil Wolfson, Licia Sky, Bessel van der Kolk, Peter Corbett, Gita Vaid, Ben McCauley, Mark Braunstein and others.

The Menla Retreat Center—in the heart of the Catskills—near Woodstock

375 Pantherkill Rd, Phoenicia, New York

Limited participation– for licensed health practitioners only.

BIPOC scholarships are available by application. Registration is now open, and we welcome your application and presence. The registration fee is $500 for all applicants, $400 of which is refundable. We predict the training will fill up rapidly, so we suggest you apply soon.

Tuition:
$4,000 prescribing providers
$3,500 non-prescribing providers

Room and board are separate at additional cost payable to Menla.
Room reservation is made directly through Menla after acceptance to the program. Link will be provided at that time.

Covid Precautions

KTC has had its own experiences with COVID disrupting our programs and we wish to take appropriate  and necessary precautions:

  • COVID-19 VACCINATION IS A REQUIREMENT FOR ATTENDANCE.
  • Please test two days before attending the program.
  • Please test the morning of the program before leaving your abode.
  • We will test on arrival so long as the Covid risk is present. We follow CDC guidelines.
  • We may test subsequently during the training.
  • If training is canceled due to COVID-19, we will refund fees minus $100 if the cancellation precedes the commencement of the training, with consideration for any non-refundable expenses we have made.
  • If training is canceled during its course, refunds will be prorated to the length of the training and expenses incurred.
  • If an individual contracts COVID-19 and cannot attend the training, a refund will be made according to expenses expended by KTC.
  • If an individual contracts COVID-19 during the training, they will be asked to leave the training, and a refund will be made according to the duration of their presence in the training and expenses incurred.
  • If a person becomes COVID-19-positive during the training and leaves, it is up to the other participants to decide to stay or leave. Testing will be conducted daily. Suppose a participant makes a voluntary decision to leave the training. In that case, they will have their remaining fees (after deduction for expenses incurred to the time of their departure) put forward towards another training. KTC will hold the remaining credit for up to 12 months from the time of the training. KTC will do its best to provide training during that period.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Phil Wolfson MD

Our Faculty

Phil Wolfson, MD Director
Gita Vaid, MD
Monica Winsor
Daniel Ahlers
Peter Corbett
Licia Sky
Bessel van der Kolk
David Dansky
Mark Braunstein
Julissa Vasquez
Ben McCauley
Heather Hart Kennedy
Anahita Kashefi
Julian Amaro – Administrative Assistant

With Contributions from:
Mason Wallach
Ron Siegel
Robert Thurman
Michael Burbank
…and others

Testimonials

- Anonymous

“I saw into the heart of my soul and connected with the universe and its inhabitants as one. I came away knowing I could release myself and others from trauma and suffering and contribute to a healing of the world”

- Anonymous

“With all my experience of psychedelic medicines, ketamine’s release from my body and the welcome absence of my ego enabled me to know myself as the pure energy I truly am. I returned to a sense of liberation from my usual formats and obsessions. This interruption of my ordinary mind liberated me to begin anew, to original being.”

- Past Participant David Dansky, MD

“Thank you so much for a truly wonderful workshop. You both impart such compassionate wisdom and maturity to the multiple aspects of psychedelic medicine, from biochemistry to ethics. Apart from it being an amazingly enjoyable experience, I can’t remember the last time I learned so much on so many levels in just 4 days.”

Latest News & Publications

Lucid News - Awakening a Broad and Critical Understanding of Ketamine

The Ketamine Research Foundation and its practitioner authors share our article for awakening a broad and critical understanding of the spectrum of benefits and hazards of ketamine’s use. As practitioners we are exposed to and probe the personal bases for ketamine’s extraordinary positive value to allay human suffering and for its dependence. We offer this work to increase knowledge about ketamine and ketamine assisted psychotherapy and to further compassionate awareness to individual susceptibilities and experiences. Our article is long and intricate in order to provide a full view. And in Memory of Ken Jordan, who honored us with his deeply thoughtful editing, this as his last contribution.

Dr. Phil Wolfson Featured In Oprah Daily Articles

There are a series of articles featuring the work of Dr. Phil Wolfson that recently appeared in the Oprah Daily magazine. Click below to read the articles.

Psychedelic Methodologies and The Impregnable Value of the Subjective—A New and Evolving Approach

Phil Wolfson and Gita Vaid of the Ketamine  Research Foundation are pleased to
announce their KAP paper available now.

The Pharmacokinetics Of Ketamine In The Breast Milk Of Lactating Women

Abstract: There is no available data on the secretion and concentration of ketamine and its metabolites in breastmilk. There are statements in the literature made as to the safety…

THE NEW YORKER Ketamine Therapy Is Going Mainstream. Are We Ready?

The mind-altering drug has been shown to help people suffering from anxiety and depression. But how it helps, who it will serve, and who will profit are open questions.

About us

The Ketamine Training Center (KTC) has been presenting our Fundamentals Training for over 4 years with more than 800 participants in our 5–6-day experiential programs. Practitioners represent the spectrum of licensed prescribers, psychotherapists, and clergy—with an international presence.

Our programs begin with on-line sessions preceding the in-person presence at our extraordinary residential retreat centers east, west, and abroad. Non-denominational ritual, yoga and meditation are voluntary component parts of our sessions in conformity with the use of ketamine as an alternative and psychedelic medicine. We are the evolving methodological ground for the expanding therapeutic use of alternative medicines–alternative to conventional Pharma and psychiatry.
Essential to the provision of mind-altering medicines is personal experience with them.

In the context of our 30-40 participant trainings, practitioners are exposed to a broad range of experiences facilitating awareness both personally and in the evolving communities of our trainings— and then in the follow-up sessions that continue cohesion and communication. Our Ketamine Psychotherapy Associates membership program furthers the development of practitioners, practices, and therapeutics with consistent input, support and benefits that build competency, cohesion, awareness, and program.

The Fundamentals Training is rich in awakening movement and emotion in each of us with our Expanded Awareness and Sharing. Low dose psycholytic small groups, presentations on ketamine neuroscience by the renowned Jason Wallach, therapeutic strategies, mindfulness, trauma often with Bessel van der Kolk and Licia Sky, psychodynamics, IFS, gestalt, psychedelic medicine therapeutics, and much more are woven into our programs.

Our Leadership Group will vary in composition and will include Phil Wolfson, author of The Ketamine Papers. Group experiences of our methods for administering sublingual lozenges and intramuscular injections of ketamine are a fundamental part of the experience, with early competency development in these forms of administration—in the two roles or sitter/therapist and recipient.

We welcome your interest, applications, and presence!

Our Papers

Frontiers.org: Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in adolescents with multiple psychiatric diagnoses

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Patient Demographics, Clinical Data and Outcomes in Three Large Practices Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy

MDMA and Life Threatening Illness

PTSD and LTI

Administering Ketamine with Psychotherapy

Our Ketamine and Lactation preprint

– Toni Morrison

I would do it all over again:
Be the harbor and set the sail,
Loose the breeze and harness the gale,
Cherish the harvest of what I have been.
Better the summit to scale.
Better the summit to be.