We are pleased to share this with our prospective participants to provide you with a view of the experience we are offering. Please register as soon as possible.
The Agenda as of 8/18/24
Elaboration, and Modifications to Occur
Participant Feedback, and Proposals Welcome
The Menla Retreat Center—September 24-29, 2024
Phoenicia, New York
–In the splendor of the early Autumn’s display
Creative Team—All Participants
Primary Organizer: Phil Wolfson
Medical Leadership: Phil Wolfson MD, Gita Vaid MD, Mark Braunstein DO
Organization: Phil Wolfson–with great help
KTC Leadership Participants: Phil Wolfson, Gita Vaid, Bessel van der Kolk, Licia Sky, Peter Corbett, Ben McCauley, Julissa Vasquez, Heather Hart Kennedy, Mark Braunstein
Contributing Extraordinary Participants, Dali Sames PhD, Hamilton Morris, PhD
Registration and arrival begin at 1 PM on Tuesday with Dinner at 6:30 PM
Covid testing as necessary upon arrival (please follow our Covid testing schedule as below), Medical Evaluations, find your rooms, mingle, relax.
Please bring instruments as you wish. And prepare to jam as you feel inclined.
We have an alter and we invite you to bring sacred objects, photos of beings precious to you, talismans, flowers.
There is a swimming pool so bring bathing suits.
And it might rain, and evenings may be cool. We will have at least one bonfire. Diet is vegan and no liquor is served at Menla.
The Conception—the Integrating and Unifying View
We will be taking a Deep Dive together sharing our experience as therapists and humans in an open exchange aimed at deepening our practice, our inquiry, our theories and methodologies, our beings, and our ability to be catalysts for healing and realization. In these so troubled times, we meet to enhance our ability to foster love, sharing, tolerance, and community.
We will utilize our ketamine sessions to open our doors to ourselves and to each of us participating in the program.
The format is shaped as an encouragement to learning from each other, the sharing of what we really think and feel liberated from the formal restrictions of protocols and loyalties to particular methods, and the creation of a community partaking of feeling, spirit, and intellect.
Accentuated by the FDA MDMA debacle, our orientation is on psychedelic assisted psychotherapy ,with a necessary focus on our legal ketamine clinical practice. The inclusion of ketamine, marijuana, ibogaine, and MDMA in the category of psychedelic is not an issue in our program. While serotonergic psychedelics are of great importance to us, they do not form an exclusive and exclusionary definition for what are medicines providing psychedelic experiences. We hold that experience trumps molecular conformations.
We are offering CE credits for attendance at the program with required lunch time sessions designed to augment and assist practitioners in skill and method during which the particularities of KAP work will be the explicit subject. CEs are optional and provided at the cost to KTC and cover all licenses.
There will be daily morning low dose small group sessions with all participants able to partake of the experience once during the course of the program.
Afternoon moderate to higher dose sessions will enable each participant to have two experiences separated by a day for integration. Our contributors will join in these as they wish.
Evenings will have social and program events.
*See the appendix at the end of this program for suggested structure for our Sharing Groups
Tuesday 9/24–Arrival
Registration and arrival begin at 1 PM
Medical Evaluations, tour of the place, mingle, relax.
4PM Invocation, Calling in the Directions, Opening Ceremony
Confidentiality and Agreements for Safety, Creating Sacred Space and Consciousness
4:30–6 PM The Opening Sharing—Phil begins. Speakers have up to 10 minutes each addressing as they see fit to do so:
- Why I choose to be here
- What I hope to learn
- What I intend to offer
- My view of where I am in my-practice and life
- My concerns, aspirations, and anxieties about being here
- Anything else of importance to you
6:30 Dinner
8 PM Peter Corbett Leads an open discussion focused on sharing our views of the future for psychedelics and ketamine and the evolution of assisted therapies. Setting the stage for our encounter.
Licia Sky Leads us into the connection of being together.
Wednesday 9/25 7:30-9:00 AM Breakfast, Yoga, Warm-up and Mingle
9:00AM—10:15 AM Bessel van der Kolk: My Life and Career Working with Human Trauma (Breakout session to occur during the week)
10:15—11:15 The Ketamine Crisis—View, risks and responses. Readings in preparation, Discussion of best practices. Dependency, Withdrawal and treating ketamine dependent persons. With Mark Braunstein, Phil Wolfson and others.
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 First Psychorevelatory Low Dose Group
12:30-1:30 Lunch/ Zofran and Participants Refrain from Eating—decision based on prior k experience.
12:30-1:30 CE Meeting: Techniques and Quandaries—a forum for questions and problem presentations—Phil and Gita—participants may bring lunch
1:30-2:00 KAP, Sacred Space, Ritual and Setting; Using the 15 minute opportunity of the lozenge session
2:00 :3:00 Dali Sames—The Neuroscience of Psychedelics in the Now—current understandings and revisions and– A view of where this is heading.
(Breakout session to occur during the week)
3:00—3:30 K IM session overview and preparation:
Review: Introducing the IM ketamine Experience–Transformation
The How To’s of the IM Session
3:30 –3:45 Preparing for the IM Experience/Invocation/On the Mats
3:45-5:15 The Transformational Experience
Take breaks as are Necessary throughout the session.
5:15-6:00 Exploring the So Many Ways We Journey with Ketamine –Essences of Experiences to Share
Group Share/ Capturing the IM Experience-Sharing. Your Journey Experience—Themes and Realizations –Integration.
Didactics based on themes emerging from the experience /Discussion.
6:00-6:15 Closing Circle
6:30 Dinner
8:00 An Evening with Hamilton Morris of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia
(Breakout session to occur during the week)
Thursday 9/26
7:30-9:00 AM Breakfast, Yoga, Warm-up and Mingle
9:00-9:45 Invocation, Sharing and Residues from first day–All
9:45-10:45 Licia Sky—Live Demonstration of her low dose method.
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00—12:30 Second Low dose KAP group—building our connection—k 10-25mg.
12::30-1:30 Lunch / Zofran and Participants Refrain from Eating—decision based on prior k experience.
12:30-1:30 CE Meeting: Building Your Practice with Ben McCauley
1:30-2:30 Phil—Case Video demonstrating Psychorevelatory Method to—conclude our low dose section –with discussion
2:30-3:15 Panel: KAP with grief and loss.
3:15–3:30 Preparing for the IM Experience/Invocation/On the Mats
3:30-4:45 The Transformational Experience
Take breaks as are Necessary throughout the session.
4:45-5:45 Group Share/ Capturing the IM Experience-Sharing Your Journey Experience—Themes and Realizations –Integration.
5:45-6:20 Commentary, Observations and interaction with Hamilton Morris
6:20 Closing Circle
6:30 Dinner
8:00 Bonfire and Psychedelic Salon Sharing
Friday 9/27
7:30-9 AM Breakfast and Group Yoga Session
9:15-10:00 Invocation, Sharing and Residues from prior session.
10:00-11:00 Gita Vaid presents ketamine psychodynamic psychedelic psychotherapy and initiates our ongoing conversation on Inner Healing—an open exploration of views and experiences.
11-11:15 Break
11:15-12:30 Third low dose group session
12:30—1:30 Lunch /Zofran and Participants Refrain from Eating by choice.
12:30-1:30 CE Meeting—Julissa Vasquez -Diversity, BIPOC and KAP
1:30 -2:30 Follow-up Break-Out Groups for Bessel, and Dali.
2:30-3:30 Panel: Group Therapy with KAP—presentations of forms and best practices—discussion—Phil is Moderator
3:30 –3:45 Break
3:45-4:00 Preparing for the IM Experience/Invocation/on the Mats
4:00-5:15 The Transformational Experience
Take breaks as are Necessary throughout the session.
5:15-6:15 Group Share/ Capturing the IM Experience-Sharing Your Journey Experience—Themes and Realizations –Integration.
6:15-6:30 Closing Circle
8:00: The Sharing Group Hangout with Music and Dance; or the Sound Bath
Saturday
7:30-9 AM Breakfast and Group Yoga Session
9:15-9:45 Invocation Sharing and Residues from prior session
9:45-10:30 New Strategies for ketamine and KAP Treatment
10:30-11:15 Breakout Groups:
Heather Hart Kennedy’s therapeutics; Mark Braunstein and Ketamine Dependence; Gita Vaid follow-up
11:15—12:30 Fourth and Final Low Dose Experience
12:30—1:30 Lunch /Zofran and Participants Refrain from Eating by choice.
12:30-1:30 CE Meeting—Case Discussions—successes and failures
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 12 Break Out Groups: Volunteer Practitioner demonstrations of methods and styles; Phil Wolfson–Ketamine, Gestalt Therapy and working with Selves; EMDR and ketamine
2:30-3:30 Panel Discussion: Inner Healing—its meaning and facilitation
3:30-3;45 Break
3:45-4:00 Preparing for the IM Experience/Invocation/on the Mats
4:00-5:15 The Transformational Experience
Take breaks as are Necessary throughout the session.
5:15-6:15 Group Share/ Capturing the IM Experience-Sharing Your Journey Experience—Themes and Realizations –Integration
6:15-6:30 Closing
6:30 Final Dinner Celebration of Our Community
8:15 PM The Sharing Group Hangout with Music and Dance; or the Sound Bath
Saying goodbyes to anyone leaving early
Sunday
7:30-9 AM Breakfast and Group Yoga Session
9:00-9:45 Sharing and Residues from prior session.
9:45-10:15 Ketamine, Psychedelics and Sexuality
10:15-10:45 Somatic Work and Ketamine Effects—including visual, migraine, neuro, cognitive, PMS-PMDD, and more
10:45-11:30 Open Discussion Sharing and Questions, Controversies, Where we do we go from here?
11:30-12:00— Wrapping up/Saying good-byes/Scheduling follow-up /Our Follow-Up Arrangements and Opportunities
12:00:12:30 Group Closing and Closing Circle/ A gathering, and honoring of the work and the trust created/ Arrivedercis
Have a good trip home! Take it easy tomorrow
Appendix
As we will be meeting in groups throughout our retreat of various sizes and with various missions and structures, a basic format is presented here to be loosely and appropriately applied, this intending to serve us through awareness.
SUGGESTED GROUP PROCESS
- ESSENTIAL RULES FOR GROUP SAFETY AND COHESION
- STAY FOR DURATION OF GROUP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE,
- NO VIOLENCE OR DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY IN PERSONAL SETTINGS
- NO INTERRUPTION
- AGREE TO FOLLOW LEADERS’ INSTRUCTIONS INVOLVING SHARING AND INTERACTION
- COURTEOUS, AWAKENED SPEECH IN INTERACTION
- REFRAIN FROM TELLING, BLAMING, PROSELYTIZING, AND BLOCKING
- COMMITMENT TO ACTIVE LISTENING
- MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES AND REACTIONS
- BEGIN AND END WITH 5 MINUTE GUIDED MEDITATIONS–BREATH FOCUS TO BEGIN SESSIONS
- TENETS OF SHARING GROUPS-
- THE ESSENCE OF OUR BEING IS LOVE AND COMPASSION
- HEALTH AND WELLNESS ARE SUPPORTED BY INNER PEACE AND LOVING KINDNESS TOWARDS OURSELVES AND OTHERS.
- HEALING IS SUPPORTED BY EXPRESSING AND LETTING GO OF FEAR.
- WE ARE ABLE TO PUT OUR TRAUMAS IN THE PAST AND LIVE OUR LIVES IN THE HERE AND NOW–INFORMED BY WHAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED AND LEARNED.
- WE ARE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS TO EACH OTHER.
- WE CAN EXPERIENCE OUR PREJUDICES AND JUDGEMENTS, EXAMINE THEM AND PUT THEM ASIDE.
- WE CAN PRACTICE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS AND FORGIVENESS.
- WE CAN RECOGNIZE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EACH OF US AND PRACTICE TOLERANCE.
- WE ALL SUFFER AND WE CAN REDUCE AND ALLEVIATE THAT SUFFERING.
- WE CAN CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF SHARING, LOVE AND CONNECTION.
- IN-GROUP PROCEDURES
- WE MAY BEGIN WITH A PERSON BY PERSON SHARING–LISTENING AND NOT CROSS-TALKING. LEADERS: SETS TIME FRAME
- AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SHARING, LEADERS OPEN THE GROUP FOR INTERACTION
- AS APPROPRIATE TO THE SPECIFIC GROUP, LEADERS MAY CONCLUDE THE MEETING–SUMMARIZING, SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE NEXT MEETING, HANDLING ANY RESIDUALS.
- END WITH A BRIEF MEDITATION.