Curriculum

The training shall allow participants to attain competence, understanding, and the requisite skills for creating the appropriate set and setting for KAP. This includes learning the therapeutic modalities and tools necessary for guiding patients in non-ordinary states of consciousness.

The program will teach a collaborative model that leverages the core competencies of multiple healing disciplines to maximize this approach’s therapeutic and personal developmental benefits. Thus, the program will prepare its participants to work in teams combining medical, psychological, and pastoral practitioners, in which the patient receives the best possible medical and psychological care and understanding. KTC will facilitate team formation based on participants’ settings and therapeutic objectives.

Participants will learn the skills comprising KAP practice. While we expect that participants will have some familiarity with these, the KTC training program will emphasize the skills unique and germane to KAP. These include:

• The intake and evaluation of patients’ suitability for KAP.
• Patient preparation for treatment.
• Practice management issues (legal, insurance, safety).
• Facilitation skills are unique to KAP—nest building; formulation and planning; ketamine recommendations, induction; meditation; guidance; suggestion, stimulation, and pendulation; parts work; working with PTSD and ongoing trauma; working with life-threatening illnesses and their personal and systemic trauma; recovery; integration; continuation; constant communication; maintenance; termination; concomitant medication; collaboration with outside practitioners and much more.
• The unique aspects of ketamine as a medicine for deep psychotherapy
• Managing adverse effects–both during and after sessions
• Handing the medical, psychotherapeutic, and spiritual interface as they surface throughout therapy.
• Recommended post-treatment services.
• We are facilitating continued exploration, growth, and development. 

KTC believes experiential learning is essential to KAP training to ensure that those delivering this service have had personal experience with this medicine in collaborative therapeutic practice. Since KAP fosters a unique non-ordinary mind state that is generative of therapeutic change and development, it is imperative to have had real-time experience with ketamine–under similar conditions as those offered to patients. This teaches the nature and power of the ketamine experience, enabling a skillful, aware, compassionate, and empathetic understanding of patients’ experiences. All participants are expected to participate in this experiential learning.

Workshop participants will have the experience of two methods of medication delivery: the oral lozenge and intramuscular injection (IM). In ascending order of intensity and appropriately administered based on an effect assessment for each individual. Participants will be guided and cared for–providing real-time experience in the administration of ketamine, with facilitation of skills during dyadic sessions, as well as post-session work to foster the integration of the experiences.

Each KAP team will determine the role and responsibilities of its members, with licensed medical practitioners always responsible for the prescription and delivery of the medication under Schedule 3 practice guidelines. Each team will use its unique professional resources to determine the protocols that will work best for its collaborative efforts. All KTC graduates will have had a direct experience of the arc of treatment, from diagnosis and administration of the medicine through the processing and integration of the experiences.

There will be follow-up internet-hosted virtual meetings for each training cohort at 2-6 weeks after the workshop. Participants can share their personal and clinical experiences with the group and bring their inquiries for elucidation, supervision, and feedback.

Although it is not a requirement of KTC that participants follow up with the trainers or share data, KTC encourages all graduates to confidentially and anonymously share their findings. KTC supports the community practicing KAP and looks forward to participants’ future contributions to this crucial emerging field.

In this regard, The Ketamine Research Foundation has created a program to further collaboration, develop local practices, share clinical information and practitioner concerns, and provide support through an expanding international organization—Ketamine Psychotherapy Associates. The benefits of KPA membership are evolving and include:

• Monthly live Zoom consultation sessions
• Access to care for Patients who cannot afford total fees
• Library: full privileges to our complete collection of ketamine human studies with Full-Text articles
• Our Referral list and electronic badge–developed with Search Engine Optimization for access by potential patients throughout the US and Canada.
• Participation in the design and execution of KRF research programs.
• Participation in our Annual Retreat
• Access to our Leadership Group for ongoing consultation
• The Redcap digital data and charting system in collaboration with Vanderbilt University—we are developing publications that will include your data in demonstrating KAP’s benefits.
• Participation in the range of Foundation programs
• An international marketing program for KAP and its local practices

We hope and urge that workshop participants will go on to participate in the data collection research arm of The Ketamine Foundation, namely The Ketamine Data Project (KDP).

Participants will have the option to arrange private consultations with any of the workshop leaders. These arrangements can be made individually with workshop leaders and are outside the workshop’s scope. The Center for Transformational Psychotherapy will provide ongoing supervisorial sessions for those interested.

KTC will periodically present advanced workshops focusing on particular topics relevant to KAP practice and for further training.

After completing the training, we hope that participants will share their KAP clinical experiences with other cohort members and the broader medical, psychological, and hospice community.

Graduates of KTC training will be at the vanguard of this treatment modality. The Training Center and KRF will assist those seeking to publish articles about KAP. We support KTC graduates in bringing cutting-edge information to broader public awareness– stories about the mighty transformational power of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.

We look forward to bringing greater awareness of our interdisciplinary approach to the therapeutic community.

KRF

KRF is involved in an increasingly broad range of research activities that span the possibilities of ketamine’s use. KTC graduates are welcome to join our work and offer new concepts to KRF for research. We are continually developing strategies for the beneficial use of ketamine.

Learn more about application requirements and fees.