JOIN OUR WAITLIST FOR THE FALL SESSION
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JOIN OUR WAITLIST FOR THE FALL SESSION ❋
Ketamine-Assisted Therapy
Beyond symptom management. Discover a path to lasting mental wellness and a renewed sense of self.
Have you been in therapy for years and still don’t feel any different?
You've done the work. You’ve named the patterns, traced them back, understood where they came from. And still you feel stuck, from grief that won't lift, anxiety that won't quiet, patterns that you can't break out of.
Maybe it's not you, it's the treatment. That's where ketamine-assisted therapy comes in. Ketamine therapy is for clients who have not found success from traditional therapy alone.
Ketamine is a safe, long-standing medical compound originally used for pain management. When used in lower doses for mental health, it acts as a rapid-acting tool to lift your mood and quiet an overactive mind. Rather than targeting serotonin or dopamine like traditional antidepressants, ketamine acts on the glutamate system and promotes neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to form new neural connections. This can help break rigid patterns of thinking and behavior associated with depression, anxiety, and trauma. When paired with talk therapy, it temporarily calms the nervous system and makes it possible to safely face, process, and heal heavy emotional burdens in a matter of weeks that might otherwise take years of traditional talk therapy to unlock.
What is Ketamine?
Albuquerque Family Counseling has been part of this community for over twenty years. Ketamine-assisted therapy is a natural extension of the work we’ve always done — helping people move through what’s kept them stuck. Every therapist offering this work has been trained through The Passages Method™ — our rigorous, multi-stage certification in ketamine- assisted therapy. That training includes their own guided experience, supervised clinical practice, and ongoing consultation. They don’t just understand the science of this work, they’ve been through a version of it themselves, which means they can sit with you from a place of genuine understanding rather than theory. When you’re matched with one of our clinicians, you’re getting a licensed therapist trained to a standard we built and stand behind.
What Makes Us Different
This approach is designed for adults who are looking for a meaningful breakthrough and relief from long-standing mental health struggles. It is highly effective for individuals dealing with treatment-resistant depression or chronic anxiety who haven’t found success with standard daily medications. It is also an excellent fit for those working through trauma, PTSD, severe burnout, or the emotional toll of a major life transition. If you feel stuck in your current healing journey and are ready to safely explore deeper roots of your well-being, this therapy can help open that door.
Who Is A Good Candidate?
Our Process
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Preparation
We begin with a medical and psychological screening to make sure this is a safe fit for you. Next, you will meet with your therapist for preparation sessions. These are regular talk therapy sessions where you will build trust, learn calming techniques, and set comforting, open-ended goals for your medicine days.
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Dosing
On the day you take the medicine, you will be in a comfortable, relaxing office space. After taking your customized dose, you’ll wear a comfortable eye mask and listen to a peaceful playlist while relaxing into a dreamlike internal experience. Your therapist stays right by your side the entire time to keep you completely safe, grounded, and supported.
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Integration
Within a day or two after your dosing session, you will meet with your therapist to talk about your experience. Because your brain is naturally more flexible and open to change during this window, these sessions are the most important part. Together, you will take the insights, feelings, or memories that came up during your session and turn them into practical, healthy habits for your daily life.
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Maintenance
Mental wellness is an ongoing journey. Once your initial series of sessions is complete, we will check in periodically to evaluate your progress. For many clients, the positive shifts last for months or longer. If you feel old patterns or symptoms starting to creep back in, we can schedule occasional "tune-up" or booster sessions to reinforce your growth and maintain your emotional resilience.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. Ketamine is a legal, FDA-approved medication that will be prescribed by a licensed medical provider used in tandem with therapy by a licensed clinician.
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Ketamine has one of the longest safety records in modern medicine. That said, it isn’t right for everyone, which is exactly why safety is built into our process rather than assumed. Before any dosing, you’ll be medically screened by an independent provider to make sure this is appropriate for you. During sessions, you’re never alone — a trained clinician is with you throughout.
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Following a ketamine therapy session, it’s generally recommended that individuals avoid driving or operating heavy machinery for at least 24 hours. Ketamine can cause temporary changes in consciousness and perception, which can impact your ability to drive safely. We work with you before your session to plan transportation from your appointment.
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Many parts of this work — the therapy sessions for preparation and integration — may be billable through insurance, just like any therapy with us. Other elements, including the medical screening and the ketamine itself, are typically out-of-pocket. We’ll walk you through exactly what’s covered and what isn’t early on, so there are no surprises. You’ll always know what to expect before you commit to anything.
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Ketamine creates a shift in awareness — things can feel dreamlike or distant, but you remain yourself. People often describe it as a softening rather than a loss of control, a stepping back from the usual grip of their thoughts. You’ll be in a safe, calm space with someone you trust beside you the entire time. Nothing happens to you that you haven’t prepared for and agreed to. The experience is yours, and you’re supported through all of it.
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Ketamine doesn’t alter who you are or rewire your personality. What it does — and what research increasingly supports — is temporarily increase the brain’s flexibility, its capacity to form new connections and step out of well-worn patterns. Think of it less as changing the brain and more as creating a window of openness.
Be Among the First
We’re opening this work to a small number of clients this fall, and we’re building that group now.
If something here resonated, this is the moment to reach out. Add your name through the form below and tell us a little about where you are. We’ll follow up personally, answer your questions, and let you know what to expect as we approach our September start.
There’s no commitment in reaching out — just the first step toward something different.
The people who inquire now will be the first we’re able to see.