This is a big and diverse space, and folks often run into a lot of questions about options. Let me lay out a few choices and reasons you might pick one over the other.

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The first main choice is if you want to go to an infusion clinic or if you want to experience ketamine in an "assisted psychotherapy" way. Ketamine by itself is a powerful medicine and can physiologically alone produce impressive results. Some clinics rely solely on this reality and mainly are venues to support clients in receiving this medicine. Locally here in Chapel Hill, there is the Ketamine Wellness Institute. Their baseline protocol is 6 infusions across 2-3 weeks. This could be a particularly good option if you are experiencing suicidal ideation or are in an extreme amount of discomfort and need some relief fast. They do not offer any psychotherapy component. It would be your job separately to find integration support. Their default is for you to be solo in your treatment room, but they also welcome you to bring a friend, family member, or even your therapist if all schedules could be worked out together.

Another option is various practices that prescribe esketamine. I am aware of a few, including Carolina Wellness Psychiatry and UNC mental health clinics. There are other options for esketamine. A quick google search will help you find many. I know that at least for UNC, they will permit your therapist to attend your sessions. Again, as long as all schedules can be worked out. One nice thing about esketamine treatment is that it can be covered by insurance.

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Other people choose to engage ketamine via Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), and is the model we here are Somatic Collaborative work under. This model posits that it is the human relationship, supportive therapy, integration support, and ketamine together that hold the most promise to create lasting changes. Being therapists, we here at Somatic Collaborative believe that this model is the most effective for creating longterm change. And yet, there is no wrong way to engage this work, just different ways.

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We are also not the only folks around who support clients with KAP. Here are a few others in the triangle that we're aware of: Tatyana, Lesley, Zumrad, Katie, Celeste, Nancy, Rafia, Christine, Dani, and Dr. Socolar. There are surely more too. This page claims to be a list of all the KAP therapists in North Carolina.

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If you end up working with us, you would need to choose which medical provider you want to work with. Because as therapists, we are not medical professionals and cannot prescribe ketamine. Many folks end up choosing to work through Skylight Psychedelics. Skylight is a group in Colorado. They do their medical intakes online and then mail you the ketamine with your commitment to only take the ketamine in the office of one of their approved therapists. We also work with Sarah Tatko.  And we have attended sessions at KWI and UNC's clinic. We are open to having a conversation with a different medical clinic if there is a specific one you would like to work with.

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There are also other medical providers locally who can prescribe ketamine. They all have their own protocols and policies. The ones that I know of in Chapel Hill, Durham, and Cary are: Sarah Tatko, Dr. Verena Socolar, Dr. Ria Battaglino, Dr. Glenn Withrow, Dr. Sharp at Plum Springs Clinic, Dr. Hani Elwafi, Triangle Wellness and Recovery, and Carolina Wellness Psychiatry. You would need to reach out to them to determine if their offerings are a good fit for you.​​

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There are also online ways to be lightly supported but still somewhat solo. There are many online companies that have different services. The most well known one is Mindbloom, and to our knowledge it is the only one available in North Carolina. In their model, you engage with their therapists and integration support while doing the medicine at home. Some other not-currenlty-available in NC options are: Joyous who aims to support those who want to work with ketamine in a low dose / longer duration format; Nue.life whose offering includes an app to support your journey; and Journey Clinical who are like Skylight but aren't available in our state. The legal landscape is continually evolving, so though some of these companies are not able to offer their services in North Carolina that could change.

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Here at Somatic Collaborative we believe in the power of the human relationship and the usefulness of good therapeutic support. Please research any of these options that feel useful to you, and if you want to have a conversation about how we may be able to support you on your healing journey, please feel free to reach out.

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