What You Will Get:

Whether you are a medical provider or a therapist, we have been teaching and mentoring trainees in clinical KAP for years through LMI's training programs, and we know firsthand the challenges that trainees struggle with.

Knowing this, we have intentionally designed this program to give you everything you need to immediately and effectively incorporate KAP into your practice and/or launch a career in this area.  Even if you have already attended another training program, we offer the applied clinical skills, mentoring, community, and practice management you need to confidently move forward. Don't lose your momentum because you are stuck on any of these things. We have your solution!

We will meet live three Tuesdays per month for 15 months to get you prepared for everything you need to know.

You will get the benefit of our extensive experience, as well as our background in such modalities as depth psychology/psychodynamic, somatic, parts work, prolonged exposure, and OCD protocols.  We treat PTSD, OCD, anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as attachment and personality issues.  At the same time, though we focus on teaching you "nuts and bolts" skills, we personally remain grounded in the wisdom traditions inherent in this work and honor those teaching lineages in our own practice. We focus on the legal, clinical use of ketamine, but the skills we teach translate to working with other medicines as well.

1. Monthly Clinical Skills Classes

Simple "nuts and bolts" overviews of actual skills to use when working with clients in an altered state. These will be real talks about how sessions tend to go, things that make new providers nervous, and demonstrations of exactly what to do. 

One Tuesday per month from 12:00-1:00 pm EST

Topics Covered:

LESSON 1. How to Become a Psychedelic Psychotherapist: Introduction. What are the backgrounds best to have? If you don't have these yet, how can you round out your skill sets?  We break it down and make it simple.

LESSON 2. Teaching Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and some Hard Truths:  What lens do we see psychedelic medicine through? What are some of the tensions and evolving dynamics in the field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy? We are deeply involved in the field and will help you keep up to date on emerging issues.   We also encourage you to wrestle with these questions and find your own path.

LESSON 3. Ketamine as a Psychedelic:  How does Ketamine work as a psychedelic? How is it used for depression or anxiety symptom relief, and how different is that from its psychedelic benefits? 

LESSON 4. Psychedelic Ketamine: Routes of Administration. How can Ketamine be administered as a psychedelic? What are the pros and cons of the different methods available, including IV, IM, sublingual, rectal or intravaginal, and intranasal? Why choose one over another for psychedelic dosing?

LESSON 5. Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: The Role of the Therapist and Dosing Strategies. How do different dosing strategies  affect outcomes? What is the difference between acting as a sitter, a guide, or a psychedelic therapist? What is psycholytic dosing? How and why ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is an active therapy intervention during the altered state itself.

LESSON 6. The Preparation Phase.  What is the Preparation phase in psychedelic work, and why is it so critical? What are the key components that must be included to ensure safety and promote better outcomes?  We will offer practical checklists of things to track for and address.

LESSON 7. The Integration Phase. What is Integration when working with psychedelic medicine? Integration is not the same as regulation, but rather is direct change work. Why is it so critical, and why is it so often misunderstood and misapplied?  Learn applied strategies to do this effectively.

LESSON 8. Set and Setting.  Explore the central concepts of “set” and “setting” in psychedelic- assisted psychotherapy and how to collaborate with your client to optimize them both. And... what do we mean when we "create a container"?

LESSON 9. Framing Expectations: Talking realistically about outcomes in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, so that clients are accurately informed. How doing this well prevents  psychological harm and relational fracturing, while deepening collaboration and developing trust. 

LESSON 10. Using Touch in Psychedelic Psychotherapy: How to approach consent around the use of physical contact during a psychedelic session in-depth, setting the stage for deep work during sessions.  A template and role play for this critical discussion during the preparation phase will be offered.

LESSON 11. Beginner Skills for Medicine Sessions. Session Skills Part 1. How do I  begin? Now that you have scheduled your first psychedelic sessions, what are the critical “how-to’s” to have in your starting skill set to ensure success?  

LESSON 12. Foundational Skills. Session Skills Part 2. Foundational skill sets in psychedelic psychotherapy, continued. Building on LESSON 11, we provide the next set of skills to add into your psychedelic sessions as you further your practice.

LESSON 13. Dealing with Fear in Psychedelic Sessions- the role of the Therapist: Session Skills Part 3. Understanding fear, grief, or frustration states during a psychedelic session.  What should therapists be aware of and what therapy skills should be used in these moments?

LESSON 14. Music and Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy- Not What You Think! How does music affect a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy session? How should it be used? Some techniques you can immediately implement with your own discernment, understanding the effects.

LESSON 15. Role of Ceremony in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy. For ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in real world, Western office settings, is there a role for ceremony? What can that look like? How does ceremony affect the brain? What is helpful and what should be avoided?

2. Case Consultation/Supervision Groups

Monthly case consultations discussing challenging cases you bring and present.  We will also periodically share real session videos to demonstrate challenging cases presented by staff, helping you gain from our years of actually doing this work with tough clients.    

One Tuesday per month from 12:00-1:00 pm EST

1. Bring and present a challenging case for group consultation and supervision with our expert team.

2. Periodic formal presentations by staff of challenging cases using filmed session footage!  You get to see how we do it, so you can develop your own style

3. Each session will include teaching points based on the session, as well as Q&A for discussion-based learning.

3. Career Mentoring

Sometimes when starting something new, it’s hard to know what you don't know. After years of mentoring trainees into KAP careers, our goal is to launch you over your individual hurdles so you can move confidently into the work. These meetings are your times to hash out what your challenges are and get straightforward advice and tools to address them.

One Tuesday per month from 12:00-1:00 pm EST

Topics Covered:

LESSON 1. What is your treatment location or setting? Private practice? Telemedicine? Hospital-based practice?  Group practice? Based on your particular location, what do you need to prepare and think about?

LESSON 2. Developing and maintaining a prescriber relationship:  What do you need to know, what are your options, and what resources are available if you are a therapist? 

LESSON 3. Choosing routes of administration for ketamine: There are many, and you will need to understand which are the best fit for your particular practice. Ideally, you discover at least two routes you can work with.

LESSON 4. Selecting or recruiting your first three clients: Depending on your style of practice, how to appropriately assess which clients will be best to start with and how to collaborate with them to ease in to ketamine work safely and with confidence.

LESSON 5. Insurance, Informed Consent and Liability: Practical advice and examples for these critical steps and information, specific to your location and type of practice.

LESSON 6. For prescribers or those working with them on a treatment team: Prescriber-specific issues include how to prescribe and administer different routes of administration of ketamine, working with compounding pharmacies, and dosing protocols specific to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy work.

LESSON 7. Developing a relationship with the medicine: A long-standing concept in psychedelic practice, what does this mean for you as a KAP provider? It involves some reflection. Yet understanding this will allow you to more effectively navigate altered states with your clients with confidence and less confusion.

LESSON 8. First sessions: Techniques to make them easier.   Our experience of beginner "hacks" that will allow you to step into your role with authority in the beginning without getting nervous or overwhelmed.

LESSON 9. Specific patient populations:  Are your clients from particular populations, for example veterans, those with OCD-spectrum symptoms, or eating disorders? What do we know about KAP for specific client groups?

LESSON 10. Billing, Rates and Scheduling: The balance between ethics, access, and financial survival of your practice is a challenging one.  How do you set rates?  Do you bill insurance or not, and for what types of sessions? How do you need to schedule to meet your financial needs?

LESSONS 11-15: Where are you stuck? Our last five mentoring meetings are for you to bring any remaining questions or stuck points. We know from experience that challenges are shared, and one person's question helps the group as a whole. So let's hash it all out!

4. Discount on Experiential Retreat (Optional)

For those new to the field and experienced practitioners alike, if you need to deepen into your experiential learning: Participation in this course includes a $500 discount to one of LMI's experiential training retreats.  

We offer three, 4-day retreats every year, with our next in late April 2025 at the link here:

https://living-medicine-institute.mykajabi.com/april-2025-introductory-training-retreat

These retreats are universally rated 5/5 by participants and are described as both personally impactful and professionally relevant.  Come see how we incorporate nature connection, group process, resilience frameworks and a ceremonially-informed and safe container into ketamine work.

The remaining retreat tuition would be due upon registration. Your discount is valid for two years after purchasing this course. 

Schedule:

Class will take place three Tuesdays per month from 12:00-1:00 pm EST. So, you will need to know that you can set that time aside for class on a regular basis*.

There will be no other required time commitment.

When do we meet?

All weekly meetings will run from February 2025 through June 2026, with breaks taken during the summer months of July and August. This will result in a total of 15 months of curriculum spanning 18 months and 45 class meetings. See below for the detailed schedule.

When does it start? 

The first class will take place at noon EST on February 4th, and we will be meeting for the first three Tuesdays of the month, each month other than the summer months of July and August.  

*Note that if you cannot make the Tuesday times and would still like to watch the entire course in recorded form, you are welcome to register and watch the recorded content at your own pace.

FAQ:

Will this be useful to me if I have already done a training program or I already practice KAP?

We have many people who work with us who have attended various trainings or are already seeing clients. We are focused on building the next stage of your career and getting you individualized mentoring.

What happens if I miss some meetings?

We certainly understand that this will, at times, happen.  Rest assured that all classes will be recorded and archived for ongoing access for anyone registered.  You can watch anytime, and in person attendance is not required.

Can I join part-way through?

Of course. Admissions are rolling. Because all classes will be recorded and archived, you can catch up anytime and still keep access to all archived content for two years after you register.

Do these skills apply to other medicine work?

Our focus will be on ketamine, due to its legality in all states and its effectiveness in clinical practice. That said, we recognize that other medicines may be accessible to you, depending on where you practice.  We are trained in the use of other medicines, by MAPS as well as other lineages, and are confident that you will find what we teach equally applicable for the use of other psychedelic medicines.

Tuition:

Full 18 months of almost weekly programming, including ongoing access to recorded, archived classes for two years:

Monthly: Payment plans are available for the amount of $83 Monthly for 15 months

If payment is provided in full up front, tuition is $1050, a $200 discount.

Special note: If you are a graduate of an LMI training and would like to depeen into this material further or take advantage of the mentoring and case presentations, LMI graduates will be offered a 50% Discount. Please email our admin assistant, Charlotte, at [email protected], for a link to alumni registration at half price!

Primary Mentors and Teachers:

Dr Sandra Newes

Dr. Signi Goldman

Dr. Meidad Goldman

We will sometimes also be joined by other members of our staff team who enrich the discussions with their perspectives.

See our full bios here:

https://livingmedicineinstitute.com/about-us/