FOR CLINICIANS

TRAINING

TO APPLY email training@polarisinsight.com

Polaris Insight Center provides didactic, experiential, and residential trainings in Ketamine Assisted Therapy. These programs are designed to provide interested physicians, psychologists, therapists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals with principles and procedures of KAP and how to use ketamine in combination with psychotherapy in a clinical setting. 

We are offering the training in 7 modules. While Module 1 is a required course, trainees are welcome to take any or all of the subsequent modules after its completion. Taking modules in sequence is recommended, as each module builds on the knowledge and skills taught in the previous module but not mandatory. In addition, we are offering a Music Module to help clinicians with creating playlists for sessions.

We are as well offering a Rainfall Medical Module specifically for prescribers and other medical providers. This module is offered by Dr. Steve Rosonke – Rainfall Medical Module.

Find promotional materials for each training here: Module 1, Module 2, Module 3, Module 4, Module 5, Module 6, and Module 7.

TRAINERS:

Harvey Schwartz, PhD (module 1-7), Veronika Gold, LMFT (module 1-7), Eric Sienknecht, PsyD (module 1, 2, 3, 5 and Music Module); Steve Roesenke, MD (module 1, 4, 7 and Rainfall Medical Module); Marina Bystritsky, PsyD (module 4); Chris Stauffer, MD (module 3); Robert Voloshin, DO (module 5 and6); Ryan Hoffman, LMFT (module 5 and Music Module); Frank Ehrenfried, LMFT (module 5); Leanne Lopez, BSN,  RN (Rainfall Medical Module); Andrea Rosati, PhD, MD  (Module 6); Kelley O’Donnell, PhD, MD  (Module 6); Evan Sola, PsyD  (Module 6); Karen Peoples, PhD (Module 7); Genesee Herzberg, PsyD (Module 7); Jason Butler, PhD (Module 7); Jessica Katzman, PsyD (Module 7)

COST:
Each Module (1-4, 6 and 7) is $325 + $25 administrative fee ($350 total), and Module 5 (role play) is $275 + $25 administrative fee ($300 total). The full training is $2400+ $150 administrative fee ($2550 total). The full training is 56 training hours.

Polaris Insight Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and other mental health professionals. Polaris Insight Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Each module is 8 CE credits and the cost for APA CE credits is $79 per module. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association. LCSWs and MFTs from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board for approval. For information about CE certificates email: training@polarisinsight.com

CE credits for licensed nurses in California are provided by the Spiritual Competency Resource Center (SCRC) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.  SCRC is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. Each module (1-7) is 8 CE credits and the cost for continued education credits is $79 per module.

For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact our training coordinator, Jana Adamova, at training@polarisinsight.com. For questions about CE for RNs, visit www.spiritualcompetency.com or contact David Lukoff, PhD at CE@spiritualcompetency.com.

UPCOMING DATES:
Module 1: June 21st, or October 18

Module 2: July 31

Module 3: May 8th, or August 12

Module 4: June 5th, or October 15th

Module 5: Role Play Module: May 17th, June 6th, or September 11th

Module 6: July 24th, or December 4th

Module 7: August 20th

Didactic Training Modules – 8 training hours each 9am PST – 5pm PST

Module 1: Introductory Workshop to Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

Module 2: Intermediate Workshop on Focused Clinical Issues

Module 3: Advanced Workshop on Focused Clinical Issues

Module 4: Advanced Workshop on Focused Clinics Issues

Module 5: Role Play Module: Training and Practice of KAP principles and techniques in Role Plays

Module 6: Advanced Topics in Ketamine- and Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy I.

Module 7: Advanced Topics in Ketamine- and Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy II.

Module 1: Introductory Workshop on Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

  • Understand difference between traditional psychotherapy and KAP
  • Identify and attend to Set and Setting variables 
  • Work clinically with non ordinary states of consciousness
  • Work within a Therapeutic Triangle (Therapist, Physician, Patient)
  • Understand screening process, medical risks and contraindications
  • Understand the usage of different Routes of Administration and Dosing Strategies
  • Support and Facilitate the Integration Process
  • Understand political and clinical controversies in the field

Module 2: Intermediate Workshop on Focused Clinical Issue

  • Address and work with nervous system dysregulation
  • Work with somatic and therapeutic touch
  • Implement principles and techniques of Transpersonal Psychology
  • Understand the unique transference challenges of KAP
  • Understand countertransference to further the therapeutic process
  • Improve individualized treatment based on case study presentations
  • participate in a role play during an experiential using KAP set and setting

Module 3: Advanced Workshop on Focused Clinical Issues I

  • Work with attachment in KAP
  • Work with Countertransference part 2
  • Collaborate with outside providers of Ketamine patients
  • Implement virtual Ketamine Assisted Therapy
  • Integrate Spiritual Experiences patients might have during treatment
  • Implement Group Ketamine AssistedTherapy

Module 4: Advanced Workshop on Focused Clinician issues II

  • Apply principles of ACT in Ketamine Assisted Therapy
  • Work with issues of substance misuse using Ketamine Assisted Therapy
  • Work with resistance in treatment
  • Use KAP in the treatment of PTSD
  • Understand the benefits and challenges of therapists’s personal experience working with NOSC
  • Discuss and consider the necessities and challenges of being ketamine assisted therapist

Module 5: Advanced: Role Play Module: Training and Practice of KAP principles in through Role Play

  • Implement principles of KAP in practice
  • Respond to common questions and challenges that can arise during KAP
  • To be in the role of therapist, patient, and have an opportunity to observe and discuss role-plays

Module 6: Advanced Topics in Ketamine- and Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy I.

  • Learn how to create the safe, effective, psychodynamic practice of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
  • Learn how to help patients explore and integrate their psychedelic experiences.
  • Understand psychospiritual themes that often arise in the practice of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
  • Learn forms of support that the therapist can offer to clients having a challenging experience in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
  • Understand how conflict emerging in the psychedelic-psychotherapy session can lead to learning and growth. 
  • Learn how explicit and implicit memory relates to cognitive and somatic processing of emotional and traumatic psychological material.

Module 7: Advanced Topics in Ketamine- and Psychedelic- Assisted Therapy II.

  • List three of the different levels where possible challenges may occur during Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
  • List two different types of interventions that may support clients during the rapid remission process
  • Explain Bion’s idea of reverie and how it leads to psychic “containment,” by giving two examples of adequate containment of client experience in the psychedelic session.
  • Describe two key considerations pertaining to relational approaches in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. 
  • List and describe two meditative practices that can be used for helping with therapist and patient attunement and therapist self-care in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
  • Describe two important areas of research in the emerging field of neurotheology.

Experiential Modules

Dates will be confirmed as soon as possible due to COVID-19.

Experiential Workshop – 5-hours

In the self-experiential teaching module participants will have a chance to participate in KAP small group experience.  A medical and psychological intake to evaluate for medical eligibility is required prior to the experiential. Group integration session immediately follows the experience.  The cost for the experiential module is $650. To inquire, please contact Veronika at veronika@polarisinsight.com

Practicum (available by invitation only)

For the practicum, participants will have the chance to shadow and assist our clinicians during an actual KAP group session.

Rainfall Medical Module

The module is designed to help medical providers become well-versed in the medical topics and safety issues around ketamine therapy.

Steve Rosonke MD is an ER physician and addiction medicine physician. He is also fellowship-trained in critical care. He has been administering ketamine in a variety of clinical settings since 2001. In 2018, he founded Rainfall Medicine, a ketamine center in Portland, OR where he treats mood disorders, trauma, chronic pain, end-of-life anxiety, and addiction. He has also been teaching and consulting other providers on this topic. He will be joined by Leanne Lopez, BSN, RN has been working in the field of nursing for 12 years. She currently works in the Bay Area as a medical/cardiac critical care nurse, and at Polaris Insight Center, an integrative therapy office providing ketamine assisted psychotherapy. 

This learning module will focus on the medical, pharmacologic and neuroscience considerations to safely and confidently operate a ketamine clinic or to perform ketamine-assisted-psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives will include:

  1. Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies
  2. Appropriate Medical Intake and Screening
  3. Medical and Pharmaceutical Contraindications to Treatment
  4. Side Effects and Safety During Treatments
  5. The Pharmacology and Neuroscience of Ketamine
  6. Ketamine Addiction and Ketamine for Addiction
  7. Case Studies of Ketamine Complications
  8. Specifics of Ketamine Administration for KAP

Cost: $300

Date: June 14th, 8AM PST – 12PM PST or August 21st, 9AM PST – 1PM PST by Zoom

CEs are not offered at this time.

Music Module

In this workshop, various aspects of using music to enhance patients’ experiences in ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP), including track selection and arrangement, matching music and sound effects with drug effects, and working with resistance around music will be explored. A good playlist takes the patient on a journey, enhances emotional openness, and helps connect the patient with old memories and gain access to and process deeper emotions, previously hidden under the surface of consciousness.  We will consider the dual role of the facilitator – one part therapist and one part sonic alchemist –  in using ambient, textured, and atmospheric tracks to synergize with the dissociative effects of ketamine and enhancing a spaciousness of mind, often symbolized by transpersonal visions of vast interstellar space, intricate subterranean caverns, and luscious underwater seascapes. Examples of specific tracks and fully-curated playlists will be shared, and experiential learning exercises will be offered to help participants refine their own musical tastes and preferences for journey work. This workshop will ultimately give participants a better understanding of the methods used to prepare and create music sets for ketamine sessions to deepen the patient’s therapeutic process and open their hearts and minds to the vibrational dimensions of consciousness.

Cost: $200

CE: $39 for 4 CE credits

Dates: July 17th or September 25th 9AM PST – 1PM PST

Retreats

Residential options including intensive didactical and experiential training.

Dates will be confirmed as soon as COVID-19 is not impacting social activities.

Level 1: Five-day/four-night residential training in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy theory and practice.

Level 2: Four-day/three-night residential training on Advanced Training in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy practice.

KETAMINE LOZENGE GROUP FOR MEDICAL PROVIDERS

Ketamine Providers interested in a support group during COVID-19 using Ketamine please email: veronika@polarisinsight.com

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP CONSULTATION

Ketamine Providers interested in a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy consultation contact: veronika@polarisinsight.com

TREATMENT GROUP FOR CLINICIANS

KAP group for eligible clinicians contact: veronika@polarisinsight.com

READING AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Reading List

EMPLOYMENT

Clinicians interested in working with Polaris Insight Center contact: info@polarisinsight.com

TRAINING/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

If you or your organization would like to know more about Polaris run trainings or speaking engagements please contact: info@polarisinsight.com