You're invited to join group workshops for Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP).
To apply for a cohort, please read through this page, note the dates on the Schedule page, and follow the link at the bottom of the What We Ask page after reading that one.
What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a safe and well-understood medicine that is currently being prescribed off-label for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, OCD, addiction, pain, and other common health concerns.
Ketamine assists in increasing neuroplasticity, working to repair damaged synapses — or connections – in the brain, which become diminished over time due to long-term stress and depression. As such, ketamine shifts the brain into a more open and receptive state, allowing one to interrupt old, ruminative patterns, increase cognitive flexibility, and become open to new learning and growth.
For this workshop series, we will be utilizing ketamine troches — small lozenges made by a local pharmacy designed to dissolve quickly in the mouth and gently take effect.
Building on Neuroplasticity
Providers of ketamine that are based in the Western medical model tend to think of ketamine primarily as a medicine that treats depression. While we agree that this benefit exists, we believe that a more important result is the neuroplasticity created by this medicine. Therefore, the results ultimately depend on what one does with the opportunity to change one’s thinking. We have designed this experience to make the most of the window of neuroplasticity, when one's mind is naturally in a more open and adaptable state.
As such, this program offers integration experiences during the workshop days, along with meetings two days after every ketamine experience that are specifically designed to build on neuroplasticity so that lasting change becomes possible. During the workshops, we will include a variety of experiences such as group sharing, nature connection, movement, making art, journaling, meditating, and more.
Why Group?
Simply put, the dynamic of the shared group experience can be more powerful and therapeutic than individual therapy alone. After all, as humans have explored nonordinary states of consciousness for thousands of years, haven’t we always done it in community?
Through the trust of the group container and the power of integrative processing, our healing becomes a shared experience — witnessed, supported, and deeply held in a power greater than the sum of our parts. You can read more about this here.
As ketamine treatment goes more mainstream, many clinics and providers have been financially inaccessible for a majority of people. We believe that offering a psychedelic assisted group model is a key strategy for reducing cost and expanding access to this treatment.
Along with the benefits of working in group, participants may experience some challenges. Decisions will be made that best serve the needs of the group, but that may not be preferred by each person. And immediate extended attention to each individual won’t always be possible.
Cohorts will have anywhere between 5 and 10 people.
A Video Overview of the Program
The Importance of Integration
The transformational benefits of the psychedelic experience do not end when the journey is over. In fact, we can extend the benefits of the experience into the days, weeks, and years ahead through cultivating the indispensable skill of integration.
Integration can be understood as turning an experience from a psychedelic journey into a new way of being in the world. It is about interpreting the symbolic meaning of our experience with the medicine, identifying the gifts, lessons, and insights that we received, and finding a way to anchor those messages into our lives on an ongoing basis in an effort to move towards greater wholeness.
Integration is critical for sustaining the benefits of ketamine.
As a group, we will ask ourselves, and each other, how can our experience with the medicine contribute to our daily lives in meaningful ways? How can we hold ourselves and each other accountable for making the changes we see fit to make in our lives? How can the medicine support us in this process?
Internal Family Systems + Ketamine
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach to psychotherapy that identifies and harmonizes sub-personalities that are in discord within the psyche. Through healing these discordant parts of our psyche, IFS restores balance among the sub-personalities and the Self. Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the late 1980’s, IFS is a dynamic, effective way to allow Self-energy to bring balance and healing to our internal system. IFS guides us towards the foundation of being that has been with us from the first breath... the core of our true Self.
“IFS is more than a therapeutic technique. It is a conceptual framework and practice for developing love for ourselves and each other.”
Richard Schwartz, PhD
The goal of IFS therapy is Self-leadership. For Self to stay in the driver’s seat, parts need to be willing to step back, and this can be a difficult state to achieve. In order to heal “Exiles,” we need space from the “Protectors.” As a dissociative, we believe that ketamine can help potentiate a dissociation between Self and parts, greatly amplifying the power of the IFS approach.
We thought a lot about the most effective way to benefit from the increased neuroplasticity created by ketamine, and we decided to focus on the shift from living in the world identified with parts, to living as Self, the witness for parts. Our integration sessions held two days after each ketamine administration are intended to maximize that shift. Because isn’t the ability to remain in the witness state the essence of “enlightenment”?
“I have learned how well the spontaneous observations and experiences of our participants map onto IFS, including both parts and the Self… In my experience, people are hungry for this perspective. Dick didn’t make it up – IFS taps into real phenomena.” — Michael Mithoefer, MD, acting Medical Director of MAPS and principle investigator of MDMA trials since 2000
Although the ketamine experience tends to be gentle, accessing nonordinary states of consciousness can be scary. Typically, when someone makes that choice, they override the parts that fear the loss of control, which can later create backlash. Through the IFS model, we can befriend these parts and obtain their consent for the journey instead. You can read more about our approach to integrating KAP and IFS in this post called The Wednesday Effect and watch a short video about how IFS supports psychedelic work here.
Setting
The in-person workshops will take place at the Fairview Space for Transformation, a warm, spacious, and comfortable setting with plenty of ventilation, 20 minutes from downtown Asheville.
The natural environment is available right outside the doors, including woods and a stream. A high-quality sound system enhances and deepens the nonordinary state. This is a space where we can support each other, deepen our connection to ourselves and to each other, and enjoy quality time.
There is a 2 bedroom vacation rental apartment onsite which may be available for those traveling from a distance. You can learn more about that here. You are welcome to book it directly through Airbnb or to quote their price to Ted to receive a discount.
Our address and map are on the contact page.
Asheville, NC is a lovely town to explore while you are integrating your ketamine journeys.
Who We Are
We are a small team of practitioners with complementary experience who are committed to advancing psychedelic therapy and making non-ordinary states of consciousness more accessible in our society.
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Ted Riskin, LCSW
FOUNDER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST
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Amy Borskey Duffer, MA, LCAS
FACILITATOR
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Sarah Levine
CO-FOUNDER, PSYCHEDELIC FACILITATOR
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Zak Foy, MD
MEDICAL SUPERVISOR
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Ron Parks, MD
INTEGRATIVE PSYCHIATRIST
Before venturing into the ketamine space, Ted Riskin already had deep experience in all of the elements of this program. Certified in Holotropic Breathwork by Grof Transpersonal Training, he has offered regular breathwork workshops in many locations since 1997, even adopting the model to offer it online throughout the pandemic. He is certified in Internal Family Systems, having completed all three levels of the training, as well as being a program assistant in both levels one and two. He co-developed a course called Essentials of Internal Family Systems, which has been offered to therapists continuously since 2017. He has seriously explored non-ordinary states of consciousness, accessed by a variety of methods, for over 25 years. In addition, he has led therapeutic process groups continuously since 1994, integrating through the years a focus on relationships, communication, Core Energetics, and IFS. He is a facilitator of ecstatic dance and a board member of the Asheville Movement Collective. Learn more here.
Amy Borskey Duffer is a Board-Certified Dance/movement Therapist, Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor, and a Psychedelic Integration and Transformational Recovery Coach, certified by Being True to You. She has been exploring the use of psychedelics and non-ordinary states of consciousness for healing and expansion since 2019. While all aspects of the psychedelic journey are important, she has particular interest in the integration phase — exploring how to take what is learned during an experience into our lives to achieve growth and wholeness. Amy has extensive experience in holding loving space for seekers of peace and healing with a background in both group and individual therapy work. Amy lives just outside of Asheville with her husband, son, dog, and a bunch of chickens. You can find out more about her and her work here.
Sarah Levine is a psychedelic facilitator whose passion is in helping others intentionally prepare for, navigate, and integrate psychedelic and non ordinary experiences. She is a Certified Psychedelic Integration and Transformational Recovery Coach with Being True To You, and she has worked with over 300 clients as a Psychedelic Guide with Mindbloom, a telemedicine ketamine clinic. Sarah is Tripsitters trained, trauma-informed, and is a certified herbalist who studies and practices Western Herbalism, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. She is a founding member of the Asheville Psychedelic Society. Having concentrated in Ecopsychology at Prescott College, her work supports others in reclaiming a connection to the natural world and considers psychedelic states to be a catalyst for enhancing our sense of relatedness and belonging to our wild, resilient planet. You can learn more about her work here.
Zachary Foy, M.D., is currently practicing as a Board Certified Emergency Physician and spends many days and nights in the local emergency departments. He is interested in exploring beyond the scope of the revolving door of the ED, however, particularly investigating approaches that have evidence-based benefits to patients seeking support outside of the traditional medical model. Zak has over a decade of experience working with ketamine as an anesthetic medication in clinical settings, and is excited to branch out into Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy as an effective modality for addressing common mental health conditions in our society. Having grown up in Asheville, Dr. Foy has a deep commitment to serving the community here. He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine in 2008 and trained as an Emergency Physician in Salt Lake City, UT. He has been practicing locally since that time.
Ron Parks, M.D., is a consultant, teacher and writer in the area of integrative psychiatry, medicine and holistic therapies. He is respected for his talents in providing helpful consultations to improve treatment and recovery from physical and emotional problems that have not responded to simple or conventional approaches. Dr. Parks received his M.D. from the University of Maryland, a Master’s Degree in Public Health & Health Service Research from UCLA, and Specialty training in Psychiatry, Internal, Family & Preventive Medicine, with a background in nutrition, and other natural healing arts. His healing interests, supported by residing in the Asheville area, include: mental, physical, spiritual health, holistic medicine, psychology, psychotherapy, yoga, nutrition, environmental medicine and more. Dr. Parks’ mental health focus includes depression, anxiety, mood swings, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, PTSD, addictions, ADHD, relationship and family dysfunction and solutions. He is an advocate for an integrative approach to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and emotional problems. A skilled lecturer, workshop leader, and consultant who has taught in local, national and international venues, Dr. Parks bridges conventional Western medicine and the innovative approaches of Integrative Medicine and Psychiatry into a comprehensive and holistic approach to consultative and treatment service. Dr. Parks provides education and guidance to psychotherapists and programs but does not provide any oversight or clinical supervision for any participants in the Group KAP program or to the program itself.
“We are all just walking each other home.”
— Ram Dass