FADEN, in partnership with Journey Clinical, utilizes a legal medicine called Ketamine at all of its retreats and 1-on-1 sessions.

This is a common question we hear! YES, Ketamine is legal for therapeutic treatments administered by a licensed medical practitioner.

Ketamine is a legal, safe and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Ketamine has rapidly acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which can begin to take effect within 1-2 hrs. after treatment. It works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors as well as by stimulating AMPA receptors, which are thought to help form new synaptic connections and boost neural circuits that regulate stress and mood. Ketamine has also been shown to enhance overall neuroplasticity for lasting symptom improvement.

Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways, including IV infusion, intramuscular injection, via nasal spray and using sublingual lozenges. In our partnership with Journey Clinical, we only use the sublingual lozenge form.

Journey Clinical is a platform for licensed psychotherapists to incorporate science-based psychedelic therapies in their practice safely and effectively, starting with KetamineAssisted Psychotherapy (KAP). Journey Clinical’s in-house medical team takes on patient eligibility, prescriptions and outcome monitoring, while FADEN takes on the therapeutic components. Their collaborative care model is designed to deliver personalized treatment plans to meet your individual needs and improve long-term outcomes.

In order to provide safe and legal ketamine, our founder, Lindsay Olshan, LMFT partners with Journey Clinical™ as the prescribers of ketamine for our retreats. Below are the steps that are taken both before and after our retreats to ensure you are being supported throughout this process and beyond.

PRE RETREAT STEPS:

1. Prior to any retreat, you will receive a screening form from FADEN to learn more about your medical history, why you are choosing group work and overall objectives.

2. You will then meet with Lindsay Olshan, MFT for a 30min. free consultation to discuss interest level and overall psychological readiness. If it is mutually agreed that you are eligible for KAP (Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy), you will be referred to Journey Clinical™ for a psychiatric evaluation and medical intake.

3. Journey Clinical™ is the prescribing entity. FADEN does not prescribe any medications, including Ketamine. A healthcare provider from Journey Clinical™ will follow up with you directly to schedule an initial consultation.

4. After your consultation with a healthcare provider from Journey Clinical™, you will either be medically cleared and receive a prescription for Ketamine or will be given guidance as to why Ketamine isn’t appropriate for you.

5. If appropriate, a Ketamine prescription will be mailed directly to you by a pharmacy.

6. You will need to bring the Ketamine with you to the retreat.

RETREAT STEPS:

1. You will self-administer your ketamine lozenge at the retreat.

2. Follow-up consultation with Journey Clinical™ prescriber following KAP retreat to discuss experience and any prescription refills if eligible.

The effects of ketamine, which most participants find pleasant, last for approximately 45 minutes. These effects can make you feel “far from” your body, and facilitate shifts in perception that can often feel expansive in nature. Your motor and verbal abilities will be reduced, so you’ll be lying down in a comfortable position during the experience. Once these effects subside, we’ll spend the remainder of our journey time giving you space to process and discuss your experience. While it may feel hard to articulate what happens during the experience, participants feel like the insights gained are clear.

During a Ketamine journey you can have slight to dramatic shifts in your emotions. These emotional waves can be related to your perception of self, your relationship to others, the greater collective and beyond. Emotions can also range from joy, bliss, euphoria, profound gratitude to confusion, sadness, grief, worry and overwhelm. At FADEN we welcome the spectrum of emotions with equal importance and acceptance. There is no such thing as a “bad” emotion.

• Personal Growth (stressors, trauma, major life events and milestones, search for deeper meaning and connection to self and others)

• Corporate Stress  (mental focus and clarity, performance, team building, interpersonal relationships)

• Woman’s Circles ( ancestral healing, deep listening to the body, self-love, surrender, connectedness)

• Healing the Healers ( special focus on mental health practitioners, nurses, doctors, front line workers)

This question arises frequently and is greatly mitigated by the intention, setting and professional guidance we provide. We believe that there is no such things as “bad” content that emerges in an experience. But rather material that is needing to be respected with curiosity and trust. We are extremely experienced in weaving together the ideas shown to you by your inner healing intelligence. Your safety–physically and emotionally–is our primary concern, and we are well equipped to handle a wide variety of experiences. Should any emergency occur at our retreats and in office, our protocol is to contact 911.

FADEN is Based in San Francisco, California. We operate all of our retreats and individual work out of California only.