Understanding Ketamine and Its Role in Mental Health

Program Description:

Ketamine has emerged in the last decade as a highly efficacious treatment for depression and mood disorders. This training is designed for therapists, psychologists, physicians, and other mental health professionals who want to better understand how ketamine works and the role they can play as practitioners to ensure the best clinical outcomes for patients seeking relief.

While ketamine is a powerful and at times life-saving tool, ensuring safe, effective treatment is not as straightforward as writing a prescription. This course will introduce how practitioners can help their patients safely and legally access treatment options in New York City, or establish working relationships with similar practices in their own communities.

Research shows that ketamine treatment has the best chance of improving long-term patient outcomes and wellbeing when paired with psychotherapy before and after treatment. Participants in this course will learn basic principles for selecting and preparing patients for ketamine treatment, and integrating the insights generated from their experiences into follow up psychotherapy. Ultimately, the aim is to introduce a patient-centric, highly collaborative care model, designed to lead to the best results for patients.

This program is offered in collaboration with Ember Health

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the program, participants will be better able to…

1. Describe the concepts of Drug Assisted Therapy to their clients 
2. Describe how ketamine fits into treatment plans for depressive disorders
3. Integrate ketamine into their existing frameworks for managing clients with depressive disorders
4. Summarize the current understandings of ketamine antidepressant mechanisms
5. Recognize clients that might be appropriate for ketamine infusion therapy
6. Recognize clients that might NOT be appropriate for ketamine infusion therapy
7. Navigate the legal and practical hurdles in accessing this treatment for their clients
8. Distinguish between the medical and recreational use of ketamine
9. Psychologically prepare their clients for the ketamine sessions
10. Assist their clients in integrating the experiences from the ketamine sessions into their larger psychotherapeutic goals
11. Employ specific psychotherapeutic techniques to maximize behavioral and cognitive changes during the neuroplastic windows opened by ketamine.
12. Describe how ketamine could play a long term role in mental healthcare

Continuing Education:

CE Statement regarding APA CE for Psychologists:

• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Resource Center (SCRC) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Spiritual Competency Resource Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• 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.
• SCRC is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California.
• For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact Elizabeth Nielson at elizabeth@fluence8.com. For questions about CE, visit www.spiritualcompetency.com or contact David Lukoff, PhD at CE@spiritualcompetency.com.