Mentoring and Clinical Supervision

Examples of skills we may address in Clinical Supervision:

1. Additional Training Needs. What are the skills backgrounds you already have? How can you round out your individual skill sets?  

2. Theoretical Orientation and Approach to the Work:  What lens do you see psychedelic medicine through?   What are the implications of that lens? I will encourage you to wrestle with these questions and ethically find your own path.

3. How to Talk to Clients about Ketamine- and Appropriate Screening:  Checklists and best practices for intake appointments and screening potential KAP clients.

4. Psychedelic Ketamine: Routes of Administration. How Ketamine is best 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?

5. Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy as an Active Intervention: 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? 

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?  I will offer practical checklists of things to track for and address.

7. The Integration Phase. What is Integration when working with psychedelic medicine? Integration is not regulation; it's direct change work. Why is it so critical, and why is it so often misunderstood and misapplied?  Learn applied strategies to do this effectively.

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 by the phrase "creating the container"?

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. 

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.  I offer a template for this critical discussion during the preparation phase.

11. Beginner Skills for Medicine Sessions. Session Skills. How do you 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?  

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

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?

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.

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?

In Supervision, we often spend time on your hardest client cases and questions. Do you have a case where you feel stuck or conflicted about what to do next?  I offer a wealth of experience and can brainstorm with you, leaving you with a practical list of "things to try" when you are struggling with challenging cases.   

What Group Sizes do you work with?  I work with groups from 2 to 12 people. In the event you join a group, the discussion will be less focused on your individual client cases, though some shared case presentations and consultations are included. Rather, we will follow a more structured curriculum over time based on the needs of the whole group. As you can imagine, the larger the group, the less individual attention I will have for each of you. But I make an effort to make sure everyone's needs are attended to.

How do you schedule group mentoring?  Groups meet monthly, so you will need to be available for a regular time slot, and time options will be made available to your group prior to registration and payment.  As I do with individuals, I will charge as we go, and you can discontinue at any time.  There is no pre-payment required at time of registration.

How is payment collected?  For individual sessions, you will provide a credit card, which I keep on file and charge at the time of our meetings at the rate of $300/hour.  For groups, you will need to designate one person to provide a credit card for ongoing payment, with the other group members reimbursing the paying member. Groups are also billed at $300 per hour, with larger groups often benefiting from optional 2-hour meetings.

Can I record our meetings?  Yes! It is your time, so if having a recording to reference is helpful for you, we can easily arrange that.  Note that if you are part of a group, all members will need to consent to being recorded.

What if our practice is a mix of prescribers and therapists?  How can this be useful?  I am often contacted by mixed practice groups, and I encourage your primary practice administrator to schedule a consultation to discuss how working with me can be individualized for your group. Often, what works best is some sessions dedicated specifically to prescriber or administrative coaching, some dedicated to psychotherapists, and some dedicated to the combined group.

Do you provide reference materials I can keep?  Yes, depending on what we are covering, I will provide handouts, checklists, written protocols or even instructional videos that you can keep and use.

What is your on-site shadowing option? This option is best for medical providers who want to learn to prescribe or administer psychedelic ketamine or run a ketamine clinic.  It includes overnight lodgings in Asheville, NC and 1-2 days of shadowing in our outpatient clinic. You can find out more in an initial consultation if this interests you, and you can read testimonials on our "Clinic Consulting" website page.

Do you provide experiential training?  Yes! We offer two ways for you to experience psychedelic ketamine yourself as part of your learning. One is through group introductory retreats, and you can find out more about this on our website under "Services". A second option is to pair with another interested person and visit our Asheville, NC clinic for a day of supervised sessions, with on-site lodgings included. I have taught in  both of these formats for years and love training people in person while on the medicine. More information is available on the website or through an initial consultation.