online group therapy
Ketamine Integration Group
An eight week therapy group for people currently receiving ketamine.
who it is for
Who it is for
Anyone currently receiving ketamine from a prescriber. Infusions, injections, nasal spray, at home sublingual. You can join the week you start or halfway through a series. You do not need to already be in therapy and you do not need to change anything about your treatment. You decide what you bring to the group and how much you say about it.
the part left to you
Why it exists
Your prescriber manages the medicine. That is their job. What comes up during and after a session is usually left to you, and most people handle it alone. This group is for that part.
what happens
The eight weeks
The work is timed to the days after a dose rather than the dose itself. That is when what happened is most available, and most likely to hold.
- Where everyone is.Each person maps their series: what you have had, what is scheduled, and what you want out of eight weeks.
- What the medicine is doing.Why the days after a dose matter more than the dose itself, what the dissociation is and is not, and what is reasonable to expect.
- Saying it without tidying it.Putting a session into words accurately, including the ones that were blank or boring, before the mind turns them into a story that resolves.
- Who took the medicine.Which part of you agreed to treatment, which part resists it, and which part shows up in the days after.
- What the body kept.What stayed once the dissociation cleared, and enough regulation to stay with it without going under.
- The people around you.How treatment is landing on partners, family, and the people you have not told.
- When the lift fades.Symptom return between doses, what it does and does not mean, and how to think about continuing.
- Carrying it without the group.What holds when the container is gone, and what the month after this one looks like.
From week three, every session opens the same way: each member names what they took into the week, and what happened when they went to do it.
taking part
What taking part looks like
You attend, and from week three each session opens with you naming what you took into the week and what happened when you went to do it. A sentence is enough. Past that you share as much or as little as you want, and you can pass at any point without explaining why. Nothing here requires you to tell the story of what happened to you. Not following through on something is useful information rather than a failure. The group works because people keep coming back, not because anyone performs.
clinical clarity
What this is not
No medicine is given and no dosing happens in group. This does not replace your prescriber or your individual therapist. It is not a lecture and it is not a drop in circle.
Up to eight people sharing sixty minutes means the group holds what a cohort has in common. It cannot follow one person's history very far, and it is not built to. When something surfaces that needs more room than the group can give it, individual work can be arranged separately, during a series or long after one. It is booked and billed on its own terms, and the fees are listed on the individual integration therapy page.
fees
Cost
$800 for all eight sessions, which is $100 a session, paid in full before the first. I am not able to offer payment plans or a sliding scale for this group. A superbill is available for out of network reimbursement, though I cannot promise your plan will accept it.
background
Who runs it
Shayan Salar, LCSW, LCADC. In the field since 2015, with a background in complex trauma and addiction. The work is somatic and parts based, and it sits on psychoanalytic and relational ground I have never stopped returning to. I am currently studying coherence therapy, which is concerned with why a symptom makes sense before it changes. More about how I work.
join
Take the next step
The group runs on demand rather than on a fixed calendar. A cohort starts once there are enough people for it, and enrollment closes at eight. Everyone has a short 15 minute call with me before a seat is offered, so we can both check the group is the right fit.
questions
The group, answered
Is there a call before I join?
Yes. Everyone has a short 15 minute call with me before a seat is offered, so we can both check the group is the right fit.
Do I need to already be in therapy?
No.
Does my prescriber need to approve this?
No, and I do not contact them without your written consent.
Can I join in the middle of a series?
Yes, up until week two, after which no new members join.
What if I miss a week?
Sessions are not made up or refunded. Past two absences the group gets hard to hold together, for you and for everyone else in it.
Do I have to talk about my trauma?
No. The group works with what ketamine is bringing up in your life now, and you decide what to bring and how much detail to give it. You can pass at any point without explaining why.
Is it confidential?
I am bound by confidentiality. Other members agree to it but are not bound the same way, and I say that plainly in session one.
Is ketamine given during group?
No. No medicine is provided and no dosing happens in session.
