Portland, Oregon’s Top Ketamine Assisted Therapy Provider

An initial appointment is required for medical evaluation and ketamine prescription,
subsequent therapy sessions will be determined individually.

Is Ketamine therapy right for you?

Ketamine is a versatile, healing molecule that was first synthesized in 1962 and has been widely used in human and veterinary medicine as a safe analgesic (pain medication) and anesthetic (sedative for surgery). Since the 1990s, a growing body of research has shown benefits for patients struggling with treatment-resistant depression as well as a host of other mental health conditions including major depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, etc…

Ketamine is also unique in that at the proper dosage, can be empathogenic or allow for a full psychedelic altered state of consciousness. These experiences have the potential to heal personal and family trauma as well as offer a connection to feelings of self-love, oneness, and transcendence.

FAQ:

How long is a Ketamine Therapy Session?
This depends on the dosage and purpose of the session. For an empathogenic or low-dose experience, 80-minute sessions are recommended. For a psychedelic or high-dose experience, 3 hours provides enough time for centering and grounding before the experience, the journey, and integration afterward. Ketamine sessions at Áureo via oral or sublingual administration only at this time.

What do I need to do to prepare for a session?
A medical intake with one of our doctors is required before any experiential session. This is a 50-minute appointment to review medications, family history, problem list or health concerns, and prescribe the medication if indicated. We do ask patients to fill out an intake form and several important questionnaires before their first visit, these will allow for documentation of improvement or changes over time.

Are these sessions covered by insurance?
Ketamine experiential sessions at Áureo are not covered by insurance. We are happy to provide a superbill for medical intake and integration sessions that may provide full or partial reimbursement of expenses depending on your insurance plan.

What is the out-of-pocket cost for Ketamine Assisted Therapy?
- $250 | Initial medical and psychiatric intake | 50-minutes
- $595 | Experiential ketamine therapy sessions | 3-hours
- $180 | Preparatory and follow-up integration sessions | 50-minutes

How many sessions will I need?
This is evaluated individually, usually during the medical intake with one of our doctors.
A general initial recommendation includes a medical intake, one preparatory non-ketamine therapy session, one 3-hour ketamine experiential session, and at least one 50 or 80-minute integration session within a week after the experiential treatment.

Further ketamine experiential treatments can be done individually, (3 hours each) or in a small group setting with our providers, or at home if indicated.

What are the potential side effects of oral or injectable ketamine therapy?
Tiredness: Patients do sometimes report feeling tired or groggy after treatment with ketamine. This usually subsides within a few hours and we often recommend that patients go to bed early on treatment days, most patients will feel completely normal by the next morning.

Nausea: Some patients experience nausea after a ketamine session, especially patients who are prone to motion sickness.  We can provide and administer additional anti-nausea medication before or after your ketamine treatment. 

Headache: Rarely, patients may feel a transient headache post-treatment, we can advise you on support/relief for this as needed.

Seizure:  Very rarely, patients who have a seizure disorder or are prone to seizures, may have a seizure associated with ketamine treatment.  Any history of seizure disorder should be discussed with your provider before initiating treatment with ketamine. 

There are no known long-term side effects of ketamine therapy when administered by a properly trained clinician in a medical setting.

Note: The medical providers at Áureo are not primary care providers and we encourage patients to have a support network of other trusted healthcare providers when engaging in psychedelic harm reduction/integration work or ketamine treatment. It is usually recommended for patients to have a primary care physician as well as a counselor or other licensed mental health provider to support patients during their healing process.