Liz has been training in body-based or somatic psychotherapy for over a decade. This work is rooted in the understanding that the mind and the body are connected and that our body needs support to process and integrate our experiences just as much as the mind benefits from the same support. Healing is greatly supported when we listen and attend to the how the body has stored stress over time. We can learn to listen to signals from our nervous system and begin to support the nervous system is metabolizing overwhelming experiences. Liz has studied and conducted research on the mind-body connection and therapeutic approaches to working with the nervous system to support mental health and wellness. Liz is an approved Somatic Experiencing (SE) provider for individual sessions and case consultations towards SE Certification at all training levels.
In addition, Liz is currently offering Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), where ketamine is used as an adjunctive support to psychotherapy to address a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction. In low doses, ketamine supports a temporary softening of psychological defenses allowing for new insights and deeper processing to take shape. Ketamine also has psychedelic effects and can facilitate profound transpersonal experiences. People feel supported by these experiences in a variety of ways, including access to new insights and shifts in perspective, processing and resolving painful past experiences, as well as a greater sense of connection to self and others. Liz offers KAP in partnership with an organization called JourneyClinical who provides a specialized medical team that determines eligibility for this treatment, provides prescriptions for the medication and supports in monitoring outcomes.
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Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body-oriented therapeutic model for healing trauma and other stress disorders. It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine. The SE approach offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states.
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Ketamine is a safe, legal and effective medicine used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, PTSD, and addiction. Ketamine has rapidly-acting antidepressant and mood-enhancing effects, which can begin to take effect within one to two hours after treatment and last for up to two weeks. Ketamine works by blocking the brain’s NMDA receptors and 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, allowing for lasting symptom improvement. Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways, including IV infusion, intramuscular injection, nasal spray and using sublingual lozenges. In my work with Journey Clinical we use sublingual lozenge Ketamine.
I believe that the administration of ketamine is most effective when paired with psychotherapy. I offer somatic and IFS-informed psychotherapy sessions that will prepare you for your ketamine sessions and assist you in integrating your experiences afterwards. I serve as a guide and facilitator and assist in processing the experience and supporting you to bring the insights and gains into your everyday life. As a byproduct of your experience, you may feel improvement in your emotional state and reduction in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic symptoms. You may also notice that new perspectives and behaviors are more available.