Boulder, Colorado

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy in Boulder

A careful path forward for clients who are ready to continue the work where it has reached its edge.

 At Evolve In Nature, we offer Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) for clients with long-standing depression, complex trauma, or a persistent sense of being stuck. Our work is rooted in modern neuroscience, trauma-informed care, and somatic therapy.

KAP is delivered by a coordinated care team of licensed therapists and a prescriber (psychiatric nurse practitioner or physician) who walk with you through every stage of the process, from medical screening and preparation, through your dosing sessions, into the integration work where lasting change tends to live.

What Is Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy?

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy combines the therapeutic use of a low-dose ketamine medication with the structured support of a licensed therapist. The two elements work together in a way that neither can fully achieve alone.

Ketamine is a medication that has been used safely in medical settings for decades. At sub-anesthetic doses (the doses used in KAP) it can temporarily quiet the mental patterns, defense mechanisms, and rigid thought loops that have been keeping your nervous system stuck. Many people describe the experience as a kind of openness, spaciousness, or gentle shift in perspective.

The therapist’s role is to help you prepare for the experience, to be present with you through it, and then to help you make meaning from what arose. This process is called integration, and it is where much of the most important work happens.

KAP is not a passive process. The most meaningful outcomes come from the work you bring to it: the honesty you offer in preparation, the intention you carry into the dosing session, and the commitment you make to integration afterward.

Who KAP May Help

KAP may be appropriate, with appropriate diagnosis and screening, for adults experiencing:

  • Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

  • Treatment-Resistant Depression (depression that has not adequately responded to two or more medication trials)

  • Anxiety disorders, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder and social anxiety

  • PTSD and trauma-related conditions, including complex trauma rooted in early experience

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related conditions

  • Bipolar Depression (depressive phase only)

  • Grief and existential distress

  • A persistent sense of being stuck or unable to make meaningful progress in therapy

Eligibility is determined at your medical screening appointment with a prescriber. KAP is not appropriate for everyone (see Safety and Screening below).

Our Approach to KAP

KAP is delivered inside a wider practice that has spent years working with complex trauma, anxiety, and depression. We use the body, the therapeutic relationship, and the natural world as primary instruments of healing.

A Coordinated Therapist and Prescriber Care Team

You work with two clearly defined members of your care team. Your KAP-certified therapist is your primary point of contact, and is present with you through preparation, your full dosing session, and integration. Your prescriber conducts the initial medical screening, writes your prescription if appropriate, and meets with you for post-series follow-up.

Trauma-Informed, Nervous-System-Aware

Every clinician on our team works from trauma-informed, relational, somatic, and attachment-based frameworks. We use EMDR, IFS, parts work, and polyvagal-informed approaches in our standard practice. When we add ketamine, we are deepening a process you may already know.

Integration Is the Work

Our integration sessions are full therapeutic sessions, designed to help insight translate into lived change. Within 72 hours of each standard KAP dosing session, you meet with your therapist to work with what arose. This is where the work becomes meaningful in your life.

Nature as Part of the Healing Container

Dosing sessions are conducted in our Boulder office for safety. When clinically appropriate, integration sessions can also be held outdoors. The regulating effect of the natural world on the nervous system is well documented, and for many of our clients, integration in nature offers an additional layer of support to the work.

Your Treatment Journey

KAP at Evolve In Nature follows a structured protocol. Your specific protocol, including the number of dosing sessions, is determined at your medical screening appointment by your prescriber.

  1. Medical Screening with your Prescriber. Your very first appointment is an in-person medical evaluation with your prescriber, 60 to 90 minutes long. Your prescriber reviews your medical and psychiatric history, confirms your diagnosis, screens for contraindications, and determines whether KAP is clinically appropriate. If approved, your prescription is written at this appointment and your protocol is selected. No medication is administered at this appointment.

  2. Preparation Sessions with your Therapist. After prescriber clearance, you meet with your KAP-certified therapist for preparation sessions before your first dosing session. Together you explore your intentions, build inner resources, review what to expect, and walk through practical logistics including transportation, fasting, and substance guidance. Preparation is not a formality. It is the foundation for everything that follows.

  3. Dosing Session, Your Therapist Present Throughout. On the day of your dosing session, you arrive at our Boulder office and settle into a comfortable, supported space. You bring your medication from the licensed pharmacy that filled your prescription. Your therapist is present with you throughout the session, typically 2.5 to 3 hours.

  4. Integration Session within 72 Hours. Within 72 hours of each dosing session you meet with your therapist for an integration session. The brain is in a heightened state of neuroplasticity during this window, and integration during this period helps consolidate insight into lasting change. We work with images, sensations, emotions, and memories using somatic, relational, and where clinically appropriate, nature-based methods. The integration session is the most important appointment in the protocol. Insight without integration tends to fade.

  5. Follow-Up with your Prescriber. We recommend a follow-up appointment with your prescriber within 30 days of completing a series, to review your response, check outcome measures, and decide together whether to continue, modify, or pause treatment.

Protocol Options

Your prescriber will recommend the most clinically appropriate protocol at your screening appointment. Each package includes a prescriber evaluation, preparation sessions, dosing sessions with your therapist present throughout, integration sessions, and post-series prescriber follow-up. The exact number of preparation and integration sessions varies based on your protocol and clinical needs.

  • 2-Session Package, $2,800. A short-course introductory protocol.

  • 4-Session Package, $4,250. A balanced mid-tier protocol.

  • 6-Session Package, $5,700. A full-course protocol for clients appropriate for a comprehensive KAP program.

  • 8-Session Package, $7,100. An extended protocol for clients with complex clinical presentation.

  • Ketamine-Assisted EMDR (KA-EMDR). Pricing is discussed at your free consultation. See KA-EMDR section below for eligibility and details.

The prescription medication is dispensed by a licensed compounding pharmacy and billed separately to the client. The cost of the medication is not included in the package price.

Ketamine-Assisted EMDR

For specific trauma presentations, we offer Ketamine-Assisted EMDR (KA-EMDR), an integrative protocol combining ketamine with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

EMDR is an evidence-based therapy for trauma that uses bilateral stimulation, typically guided eye movements, to help the nervous system reprocess memories that have been stored in a stuck or fragmented form. It is one of the most rigorously studied therapies for PTSD.

KA-EMDR pairs an EMDR session with a ketamine experience selected by your prescriber. Ketamine can soften the cognitive defenses and the body’s protective responses that can limit access to certain material in conventional EMDR, while EMDR provides the structured reprocessing framework that gives the experience direction and clinical traction.

Who KA-EMDR May Help

KA-EMDR is offered selectively, when clinically indicated. It may be appropriate for:

  • Clients with PTSD or complex trauma (C-PTSD) who have done foundational trauma work and are clinically prepared for deeper reprocessing

  • Clients with significant early-childhood or developmental trauma where the felt-sense barrier to reprocessing has been consistently activated

  • Clients whose prescriber and therapist together agree the protocol is clinically appropriate

Eligibility

KA-EMDR is not an initial offering. It is available at the discretion of your therapist and prescriber, who together determine clinical readiness. For existing clients of our practice, that determination is made through your ongoing therapeutic work with us. For clients new to our practice who have done extensive trauma work elsewhere, KA-EMDR may be available following a thorough screening that confirms appropriate clinical readiness.

KA-EMDR at Evolve In Nature is offered by Brian Danziger, who is trained in Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy™ through the Ketamine Assisted EMDR Therapy Institute. KA-EMDR sessions are a minimum of 1.5 hours, with length determined clinically. Pricing is discussed at your free consultation.

Pricing and Insurance

KAP services are private-pay and are not billed to insurance. Package pricing for KAP protocols is listed in the Protocol Options section above. KA-EMDR pricing is discussed at your free consultation. The prescription medication is dispensed by a licensed compounding pharmacy and billed separately to the client.

We can provide superbills for clients seeking out-of-network reimbursement (coverage varies by plan).

Safety, Screening, and Who KAP Is Not For

Ketamine is FDA-approved as an anesthetic. Its use for psychiatric conditions is off-label, prescribed with documented clinical rationale. KAP is offered to adults 18 and older following an in-person medical screening with a prescriber. KAP is not a quick fix, and it is not a replacement for ongoing care.

Ketamine is well-studied and has a strong safety profile when two conditions are met: the person has been thoroughly screened, and the setting is properly supervised. We treat both with the care they deserve.

KAP is not appropriate for everyone. Your prescriber conducts a thorough screening at your first appointment, and will be direct with you if KAP is not clinically appropriate. KAP cannot proceed when any of the following are present:

  • Under 18 years of age

  • Active or recent psychosis, or a personal history of psychotic disorders

  • Untreated bipolar I disorder with a current or recent manic episode

  • Uncontrolled high blood pressure

  • Active substance use disorder involving ketamine or other dissociatives

  • Known allergy or hypersensitivity to ketamine

  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding

  • Acute liver failure or severe hepatic impairment

Other conditions, including controlled hypertension, a history of substance use, complex trauma with unstable presentation, seizure disorder, or sleep apnea, may require additional medical workup or particular protocol adjustments before KAP can move forward. Your prescriber will discuss these with you.

What to Expect on Dosing Session Days

Practical logistics are covered in detail at your preparation sessions, so you arrive knowing what to expect. A few things to know in advance:

  • A designated driver is required. You cannot drive yourself to or from your dosing session under any circumstances. We confirm your transportation plan during preparation. If you arrive without arranged transportation, we cannot proceed with the session.

  • Fasting and substance guidance. No food or drink for 3 hours before the session. No alcohol or cannabis for 48 hours before. Prescribed medications continue as directed unless your prescriber advises otherwise.

  • Sessions are one to one. Dosing sessions are attended by you and your therapist only. Support persons, family members, and partners cannot attend the session. Drivers are welcome to wait nearby or return at the scheduled pick-up time.

  • Your medication. Your prescription is filled at a licensed compounding pharmacy, and you bring it to each session in its original, sealed packaging.

Why Choose Evolve In Nature for KAP in Boulder

A Group Practice With Clinical Depth

Our team includes licensed therapists with KAP certifications, and a prescriber (psychiatric nurse practitioner or physician) with active controlled-substance prescriptive authority. KAP is delivered within a coordinated, supervised group practice, not by a single clinician operating in isolation.

Trauma-Informed, Somatic, Integrative

We bring extensive training in trauma, somatic therapy, EMDR, IFS, attachment-based work, polyvagal-informed approaches, and nature-integrated care. KAP is offered within a broader trauma-informed practice.

Relational, Not Transactional

You will know your therapist. The same therapist supports you through preparation, dosing, and integration. The therapeutic relationship itself is central to the work.

Heightened Safety on Your First Dosing Session

For every client’s first dosing session at our practice, a prescriber is physically present in the building. This is an additional layer of safety for the first administration of ketamine, and it is not standard in most KAP settings.

Indoor, Outdoor, and Virtual Options Across the Practice

Dosing sessions take place in our Boulder office. Preparation and integration sessions can be in-office, virtual, or in nature when clinically appropriate. We meet clients where they are.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Your first appointment is a medical screening with your prescriber. It is an in-person evaluation, not a therapy session. Your prescriber confirms your diagnosis, screens for contraindications, and determines whether KAP is clinically appropriate. If approved, your prescription is written at this appointment. You meet your therapist for preparation sessions after prescriber clearance.

  • Ketamine is a legal, FDA-approved medication that has been used in medical settings since the 1970s. Its use for psychiatric conditions is off-label, prescribed by licensed prescribers with documented clinical rationale. Off-label prescribing is legally permissible and common across many areas of medicine.

  • A ketamine infusion typically delivers the medication without therapy. KAP combines a medically dosed ketamine experience with structured psychotherapy before, during, and after. The therapy is central, not optional. Ketamine serves as an aid within a therapeutic process.

  • It depends on your diagnosis, history, and clinical presentation. We offer protocols of 2, 4, 6, and 8 dosing sessions, plus a Ketamine-Assisted EMDR option. Your prescriber recommends the most appropriate protocol at your screening appointment, and adjustments can be made along the way.

  • Everyone’s experience is different. Many describe a softening of psychological defenses, a sense of distance from usual thoughts, and access to material that has been hard to reach. Some experiences are largely non-verbal and internal. Others involve more dialogue. Your therapist is present with you throughout.

  • KA-EMDR is not an initial offering. It is available at the discretion of your therapist and prescriber, who together determine clinical readiness. For existing clients of our practice, that determination is made through your ongoing therapeutic work with us. For clients new to our practice who have done extensive trauma work elsewhere, KA-EMDR may be available following a thorough screening.

  • No. You cannot drive yourself to or from a dosing session under any circumstances. You must arrange for a designated adult driver or rideshare. Your transportation plan is confirmed at your preparation sessions, and we cannot proceed with the session if it is not in place.

  • KAP is private-pay and is not billed to insurance. Package prices are listed in the Protocol Options section above. KA-EMDR pricing is discussed at your free consultation. Superbills are available for clients seeking out-of-network reimbursement (coverage varies by plan).

  • Your screening is conducted in-person by your prescriber and includes a review of your medical history, current medications, psychiatric history, and goals. It also includes a cardiovascular check and review for contraindications. KAP cannot proceed if absolute contraindications are present. If KAP is not the right fit, your prescriber will tell you directly.

Are You Ready to Begin?

We offer a free 20-minute consultation. No pressure. No commitment.

If you are considering KAP and want to talk with someone who will listen carefully, answer honestly, and tell you the truth about whether KAP is the right fit, we would be glad to meet you.

Schedule A Free Consultation

1200 28th Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80303

(303) 993-7787    info@evolveinnature.com