Episode Details

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work.

In this episode…

Various psychedelics like ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin were used as treatment forms in ancient cultures. Scientific studies into the use of these drugs — namely ketamine — for mental illness began as early as the 1950s. What's involved in modern psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy practices?

Trauma-based psychiatrist Dr. Sandy Newes provides supervised ketamine-assisted therapy treatments for treatment-resistant depression and other chronic mental health conditions. This involves using the ketamine drug as a supplement to traditional therapy practices by placing the patient on an IV drip in a controlled therapeutic environment to observe behavioral shifts. Alternatively, medical approaches entail collaborating with a physician and using ketamine as a single source of treatment. During sessions, professionals monitor the patient's vital signs and emotional distress levels, adjusting the IV drip based on their responses and experiences. Following the session, key insights from the altered state of consciousness are integrated into further treatment sessions.

Join Dr. Sandy Newes in this episode of Living Medicine as she's interviewed by Chad Franzen of Rise25 about the cultural history and proven benefits of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy techniques. She discusses its use in trauma treatments, Living Medicine Institute's function as a psychedelic-assisted therapy training and research facility, and the typical process for this treatment form.