Training

Training dates for Fall 2025 coming soon.

Katalyst training requires the trainee to be highly specialized in specific clinical skills - this training model is designed to augment learning for clinicians who already registered and practice psychotherapy or counselling and/or have completed at least an MA/MEd in Counselling or equivalent. 

- we also accept trainees with different credentials (psychiatrists, Psych NPs, chaplains) wherein they already have credentials or a license to work therapeutically with individuals. 

- If you would like to attend these training sessions and are wondering if you qualify based  on your training or experience, please let us know and we can respond about the appropriateness of this work on a case by case basis. 

In addition to professional qualifications, personal qualifications include some awareness of or experience with psychedelics (either personal, or professional) as well as the absence of any major contraindications including present hypomanic or manic symptoms, personality disorder presentations, psychotic features, or active opiate addiction.  If you have questions about this based on your mental health history, please let us know. Occasionally we open up a spot for a clinician to join who does not participate in their own personal ketamine session for health reasons. 

This training will have both a didactic and experiential component.

The didactic portion will briefly cover why ketamine as a medicine is psycho-biologically an effective option for clients (For more extensive information in this area we recommend you take the one-day online training with Polaris).

We will also address how to assess when and if ketamine is a good option for your clients; and how ketamine can work as a support to the medicine of the therapeutic relationship.

We will demonstrate the differences between the passive sitter model and more clinically involved relational work through demonstrations of how to use the attuned therapeutic relationship to deepen and transform a client’s process, making use of somatically and relationally oriented interventions.

We will look at this theoretically through a model of change that is inclusive of various somatic theories as well as Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy, and Internal Family Systems.

At the end of this program, you will have a firm handle on the difference between the sitter model and how to actively work and participate with the material arising for your clients in an attuned and relational way.

Ketamine is a commonly used medication in our hospitals across Canada for anesthesia, and it has anxiolytic, antidepressant, and psychedelic effects. Its dissociative properties allow you to be disconnected from the typical way you think about and experience your life, which helps you gain new insights into your inner world. Things that were hard or intolerable to understand, feel, or remember becoming more accessible or clear, making it easier to process and resolve them.

Ketamine, when used alongside therapy, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment-resistant depression and substance use disorder. 

The clinical impact of Ketamine therapy begins during the treatment session but continues for a number of weeks following the session due to chemical changes in the brain which make structural changes, learning, and growth even more possible.

Although using ketamine therapeutically has the potential for positive outcomes, there are also some potential risks. You may experience a temporary elevated heart rate or blood pressure. The most common side-effect is mild nausea/vomiting; we will have anti nausea medication available to you before the start of the session if needed. 

Ketamine impacts each person differently, which means some people may experience more psychedelic features of the medication than others. It is possible that while using Ketamine therapeutically, that a person will encounter challenging psychological material, including difficult or previously unexplored memories or emotions. 

Therapists will be present to support individuals process these memories and emotions, and it is important to let someone know during or after a session if you need some support. Even though the medicine session typically itself lasts 1-2 hours, you may still experience some effects of the ketamine so you are not to operate any heavy machinery including an automobile until the following day. 

$2200 (includes: medical intake, 1 KAT session, 3 in person days, 1 zoom follow-up)

-            First installment ($1050) upon registration

-            Second instalment ($1050) after your medical intake has been completed

Inspired by the innovative work of Roots To Thrive (RTT), Katalyst groups are designed to combine the process elements of psychodynamic group and non-hierarchical consciousness raising group work with psychoeducational components and experiential interventions informed by Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Internal Family Systems Theory (IFS), Relational Cultural Theory/ Therapy, Polyvagal theory, Relational/cultural therapy, Somatic parts work, and Somatic trauma work.

The teaching explores defenses/protective and managing parts of us, the development of internal working models and inhibition of emotions, our core emotions themselves that have often been exiled and unfelt, emotions as bodily and relational processes that have a natural and experiential arc to them, and the way back to our core self through feeling and connection.

In addition, we will explore the impact of attachment trauma and how that is communicated and processed through bodily and relational experiences. We will learn to work with the body’s natural messaging systems (Autonomic nervous system activation, movement, emotion, and sensation) to understand what experiences and emotions need to be processed and how to move through them in effective and connected ways. 

Through working with the body and relationships, we learn to make space for what has been unbearable to be with and bring us back to our core unwavering wise self.