How Referring Therapists Can Prepare Patients for KAP
For therapists referring patients to a KAP practice, the period before and after the referral is clinically significant. This article offers practical guidance on how therapists can support patients during this transition — without overstepping into clinical territory that belongs to the prescribing clinician.
Before the Referral: Managing Expectations
Patients often arrive at a KAP referral with a mixture of hope, ambivalence, and fear. Some have researched ketamine extensively and may have formed strong expectations — positive or negative — based on what they have read online.
As a referring therapist, you can help by:
- Normalizing uncertainty: Patients don't need to know exactly what the session will be like. Curiosity is more useful than a fixed expectation.
- Reducing avoidance: If a patient has strong fear of the altered state, exploring that fear gently before the referral can be valuable.
- Clarifying the role of the referral: KAP does not replace their existing therapy. It is an additional intervention that, when integrated, can deepen the existing therapeutic work.
- Encouraging openness over goals: Patients who arrive at KAP with rigid outcome expectations often find the experience more difficult. A posture of openness is therapeutically more useful.
What Not to Do
- Don't prepare them too specifically for what the experience will be like. Descriptions can create expectations that interfere with what actually emerges.
- Don't interpret their experiences for them before they have had a chance to explore them in the KAP context.
- Don't frame KAP as a rescue from a therapeutic impasse. It is a tool — not a cure.
After the Referral: Integration Support
If you continue to work with a patient who is receiving KAP, you are in a position to provide meaningful integration support. This involves:
- Exploring what emerged in the session with curiosity and openness
- Helping the patient make connections between session material and ongoing therapeutic themes
- Providing consistency and relational grounding during the days following a session
Coordination with Dr. Rosenbach — with the patient's consent — can support continuity of care.
Optional Reading for Clinicians
The Beginner IM KAP Manual provides an accessible overview of the treatment model. The Archetypal KAP Manual offers a deeper conceptual framework for clinicians interested in the symbolic and depth-psychological approach used in this practice. Both are available on Amazon.
Educational Disclaimer
This article is educational only. Clinical decisions about referral suitability are made through individual case consultation. For referral information, visit the For Referring Therapists page on this site.
