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Eric Fraser, MT-BC, LCAT is a licensed creative arts therapist in Hudson Valley, New York. As one of our most experienced Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) providers, he has been a Journey Clinical member since 2022 and explores the intersection of creative arts with somatic and attachment work in his practice. You can connect with him through his website.
On October 6th, Eric will be hosting a Hudson Valley KAP community celebration in his outdoor space, featuring an educational panel and sound healing performance. All are welcome, including KAP providers, prospective patients, and general supporters of the KAP movement. You can RSVP here.
How did you integrate KAP into your practice?
“I was already considering getting into Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy when I saw an ad for Journey Clinical. I’ve been in medicinal spaces for a long time and a lot of my own healing has been through utilizing psychedelic experiences. I became a member and did the in-house Fluence training before finally getting an office space to see KAP clients in person in Fall 2022. I slowly built from there – some of the SEO from my website started to kick in, along with local word-of-mouth referrals. It’s been amazing for me and my work, along with the community that I serve.
I feel one of the best experiences about this is how the medical team has been available to my clients and I. My clients have never complained about any of the medical side, and often talk positively about different prescribers. Collaboration makes me feel really safe to do what I’m doing and helps me to really relax into what my job is – holding space in a therapeutic setting and facilitating psychedelic experiences.”
How has KAP supported your clients in their mental health journey?
“Offering KAP to my clients has been remarkable. There are so many who have really benefited from it. The people I’ve had the pleasure to work with are struggling with different levels of trauma history and different issues with development. Many of my clients are interested in stepping into a type of therapeutic work that can heal from the bottom up, and that often includes somatic work.
One success story that comes to mind is a young man struggling with severe alcohol issues. He did 8 KAP sessions with me, and when I checked in with him 5 months later he was still completely sober. He conveyed that he was doing well, and that wellness that is instigated by this process can often transform into greater outcomes for people’s wellness in the long run. I really love and firmly believe in this model and have seen incredible results in my clients’ own relationships with wellness.”
How do you incorporate KAP into your somatic work?
“The whole process starts with getting familiar with the feelings that are associated with each client’s stories. The questions that I ask are designed to help a client connect to how their feelings appear in the body. For example, can we take a feeling of anxiousness and make a connection with it that looks more like healing? Most of these feelings, if not all, have been developed for self-protection. In somatic therapy, patients learn to recognize the autonomic responses that happen below the thinking level, such as a knot in the stomach, and respond with awareness.
Where KAP has been really powerful and helpful is by allowing people to occupy a part of themselves that’s under almost a deeper layer, almost like a blueprint underneath all of their adaptive patterns. From there, we can start to piece things out more. It’s an experience that happens under the influence of Ketamine during a dosing session. Through integration, people can hold onto these experiences, and start to integrate them outside of the KAP session and in their daily lives.”
What role does music and sound play in a KAP dosing session?
“I'm a creative arts therapist, but my foundation was in music. When it comes to bringing sound and music into KAP, my intention is to help facilitate the psychedelic experience during the dosing session because they have certain effects that are beneficial to try to optimize in a therapy setting.
Almost everyone is using music in KAP, or Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy in general. It plays a large role, so we should think about how we can enhance its impact. I love to introduce live sound when my clients first take the ketamine lozenge. It’s really amazing to keep the client present while they’re swishing [the medicine] because we’re still there together. I’m playing live music, whether it be with my flute, drum, or gongs – music that’s soothing and creates a container for this meeting between oneself and the medicine. After the client has finished swishing and has spit the medicine out, this is an opportunity to reconnect them with their goals and intentions – so we can play music that’s quick with a lot of ostinato, but not overly busy.
This is a special occasion, and we need to celebrate that with music and sound, especially for practitioners who already use their connection to music as a healing modality. The sounds have been curated to set the stage for this occasion. The planning and preparation for it are now unfolding in an experience that’s being held by sound and music, which can facilitate deep relaxation and usher in synesthesia as part of the psychedelic experience.
In my experience about hearing discussions around music and KAP, there tends to be a general consensus that the peak [of the dosing experience] should involve something intense – such as beats or electronic music. I honestly tend to disagree a little about that. During the peak, music that’s much more ambient can optimize the dissociative experience and allow the person to experience being bathed in tonality. You can almost imagine just the sound of a singing bowl itself could be appropriate for that section.”
How do you decide what music to play for each patient?
Every patient is different, so there needs to be client input. Even when they say “I trust you, bring whatever you’d like,” everyone can benefit from just being able to check in. I ask questions like, “Have you ever felt music has transported you to a different dimension? What were you listening to? What was the set and setting like?” It’s important to see what they say because it could be something much more wild and funky than you thought. Some people love electronic music, especially in a psychedelic experience, but others prefer acoustic instruments. Find out about their musical background. In the preparation sessions, the client and I discuss protocol for if the client is demonstrating resistance to music. I also like to do a dress rehearsal beforehand where the patient lies down as they would during the dosing session and we try listening to different music. They get into the habit of sharing what comes up for them while they listen.
Ambient music can have haunting qualities to it. When a person is under the eye mask and headphones, they’re kind of alone in the space that way. That’s why I ask “What comes up for you when you’re alone in a quiet space?” For me, I love it – but some people can find it scary. Feeling safe is very important during the dosing experience. We don’t want to bring something to a client by accident that reminds them of a traumatic experience or difficult relationship.”
What advice would you give to therapists interested in offering KAP?
“Offering Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is great for therapists who are oriented in a holistic approach of some kind. Whether it be creative arts, meditation, or mindfulness – just ways of sharing experiences with clients that help for the nourishment of their whole self.
Another piece of advice I would like to give is that within the KAP experience, the word ‘experience’ is a key word here. In my opinion, it’s really important for a therapist to have ways to help facilitate that experience that are conducive to the client being present within their body, breath, and have access to creativity.”
What advice would you give to potential patients interested in trying KAP?
“I always want to make sure that the clients know what the research shows, which is that a real KAP protocol is about 6-8 sessions for lasting change. It is important to do it on a weekly/bi-weekly schedule based on what the prescriber suggests. KAP has incredible results for creating extra neuroplasticity and the utilization of ketamine in this way is a powerful antidepressant. It gives us back more agency and mental resources to approach everything that’s going on in our lives that we need to address. We need those inner resources to be able to do that, and this treatment is a powerful way of expediting that.”
What are you excited for in relation to your KAP practice?
"When I started offering KAP, I worked only in individual sessions. Now, I'm stepping into doing KAP group work. I've led groups in other contexts, and I love doing it."
Eric shared that he recently created a new outdoor space to host group KAP: “I’m excited about nature-based work. I feel like getting out of the office and into the elements is very important. There’s more than substantial research showing that just spending a little time outdoors can do wonders for the nervous system, and is another really important pillar of mental health. So in addition to office sessions, I enjoy offering outdoor sessions to patients.”