Heidi Dalzell, PsyD, is a Journey Clinical KAP Provider based in Lambertville, New Jersey, and works with clients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. She has been a licensed psychotherapist for over 30 years, and specializes in eating disorders, trauma, and addictive behaviors. Alongside Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Heidi frequently works with EMDR. In addition to being a psychologist, she is also certified in Shamanic Integrated Breathwork, Past Life Regression, and Reiki I and II. You can connect with her through her website.
Heidi is one of the most active and valued contributors to our online members-only forum, where she consistently offers guidance, support, and expert advice to our community of over 2,500 psychotherapists. Her dedication to helping others navigate the complexities of this work has made a lasting impact on both new and experienced practitioners. We are incredibly fortunate and grateful to have Heidi as such an integral part of our community!
How did you become interested in offering KAP in your practice with Journey Clinical?
“My interest and work with psychedelic medicines has been a series of synchronicities. About 10 years ago, my friends started telling me about their successes with psychedelic therapy. One friend had success with ketamine infusions, while another shared some profound experiences they had during psychedelic retreat. This piqued my interest and got me to read research on Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy – about how psychedelic medicines can support profound healing. While I have skills in working with many trauma modalities, there were a subset of clients that could not tolerate trauma work. Through offering KAP, I’ve seen that ketamine has provided gentle entry into these areas for these patients. I have found psychedelics and plant medicines invaluable in my own healing journey and am passionate about sharing these experiences with clients.
I am a graduate of the Integrative Psychiatry Institute’s Cohort 5. It seemed important to begin working with medicines while still in the support of the program. A friend of mine found Journey Clinical. As I looked into it more, it made sense to be part of an organization that offers further psychedelic therapy education and peer support.”
How has being part of Journey Clinical impacted your practice?
“Partnering with Journey Clinical has allowed me to have more confidence in offering KAP, which has, in turn, enabled me to be a more effective therapist. It’s also inspired me to expand the retreat aspect of my offerings, which is such a wonderful way for people to experience KAP.”
Heidi regularly facilitates peer consultation groups within the Journey Clinical community, playing a key role in supporting her fellow practitioners as they integrate KAP into their practices. In addition to assisting in group KAP sessions for Journey Clinical members, Heidi currently hosting ‘KAP, Embodiment, and Eating Disorders,’ a peer consultation group focusing on strategies for using KAP to work with eating disorders and disordered eating.
“Attending and facilitating peer consultations groups has been the most rewarding part of partnering with Journey Clinical. I’d like to shout out fellow members Dana McDowell and Gail Neves – Dana for providing me with a solid foundation in starting the KAP process and Gail for sharing her experience around psycholitic KAP and EMDR.”
Can you talk a bit more about working with KAP and EMDR?
“I am EMDR-certified and find the combination of EMDR and ketamine to be especially empowering for my clients. I use EMDR in the preparation phase to help “resource” the client and allow them to enter the KAP space with less anxiety. We may use EMDR with guided imagery to create a calm and nourishing space, install qualities that will allow them to embark on the journey, and create a firmer foundation for attachment.
EMDR can also be used in the integration of KAP, as a way to process difficult memories or negative core beliefs that may have come up during the session. Now that Journey Clinical offers psycholitic dosing, I’m also excited to combine psycholitic KAP with EMDR during these integration sessions.”
How else do you approach the preparation and integration sessions for your KAP patients?
“While I tailor sessions to the needs and interests of each individual client, I especially love working from a holistic lens. In sessions with clients who are open to it, I include activities like creating an altar/intention table, offering a spiritually-aligned reading, or intuitively choosing a card to amplify intention.
I also support clients in focusing on healing on a comprehensive Mind-Body-Spirit-Heart level, bringing in sources of inspiration such as spending time in nature, using journaling as a primary modality, working with mandalas and soul collages, shadow work, and inner child healing.”
How do you bring the element of ceremony into your client’s KAP sessions?
“While I work intuitively a lot of the time, there are a couple factors I typically include during this process. As a baseline, I see what client preferences are, and individualize that way. During the preparation sessions, I ask clients how they would define a “sacred space.” What people, places, or things are sacred to them, and have protective qualities? I also ask them to share any initial thoughts on intention, and invite them to bring precious objects and photos with them to the dosing session.
At the beginning of the session, we open the space with a brief gratitude for being present together and light a candle. I then call in whatever healing and protective elements that they need to support their work.
If clients are open to it, we will call on the four directions at this time, and set up an intention table together with objects both from my office and their home. The table can be simple or elaborate. I ask the client to meditate on their intention and write it on a slip of paper that is then placed on the table. Holding the medicine, the client says the intention aloud. They then take the medicine and I read something simple – such as a poem – while they swish. I also play music as a distraction.
After their session, we’ll do some light processing and have a snack, before closing the space by saying thanks.”
What advice would you give to someone interested in offering KAP in their practice?
Heidi expressed a sentiment shared by many of our members, emphasizing that experiential learning is not essential for truly grasping the transformative effects of KAP as a mental health treatment and for effectively guiding patients towards successful outcomes: “Get really comfortable with the medicine yourself so you can really understand how the medicine imparts its knowledge, whether narratively, symbolically or somatically.”