Karen Stewart is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 30 years of experience in community mental health, hospital settings, and private practice. She specializes in Mindfulness-based practices, Internal Family Systems (IFS) trained therapy, and trauma-informed care, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, and prioritizes creating safer LGBTQIA+ spaces.
Karen shared with us how she came to join Journey Clinical and become a KAP provider, the outcomes her KAP clients have seen, and her experience with Journey Clinical’s community, training, and ongoing resources it provides to its members.
“I had been interested in working with and pursuing psychedelics, both personally and professionally for quite some time. Ketamine being the only legal psychedelic, it made sense to start there, and I wanted to work with it myself before I worked with clients with it. I did some searching for ketamine providers and landed on Journey Clinical in July of 2022.
I feel they have tremendous integrity and relevance in the field, really a wonderful collaborative partner to work with.“
On the outcomes her clients have been from KAP, Karen shared, “It brings such balance to people. They’ve been able to really decrease the negative thoughts, the rumination that goes on. I’ve seen many clients be able to process trauma, memories, grief, loss with some distance and so that they’re not destabilized emotionally. It’s been an incredible tool for therapy and helping clients just see themselves, accept themselves across the board.”
Karen is an active member of the Journey Clinical Member Community, hosting and attending peer consultation groups and expert-led sessions on topics like IFS & KAP or weekly Q&As with our medical team. She shares, “This work can be quite isolating, and I’ve really appreciated having such an active community to turn to. I utilize their peer consultation groups, I facilitate one and I attend many of their member forums. The community that Journey Clinical has provided has been fabulous.”
Lastly, Karen utilizes the full breadth of support from the Journey Clinical team, both to set up her KAP offering and to sustain it and support her clients throughout their treatment. She shares, “Journey Clinical was a tremendous support initially and still is today after a year and a half of being with them. I can reach out to a provider if I have a specific question about a client. I can attend weekly medical meetings for more general questions. Their education is high quality, their support is always there.”
Thank you Karen for sharing and being an active contributor within our community. You can connect with Karen via her website: https://www.kstewartintegration.com/