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What should therapists know before bringing ketamine-assisted therapy into their practice? Could psychedelic-assisted therapy help clients move beyond feeling stuck in traditional treatment? What mistakes should therapists avoid when stepping into this emerging field?
In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok discusses the current landscape of ketamine psychedelic therapy with Jonathan Sabbagh and Myriam Barthes.
Podcast Sponsor: Valant
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Meet Myriam Barthes & Jonathan Sabbagh
Jonathan Sabbagh and Myriam Barthes are the Co-Founders of Journey Clinical, a platform expanding access to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Jonathan brings a background in finance and entrepreneurship, while Myriam’s experience spans strategy consulting and AI. Together, they founded Journey Clinical to make psychedelic-assisted care safer, more accessible, and better integrated into mainstream mental healthcare.
Visit Journey Clinical and connect with Myriam on Instagram and LinkedIn. Connect with Jonathan on Instagram.
FREEBIE: Use the code JOE on journeyclinical to receive some free months of training!
In This Podcast
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Investigating psychedelic-assisted therapy
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Offering ketamine-assisted therapy
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What typically happens at Journey Clinical
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Common mistakes to avoid as a therapist
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Jonathan and Myriam’s advice to private practitioners
Investigating psychedelic-assisted therapy
Years ago, Myriam and her husband Jonathan started helping therapists offer psychedelic-assisted therapy.
They were inspired to do so after personally experiencing the benefits that can come from incorporating plant-based and psychedelic medicine with traditional therapeutic modalities.
After witnessing, personally, how psychedelics can transform people’s lives, we went on a quest, and the quest was, “Why are therapists not offering these treatments in their practices?” (Myriam Barthes)
One of the first roadblocks they found was that therapists need to partner with prescribers, and they often didn’t know how or where to do so.
So, Myriam, Jonathan, and their team built a business system where therapists could connect with prescribers and legally offer these services within their practices. From there, they have continued to build.
We started building community. We also started to build education, training, and resources because therapists were asking for it, and more recently, in the last couple of years, insurance has been a big part of what we’re building … because we want to make this treatment accessible to people, as well as two weeks ago [where] we launched a directory. (Myriam Barthes)
Offering ketamine-assisted therapy
For Jonathan, the experience was personal too.
He personally went through ketamine-assisted therapy to overcome complex trauma from childhood that continued to affect his adulthood, and changed his life for the better.
I was diagnosed with PTSD, but [working with ketamine-assisted therapy] helped me get better faster, and I actually quit finance and went back to school to study psychology as an undergrad … And then Myriam and I created this company. (Jonathan Sabbagh)
They use FDA-approved drugs and medicines in their company, and ketamine is FDA-approved. They also only work with licensed mental health professionals and physicians.
What typically happens at Journey Clinical
Often, patients who use Journey Clinical’s services have already been in therapy with another therapist. They are then likely familiar with the process and are open to actively doing the work.
If a client feels “stuck” in their process at all, ketamine-assisted therapy is brought up as one of the options that a person can take if they want to try new ways to continue with their therapy.
When that happens, the patient then has a journey that they go through. The first thing that they do is, of course, discuss with their therapist if [ketamine-assisted therapy] is a good fit. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can be very effective for hard-to-treat mental health conditions such as PTSD, depression, as well as anxiety. (Myriam Barthes)
The process can look something like the following:
- The client is offered ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as one of their modalities
- They discuss it with their therapist
- If they decide to go ahead, they are first cleared by the medical team to assess if this is safe and a good fit for them
- Once cleared by the medical team, they will start the protocol with their existing therapist
What’s so beautiful about this is that they have already built trust [with their therapist], so what we hear from therapists is that, “We can go deeper with our clients.”
- Ongoing medical monitoring with a physician alongside the therapist
Common mistakes to avoid as a therapist
There are common traps that therapists offering psychedelic-assisted therapy can fall into if they aren’t careful. Some of these include:
1 – They don’t trust that they already know what to do. Therapists are well-trained, and when they study with a place like Journey Clinical as well, they are more than equipped to assist their clients with psychedelic treatments,
2 – Undercharging for their time and effort.
3 – Fear of talking about psychedelic-assisted therapy. FDA-approved, legal ways exist to offer this form of treatment and healing. Believing in old ideas or misconceptions may bar you from offering a potentially powerful modality to your clients.
Jonathan and Myriam’s advice to private practitioners
Jonathan: This is the time for you to start doing this work. There is a formidable opportunity today to expand your work, especially with interventional psychiatry.
Myriam: You’ve got this! And we’ve got you!
Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:
Valant created a free interactive resource specifically for group practice owners like you. It’s called the Breaking Through the Growth Ceiling and in literally five minutes, it pinpoints your biggest bottleneck right now, with a 90-day playbook to fix it. Download it for free.
Register for Sustainable Solo and Group Practice Weeks at Join our FREE Level Up Week sessions!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Visit Journey Clinical and connect with Myriam on Instagram and LinkedIn. Connect with Jonathan on Instagram.
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Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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