Arizona Healing Collective opens in Mesa
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Ajona Olsen, a local nurse practitioner, is opening a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy private practice at the Arizona Healing Collective in Mesa.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is a therapeutic method of treatment used to address a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, addiction, and anxiety, according to a press release.
Using ketamine, a synthetic pharmaceutical compound, KAP may facilitate psychedelic experiences such as expanded consciousness. It is suggested that ketamine stimulates the regrowth of synapses, the connections between neurons, to effectively rewire the brain to think of the person’s mental health differently, which over time improves their mental health, experts at the Arizona Healing Collective say.
Ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic and is the only legal psychedelic medicine available for licensed healthcare providers for the treatment of emotional suffering, the release states.
Ms. Olsen began her career in healthcare in 2001 as a registered nurse (RN) in a hospital and in 2006 became a nurse practitioner and continued working in corporate medicine. Her career path changed when she found KAP in 2021 and decided to open her own private practice.
“I have done the research and have seen the healing power that ketamine and psychedelics provide, which is why I am so excited to be opening my very own ketamine assisted psychotherapy private practice,” Ms. Olsen said in a prepared statement. “This practice will serve those who are on a journey toward healing, and, in turn, I have found my own happiness through healing myself and my loved ones.”
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy administers low doses of ketamine where patients are likely to experience mild anesthetic, anxiolytic, antidepressant, and psychoactive effects. The ketamine experience is different and unique for each patient as they undergo therapy in a comfortable, tranquil room that creates the perfect setting for psychedelic exploration.
Ketamine has been approved by the FDA for medical use as an anesthetic since 1970.