Ketamine-Assisted Therapy in Denver
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Clinical Ketamine Therapy Within an Integrated Care Model
Many people who come to PICMI describe feeling like they’ve “tried everything” but still don’t feel like themselves. That experience is more common than most realize.
Ketamine-assisted therapy offers a different kind of support. It is a medically guided treatment that can help people struggling with depression, trauma, anxiety, and deeply rooted patterns that feel hard to shift.
Our role is to meet you where you are, understand what’s driving your symptoms, and guide you through a structured and supported path forward.
What Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Is
Ketamine-assisted therapy is a physician-supervised treatment that combines carefully monitored medication use with structured therapeutic support.
In simple terms, ketamine can temporarily “loosen” rigid patterns in the brain. During this window, thoughts, emotions, and memories may feel less stuck or automatic. For some people, this creates space to see experiences from a new perspective and work through patterns that have been difficult to shift in traditional therapy alone.
At PICMI, ketamine is always used as part of a complete clinical process. That includes preparation before treatment, medical supervision during each session, and integration afterward to help you make sense of the experience and apply it in everyday life. The goal is not just short-term relief, but lasting, meaningful change that feels stable and supported.
What to Expect From Ketamine-Assisted Therapy
- A Careful, Personalized Evaluation: We begin by gaining a clear understanding of your history, current symptoms, sleep patterns, stress levels, and overall health to determine whether ketamine therapy is appropriate and how to approach it safely.
- Medically Supervised Treatment Sessions: Ketamine is administered in a calm, clinical setting with physician oversight, where your safety, comfort, and response are closely monitored throughout the experience.
- Therapy During Key Periods of Openness: As ketamine creates a temporary window of mental flexibility, guided therapy helps you stay supported while exploring thoughts and emotions that may usually feel difficult to access or process.
- Integration and Follow-Up Care: After each session, we help you make sense of your experience in a clear and practical way, supporting the transition from insight to meaningful, lasting changes in daily life.
Why Choose Our Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Program
At PICMI, patients are often seeking clarity after experiencing fragmented or incomplete responses to prior care. What they are looking for is a more cohesive understanding of what is driving their symptoms.
We focus on integrating clinical information across brain function, sleep, stress physiology, and mood regulation to guide treatment decisions. Care is delivered through individualized clinical planning, physician-led supervision, coordinated therapeutic support, and a focus on long-term outcomes.
The goal is to create a more stable and reliable foundation for mental and cognitive health.
Meet Your Care Team
Lynn Welch Puana, MD
Founder & Medical Director,
Premier Integrative & Cognitive
Medical Institute
Amir Mahmoud, NP, PMHNP-BC
Clinical Director,
Psychiatric-Mental Health
Nurse Practitioner
Nedjet Fenix, DNP, CNM
Licensed Facilitator
John Manasjan, FP-C, NREMT-P
Licensed Psychedelic Facilitator
Adolphus Love, LMT
EEG Technician
Frequently Asked Questions About Ketamine-Assisted Therapy in Denver
- Is ketamine-assisted therapy legal in Denver and Colorado?
Yes. Ketamine-assisted therapy is legal in Colorado and is provided under physician supervision in clinical settings. While ketamine itself has been used in medicine for decades as an FDA-approved anesthetic, ketamine-assisted therapy programs became more widely accessible in Colorado following the passage of Proposition 122 in 2022, which also established regulated frameworks for psychedelic services in the state.
- What conditions can ketamine-assisted therapy help with?
Ketamine-assisted therapy is commonly used to support treatment-resistant depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, OCD, and chronic stress patterns. It may also help with rigid thought loops or emotional patterns that have been difficult to shift through standard treatment alone.
- How is ketamine-assisted therapy different from traditional antidepressants or therapy?
Traditional antidepressants typically work gradually and require daily use to maintain their effect.
Ketamine works differently by temporarily increasing the brain’s flexibility during and shortly after treatment sessions. This can create a window where thoughts, emotions, and behaviors feel less fixed and more open to change.
Because of this, treatment is usually delivered in a small number of structured sessions rather than daily medication use. When paired with therapy and integration, this can help translate short-term shifts into longer-lasting improvements.
- What safety measures are in place during ketamine treatment at PICMI?
It’s completely understandable to feel cautious when considering a treatment like this.
At PICMI, safety is built into every part of the process. Before starting, we take time to understand your health history and make sure ketamine is appropriate for you. During sessions, you are cared for in a calm clinical environment with medical supervision present throughout.
Many patients describe the experience as more comfortable and supportive than they expected. You are never left to navigate it alone, and we stay closely attuned to how you are feeling from start to finish.
- What is integration therapy and why is it important?
The experiences that occur during ketamine sessions can feel meaningful, reflective, or emotionally active. Integration is the process of making sense of those experiences afterward.
In simple terms, it helps connect what comes up during treatment with your everyday life. This might include understanding patterns, shifting how you relate to stress, or building practical tools for emotional regulation.
- How soon can I expect to notice results from ketamine therapy?
Many people notice shifts in mood, perspective, or emotional relief within hours to days after a session. For others, changes appear more gradually as therapy and integration build on each experience.
What is often most meaningful is not just how quickly something shifts, but how those shifts begin to carry into daily life over the following weeks of treatment.
- Is there evidence supporting ketamine-assisted therapy?
Yes, and it continues to grow. Clinical research has shown that ketamine can produce rapid reductions in depressive symptoms, including in people who have not responded to multiple prior treatments. In several studies, benefits have appeared within hours and been sustained when combined with structured therapeutic support.
Larger clinical trials have also found ketamine to be comparable in effectiveness to other established treatments for severe depression, while offering a faster onset of symptom relief. This combination of speed and clinical impact is why ketamine-assisted therapy is receiving increasing attention in psychiatry and neuroscience.
View the Research below or check our News & Events page for ongoing updates on ketamine-assisted therapy.
- Where is PICMI located in Denver and how can I schedule a consultation?
We are located in central Denver at 400 S Colorado Blvd. You can schedule a consultation by calling our office at (303) 946-2333.
Ketamine Therapy: Research & News
Ketamine versus ECT for Nonpsychotic Treatment-Resistant Major Depression
Ketamine demonstrated comparable efficacy to ECT for adults with nonpsychotic, treatment-resistant major depression, offering rapid symptom improvement and sustained quality-of-life gains over six months.
Ketamine for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders: comprehensive systematic review
A systematic review found ketamine-assisted interventions provide rapid and sustained symptom relief for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and certain substance use disorders, highlighting its potential as an effective adjunct to conventional therapies.
A Cohort-Based Case Report: The Impact of Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Embedded in a Community of Practice Framework for Healthcare Providers With PTSD and Depression
Embedding ketamine-assisted therapy within a supportive community framework helped healthcare providers with PTSD and depression achieve meaningful reductions in symptoms and improved overall mental well-being over time.
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