Bay Area Mental Health

Bay Area Mental Health is a group therapy practice in Campbell, California, that offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) alongside trauma therapy, DBT and psychiatric care. Linnea Butler, LMFT, set it up in 2014 to help clients for whom standard talk therapy had not been enough.

Approach

The practice works as a team. Each client has a primary clinician, and colleagues review the case regularly and step in when needed. Therapy combines skills work, education, values and mindful awareness, with individual sessions for tweens, teens and adults, couples and family therapy, EMDR and brainspotting, and groups. A KAP session lasts three hours. The first 45 to 90 minutes are the medicine experience, with the clinician giving ketamine as a lozenge, and the rest of the session is spent processing it with the therapist, followed by integration sessions. The KAP team includes Linnea Butler, Kimberly McCord, Natasha Kruger and Daniel Irby, MD.

Who it is for

Its clinical focus is trauma, including PTSD and complex PTSD, and what can come with it: depression and anxiety, substance use, personality disorders. The practice offers KAP to people whose depression, anxiety or PTSD has not eased with therapy or medication.

Practical details

The office is on Winchester Boulevard, and sessions are held in person or by telehealth, KAP included. A standard 50-minute session costs $185 to $250, the 90-minute intake for KAP $300 and a KAP session $650 to $850; a psychiatric assessment for KAP costs $500 to $550. Insurance is not billed directly, though clients with out-of-network benefits may claim.

Care and safety

Before KAP, the practice checks for high-risk factors such as heart or kidney problems, psychosis and dissociative disorders, then arranges separate psychological and medical assessments. Intake starts with a short questionnaire and a free 20-minute call. Clinicians start with low doses and raise them slowly.