ELEVATEHER

ELEVATEHER is a concierge psychiatry and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy practice for women in Santa Barbara, California, with further offices in Pasadena and in Portland, Oregon. Alongside ketamine work it offers integrative psychiatry and hormone care for perimenopause and menopause.

Approach

The founder, Samantha Lau, is a board-certified psychiatric and family nurse practitioner with more than 17 years of clinical experience, trained at UCLA and Johns Hopkins. She trained in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy at Polaris Insight Center and completed a year of certification training in MDMA and psilocybin therapy with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute and MAPS. She says her approach is informed by trauma, hormones and psychedelics. Ketamine is given by injection in the office or through at-home protocols, either at a lower relational dose in 90-minute sessions or at a psychedelic dose over three hours. The therapy side can be done with independent therapists trained in this work, or with a client’s own therapist.

Who it is for

The practice serves women and people assigned female at birth, and treats ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, burnout, PTSD, postpartum depression, PMDD and the mental strain of perimenopause. Ketamine is ruled out for, among others, pregnant or nursing women and people with uncontrolled high blood pressure, a history of psychosis, a recent brain injury, an active addiction or past bladder infections.

Practical details

The Santa Barbara office at 508 Brinkerhoff Ave opens on weekdays; the Pasadena office opens on Mondays only, and virtual care covers California and Oregon. Prices range from $250 to $1,250. Preparation runs over three sessions.

Care and safety

Treatment starts with medical and psychiatric evaluations, a psychological assessment and a careful dosing decision, and a licensed psychiatric clinician monitors each step. Ketamine is a Schedule III drug, approved by the FDA as an anaesthetic in 1970 and prescribed off-label for psychiatric conditions.