Golden Afternoon

Golden Afternoon is a physician-run ketamine clinic in Santa Monica, California, founded in 2022 by Dr Jennifer Ellice and Victoria Webster. It gives ketamine by IV infusion or injection and offers Spravato, the esketamine nasal spray.

Approach

Dr Ellice, known as Dr Jenn, is a board-certified emergency physician who has worked in Los Angeles since 2008 and first used ketamine for anaesthesia in the emergency room. She trained at Princeton, the University of Rochester and Brown. Webster is a certified practitioner of Core Energetics, a somatic method. Dr Jenn or a nurse practitioner meets each patient before and after the session. In one of four private treatment rooms, patients settle into a zero-gravity chair with blankets, an eye mask, aromatherapy and a playlist of their choice. A mood treatment lasts 40 to 60 minutes, followed by 20 minutes to an hour of rest.

Who it is for

The clinic treats depression, including treatment-resistant cases, as well as anxiety, PTSD, OCD, suicidal ideation and chronic pain such as CRPS, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain and migraine. It calls ketamine one part of a wider plan, not a cure, and works with patients’ own therapists.

Practical details

A treatment costs $750, or $3,600 for a series of six. IV patients usually have six infusions within two to three weeks, while Spravato, which insurance covers, is typically given twice a week for a month; maintenance sessions follow, monthly to quarterly. Patients stop eating four hours and drinking two hours beforehand, and need someone to drive them home.

Care and safety

Every treatment plan starts with a medical and psychiatric screening, free with a nurse or care coordinator or as a paid consultation with Dr Jenn. During the infusion staff watch vital signs and sedation level and can pause the session. Patients may bring their own therapist or healer.