J. Ashley T. Booth, LCSW, MS

J. Ashley T. Booth is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in the Los Angeles area who offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy alongside trauma therapy and psychedelic integration. She has taught about psychedelics in Southern California since 2014.

Approach

She started Aware Project, a psychedelic society for Southern California, and co-founded InnerSpace Integration. From 2015 to 2017 she facilitated ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT retreats at Crossroads Treatment Center. She then coordinated the MAPS trial of MDMA therapy for PTSD and, after a social work master’s in 2019, became a co-investigator on it. Her therapy combines Internal Family Systems, somatic work, mindfulness and transpersonal psychology, and she wrote and illustrated an IFS guide, Quieting the Storm Within. In ketamine sessions she usually works at psycholytic doses, and she says she has guided more than 750 of them.

Who it is for

She works with trauma, anxiety, spiritual emergence, life transitions and identity crises, and welcomes LGBTQ+, non-monogamous and kink clients and veterans. She suggests ketamine work only for people with a foundation of therapy or self-reflection.

Practical details

Sessions are by video, with in-person work only case by case. Talk therapy costs $300 per 50 minutes. A typical ketamine plan has an intake, a prescriber consultation through Journey Clinical, three preparation sessions, then six weekly two-hour sessions at $700 each, each with an integration session. She does not take insurance but provides superbills, and a free 15-minute video call comes first.

Care and safety

The ketamine is a lozenge taken at home. A safety person chosen by the client stays on the premises, and she watches by video. The prescriber screens for contraindications such as a recent heart attack or stroke, recent psychosis or bladder inflammation. She notes that ketamine is for now the only legal option for drug-assisted psychotherapy outside research.