Meet Kirsten Hartz | Somatic & Trauma-Focused Ketamine Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kirsten Hartz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirsten, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Much has been written about the positive neurobiological impact of ketamine on the brain, and it is impressive. You may have already come across the New York Times article that came out last November. (And yes, in case you’re wondering, I am talking about the popular party drug also called “Special K.”) Chemistry aside, here’s what astounds me about working with ketamine in my Denver-based mental health private practice where I sit with clients who take sublingual ketamine to treat everything from depression and anxiety to OCD and eating disorders. Once my clients are cozied up on the couch with blankets, pillows, and the occasional stuffed animal piled up around them—and their journey starts—I witness them enter a deeply comforting expanded state of being. A state in which nearly everyone in their follow-up session reports having experienced a fundamental sense of acceptance of themselves, the world, and life, just as it is.

Ketamine therapy is not about fixing ourselves or even repairing certain parts that are “damaged” (although this molecular compound does help out with rebalancing some essential neurotransmitters!), but about witnessing the health and brilliance that already exists within us. Within all of us. It never fails to astound me in witnessing my client’s experiences on ketamine that we are indeed held by something sacred and much larger than what our limited imagination wants us to believe. The possibility of returning to this sense of wellbeing and wholeness is the reason why I believe in psychotherapy in the first place, and ketamine just speeds up that process. It’s some real and embodied badass magic.

Ketamine has been used in the medical profession for decades; it’s a dissociative and very safe pain-relieving anesthetic often used in trauma units as an immediate intervention for everything from broken bones to suicidality. It’s also been used—and at times abused—in the club scene since the 80s. It’s even used in veterinary clinics as an anesthetic for cats, dogs, and horses. The use of ketamine in the mental health world has blossomed exponentially the past several years—you have likely seen advertisements on your Instagram feed for virtual ketamine treatment by now.

The benefits of ketamine have been heavily researched in the past decade – primarily for treatment resistant depression. Many folks seek this treatment as a last ditch option for resistant and persistent depression symptoms. If you’ve been lucky enough to have never experienced this feeling of collapse, let me tell you, it’s hell. Ultimately what makes ketamine so helpful is that this powerful molecular compound rebalances glutamate and GABA levels in the brain. There are three phases to this process; first, clients start to experience a relaxed and pain-free couple of hours as the ketamine activates the brain’s opiate receptors. Second, glutamate receptors are increased, which restores GABA, an essential neurotransmitter that has a calming effect. Lastly, new neural receptors have the ability to grow and re-pattern, which “resets” a depressed brain.

This is what a session may look like in my office: After the client and I have established a relationship and met several times beforehand, we meet for a three-hour session. There’s an altar, a candle, perhaps a crystal or two. If the client wishes, we pull tarot or oracle cards. We listen to ambient music, and they settle in with an eye mask on. Ketamine has the ability, as do most consciousness expanding medicines, to help us step out of our small and fearful ego. We are beckoned into the wiser “witness” perspective. This witness—the part of us that has always been here and will always be here—is simply open, nonjudgmental, awakened awareness. The witness exists alongside your normal, often more tunnel-visioned consciousness, as the part of you that is waking up to reality just as it is. When we enter a state of nonattachment and presence, we often experience immediate relief. We witness the ego, which is the part of us that believes we are a separate self, in all of its vulnerability, anxieties, and fears.

On ketamine, there is a natural relaxing of the ego (this is the dissociative quality of the anesthetic). As clients enter this state, they become more acquainted with the ego. Therapeutically, this may mean sequencing certain movements through and out of the body. For instance, if I notice that their legs are shaking, I support them in letting that shaking happen until it’s complete. Or perhaps they begin to weep, and I support them in allowing the sadness to pass through.

Ketamine therapy, when combined with a mindfulness-based and body-centered approach, is an activating and powerful way to allow the body, mind, and spirit to become integrated. In the sessions following a ketamine journey, I often hear folks mention the “moment of pause” they now feel between emotion, thought, and action. They feel better. Sometimes the relief is brief and clients need to come back on a weekly or monthly basis. Other times it’s enough to simply have accessed a deeper and wiser part of themselves.

The truth is, there’s no such thing as instant results. Very often in my practice, ketamine therapy is part of a holistic treatment plan that may include EMDR (a trauma-focused modality) and somatic therapy. In this process, I am grateful to bear witness to a transformational change in folks, and remain humbled by the alchemy of magic and neuroscience, spirituality and chemistry, embodiment and expanded awareness. As Ram Dass once said, “We’re all just walking each other home.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I pursued a graduate degree in Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology out of a desire to better understand my own trauma and the nature of suffering. It was not an easy path; I occasionally joke that attending Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado was a very productive “trauma response.” In retrospect, I am deeply grateful for my education and the winding path that I took. I find myself in endless pursuit of understanding the interconnection of psychology and trauma, neuroscience, spirituality, and expanded states of consciousness.

The archetype of the wounded healer is one that I have felt deeply connected to. The notion that it’s our own “sacred wound” that ultimately launches us on a journey to not only heal ourselves but to learn how to help others on the path gives me great solace and hope. I believe, both in my own life and in witnessing others in their healing, that the more we can integrate and lovingly tend to our sorrow and our wounds, the more effective we are in transforming a world that so desperately needs us all to awaken.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A trip to Denver is not complete without a weekend spent the in the mountains! As a hot springs regular, I would take my friend for a hike and then to Avalanche Ranch Hot Springs. Back in the city, I would take her to Stowaway in RiNo for a stellar brunch followed by a stroll around Washington Park. A mellow afternoon would be spent at the Clyfford Still Museum followed by a ramen dinner at Uncle. We’d hit up a show at the Ogden or Fillmore on Colfax and finally grab a late-night happy hour at Cart-Driver (in case we’re still hungry!).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are countless mentors, supervisors, elementary school and music teachers, professors, Girl Scout troop leaders, friends, and family that have impacted my life in small and big ways. The two people who laid the foundation for me, however, are my beloved parents who are no longer here. My parents, Kathy Bergum and Ken Hartz, were beacons of love, creativity, and warmth not only for myself and my brother, but for an entire community. From them I learned not only how to sail, cook, and play the violin, but the importance of honoring and cultivating community, connecting to the natural world, and tending to my creative fire so that it may light up the world.

Website: www.kirstenhartz.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirsten_hartz_counseling/?fbclid=IwAR2zjcSkk4rj4VAc_lwZMiMJKcpdpji2v6g91GIVv14VAWh8Ts_ngCFuO5o

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-hartz-ma-lpc-lac-33569649/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076655190775

Image Credits
Credit Amelia Vilona Photography