When the Fight Continues at Home - KAP Discounts for Veterans THIS Holiday SEASON
This just in! Cultivating Connections and Dr. Agapi Ermides are proud to announce Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) discounted pricing for Capital Region Veterans this holiday season!
What is KAP?
KAP is a new mental health treatment still actively being studied for its impact on depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions. It is a shorter term treatment conducted jointly with a psychotherapist and a medical prescriber, consisting of both talk therapy and administration of a prescribed medication (ketamine).
Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic drug, usually used for surgical sedation and analgesia (pain relief) in people and animals. At sub-anesthetic dosing of ketamine (“awake” dose), people can experience rapid sensory, perceptive, and perspective changes (usually resolve in a few hours) and longer term neurochemical effects in the brain (may last for weeks or months). In studies of PTSD patients receiving sub-anesthetic ketamine (often without conjoint psychotherapy), a majority experienced rapid reduction of symptom such as re-experiencing, hyper-arousal, avoidance, as well as negative mood and thought content. Most of these studies have been very short (less than 2 months of follow up), and it is assumed that these drug effects alone are temporary. KAP was then developed as a model of psychotherapy around ketamine to help people set meaningful goals and action plans for this treatment in the hopes of extending its impact.
About Our KAP Service:
Cultivating Connections offers the psychotherapy piece of KAP in partnership with physician and prescriber Dr. Agapi Ermides, in Troy, NY. Founder Rachel Rampil, LCSW, is a certified Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy provider and graduate of the Fluence Institute in New York City. In addition to practicing KAP since 2021, Rachel is a skilled experiential and relational trauma therapist and has worked with Veterans and their families in multiple settings since 2016. Dr. Ermides is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist with specialized training in Sub-Anesthetic Ketamine for mental health treatment.
The structure of our KAP service is as follows:
1) Evaluation appointments (psychological and medical evaluation of your history, screening for contraindications, presenting issues, and goals),
2) Preparation appointments (talk therapy to prepare you for KAP dosing),
3) Dosing appointments (2 hour sessions where you receive ketamine), and
4) Integration appointments (talk therapy to process the acute and longer term effects of ketamine).
Standard Cost of KAP:
Prescriber Piece (Dr. Ermides): The standard fee for the one-time medical evaluation is $400 prior to dosing sessions, and for dosing sessions the standard fee is $150 for the intramuscular injection and $300 for medical monitoring ($450 total per dosing session). Note that Dr. Ermides’ practice is not in network with insurance plans, but she can offer you documentation to submit for out of network reimbursement.
Psychotherapy Piece (Rachel): The majority of psychotherapy sessions that take place during KAP treatment are under 1 hour, and consist of talk therapy. These sessions are insurance billing eligible, and Rachel accepts these insurance plans in network. Dosing sessions where you receive ketamine, are 2 hours or more in length. These appointments, because of the length, are not eligible for insurance billing and billed privately. The standard fee for the psychotherapy part of dosing sessions is $250.
Discounted KAP for Veterans:
If you are a Veteran who has seen limited symptom relief in other treatments, or you believe you have reached a road block or plateau in your trauma recovery, this holiday season we are offering discounted pricing for KAP.
If you email or call to book your evaluation appointment with us between December 1st 2024 and January 31st, 2025, you will receive 50% off of Dr. Ermides’ medical evaluation ($200 instead of $400) and over 30% off of your dosing sessions ($300 instead of $450 for the Prescriber piece, $175 instead of $250 for the Psychotherapy piece). The discount can be applied for 3 dosing sessions.
Why KAP for Veterans?
Many Veterans experience significant challenges returning home from active duty, or when transitioning to civilian life after discharge or retirement. They come home to find the institutions set up to help them transition to be underfunded, overextended, and even inaccessible by design. As a result, far too many have physical and psychological conditions and needs that go unaddressed or under-treated. PTSD and trauma disorders are debilitating, chronic conditions that can isolate people from support and prevent them from living full lives. KAP is an emerging treatment, but the studies conducted of veterans receiving ketamine for their symptoms thus far indicate it helps them feel a greater sense of safety within themselves and the world around them, which enables them to engage in work, family, and society in ways they could not before.
Next Steps:
If you haven’t already, our service page on KAP provides more information about this treatment offering. We provide a free 20 minute consultation to everyone prior to their first evaluation appointment to go over the evaluation process, structure, cost, and answer any questions you may have! If you are ready to schedule the consultation and evaluation, you can complete the consultation web form here, email Rachel at rachel@cultivateconnection.how or call us at (518) 990-7947.