Straight answers.

Yes. Ketamine is an FDA-approved medicine that is legally used off-label in psychotherapy under medical supervision. This is not an underground or gray-market practice — it operates within a medical and clinical framework, with licensed professionals and formal screening.

No. The medicine sessions are inward and private — your own process, eyeshades on, nobody watching. Group sessions before and after are structured, and how deep you go out loud is always your call. Every participant signs the same confidentiality agreement, and screening includes checking for conflicts — if a man in your cohort knows you professionally, we handle that before the retreat, not during it. You will never be asked to perform vulnerability.

Depth and pacing, mostly. The 3-day is a complete arc — preparation, medicine work, integration begins. The 5-day adds a second medicine session and more somatic and group work between them, for men who already know they're going deep or who've done a 3-day and want the next layer. If you're not sure which fits, that's normal — it's one of the things the fit call is for.

Ketamine has a long safety record in medical settings, and in this work it's used at sub-anesthetic doses with a clinician present throughout. That said, it isn't safe for everyone — certain cardiac, psychiatric, and substance-use histories rule it out. That's exactly what the medical and psychological screening is for, and being screened out is a real possible outcome.

No. At therapeutic doses you remain aware and able to communicate. What most men describe is the internal defenses getting quieter — less vigilance, less management — not a loss of control. You're in a held container with a clinician the entire time, and nothing happens without your consent.

You don't have to perform anything. IFS isn't about excavating your history for its own sake — it's about meeting the parts of you that are running the show right now. Where those parts come from tends to surface on its own, when it's relevant and when you're ready. There's no script.

The work is built around a retreat — 3-day or 5-day — with preparation sessions before and group integration sessions in the weeks after. It's a defined arc with an end, not open-ended weekly therapy. You'll have the exact map before you commit to anything.

A retreat is a bigger single number than a therapy session, and you'll have the exact figure — and exactly what it includes — before you commit to anything. The fit call is free. If we both decide the work is a fit, we'll map your specific arc — screening, preparation, medicine sessions, integration — and put exact numbers on it before you commit to anything. No surprises later. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is generally not covered by insurance, though some portions of the work may be eligible for out-of-network reimbursement; we can provide documentation.

The retreat happens in Sisters, Oregon — that part isn't negotiable, because the container matters. Preparation and integration sessions can often be done remotely, so men outside the area typically combine remote prep with the in-person retreat.

Internal Family Systems — an evidence-based therapy model. The short version: you're not one thing, you're a system of parts (the achiever, the critic, the one that numbs out), and underneath them is a Self that was never damaged. The work is helping the parts step back so you can lead from that Self. No woo required — it maps remarkably well onto how men already describe their inner life.

"Not that bad" is usually the managing part talking. This work isn't reserved for crisis — in fact it's not for crisis (if you're in crisis, call or text 988). It's for functional men who know something underneath the function isn't right. If you've read this far, that question is probably already answered.