I empower others to find their resonance with the world through deeply knowing the rhythm that is within them.

counseling services

My career path has led me down many roads and I am comfortable addressing all kinds of life issues, whether that is supporting you to walk out of the shadows or helping you learn how to expand your light within.

With my background in community mental health and within the criminal justice system, I have been trained in a wide variety of modalities. At this time, I focus on Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (or KAP), Internal Family Systems (or IFS/parts work), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (or EMDR). I use somatic and attachment-based principles and practices with each and I often cross-pollinate, no matter which approach is the main focus. I find that these tools best support me in helping you go deeply into yourself and drawing out what is needed to find transformation.

I also see exploring existential questions as vital to the therapy process and hope that the “Big Questions” are what have brought you in. I often weave in spirituality as it makes sense to you and my goal is to help you get out of your head, into your heart and connected to the Great Mystery, however you define it. We aren’t here simply to analyze and talk our way through things, we are here to do the sacred work of connecting with your truest Self, your pure essence of being which at its root is a collective experience, connected to many others.

Approaches

KAP

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy & Psychedelic Integration

A series of Prep and Intention Setting to facilitate 2.5-3 Hour Guided Ketamine Sessions, followed by Psychedelic Integration Support.

Intention Setting and Integration Support for other medicines available as well.

IFS

Internal Family Systems or Parts Work

Utilized in all sessions as a framework to support you in gathering information from the inner child parts of you that hold the wisdom needed to unburden you from ways of being that don’t fit your needs as an adult living in the here and now.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing

An integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma.

It has also been successful in helping reduce symptoms for many other issues.

Existential

Spiritual Exploration & Meaning Making

A process of curiosity and inquiry. Shamanic practices, energy work, sound healing, ancestors, quantum meditation & visualization, and the use of other spiritual tools can be employed as a part of this practice to help you connect to a bigger knowing.

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

The purpose of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is to create a non-ordinary or altered state of consciousness in order to facilitate profound transpersonal, transcendental, mystical, spiritual, and/or metaphorical peak experiences. These can prove to be valuable in resolving existential problems, accelerating your psychospiritual growth, and leading to a deep personal transformation and optimization of your lifestyle. Such change is best facilitated within a structured supportive psychotherapeutic framework in connection with therapists who have a view of your issues, hopes, desires, and struggles and can safely hold the container for you to grow and you dig deep in the earth of your psyche and beyond. In response to these experiences, you may well feel improvements in your emotional state and reduction in the symptoms that bother you such as the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ketamine is classified as a dissociative anesthetic. Dissociation means a sense of disconnection from one’s ordinary reality and usual self. In this case, the dissociation is experienced with the intention of making way for a connection with more beneficial viewpoints and self-perceptions.

*This section is adapted from “The Ketamine Papers: Science, Therapy, and Transformation” Edited by Phil Wolfson, MD and Glenn Hartelius, PhD.

At the dosage level administered to you for KAP, you will most likely experience mild anesthetic, anxiolytic (decrease in anxiety), antidepressant and psychedelic effects. While some work has focused on ketamine treatment with minimal or no psychedelic effect we aim here to administer a psychoactive dose of ketamine. There is a view that the psychedelic or dissociative experiences may well be instrumental in providing the long-term growth you want to accomplish. The intention is to stimulate a positive change in outlook and character that is termed a “transformative response”.

The current, most probable understanding of ketamine’s mode of action is as an NMDA antagonist working through the glutamate neurotransmitter system. This is a very different pathway than that of other psychiatric medications. Ketamine is administered sublingually (by mouth), intramuscularly (IM) , or intravenously (IV). However, there is no consensus on the mode of action and other mechanisms may well be found central to ketamine’s effects.

For extensive and detailed information about the KAP process, please see the FAQ section at the bottom of this page.

“What are the Phases of KAP?” is a good place to start.

Psychedelic Integration

Whether you are healing from the past, bringing a fuller awareness to your present, or desiring to find a path for a better future — having proper education, guidance, accountability, and integration support is vital for this process to ensure you discoveries are turned into action.

Integration is the process of understanding an experience in order to make meaning that can be brought forward into one’s life. A guide can help you go beyond the surface by offering reflective questions based on their specific understanding of you, as well as their familiarity with this process.

Integration begins with the intention-setting process and being prepared for the unexpected. Psychedelic journeys are known to sometimes bring out your deepest fears and also to offer incredible healing and growth on the other side of them. To prepare yourself to meet the challenges that may arise is to be willing to face your fears and have support to do so.

*Psychedelic Integration beyond KAP is meant to serve in a harm reduction capacity to support people around their own decisions. Full Disclaimer below.

Integration can often be over or underwhelming when approached by oneself. Rather than navigating uncharted territory alone, it helps to work with a guide as you progress through your transformative journey.

Beyond the support of someone to help you, some examples of tools to support the integration process: talking to others, journaling, art and/or creativity, use of music (participating or listening), and movement practices such as yoga, dance, breathwork, etc.

People often focus on the big experience of the medicine they are working with, but I have found that integration is often the place where deep understanding unfolds. We don’t often pause enough to consider the nuances of the impact of an experience before we are on to the next one. I find that this is more of an escape tactic than a way to support a new way of being. I would be honored to support a slower meaning-making process that brings in a structure beyond consuming a substance.

IFS / Parts Work

At a base, I find IFS to be the most dynamic and empowering approach and bring this in to my work with all of my clients although I may not use EMDR or KAP with everyone. All three approaches rely on your internal wisdom as a guide to healing and support me in getting out of your way because I am here to help you come back to trusting yourself and your own process. All three of these therapies allow for the inclusion of somatic and spiritual elements in addition to emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. I have found IFS to be a gentle teacher, one that is filled with compassion, curiosity, courage, clarity, creativity, connectedness, confidence, and calm (the “8 C’s” of IFS.)

IFS teaches you to connect with your own internal “family” of “parts” that are innate to all humans. Our work is to learn to connect with the various “parts” that might be causing confusion or difficulty for you. We see all “parts” as holding valuable information and we seek to understand them and what they are trying to tell us more fully. With the help of the Capital “S” Self, your True Nature and Essence — where your deepest compassion and curiosity is generated from, we are able to help heal and integrate layers of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors in a way that moves towards wholeness and harmony within your internal and external world.

EMDR

No one knows how any form of psychotherapy works neurobiologically in the brain. However, we do know that when a person is very upset, their brain cannot process information as it does ordinarily. One moment becomes frozen in time and remembering a trauma may feels as bad as going through it the first time because the images, sounds, smells, and feelings haven’t changed and new memories with similar themes get trapped in a traumatic memory network. Such memories have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and the way they relate to other people.

EMDR appears to have a direct effect on the way the brain processes information. It does so similarly to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. When the brain is in this state, it can make connections across both hemispheres of the brain; it organizes and understands at many levels and takes on new perspectives. You still remember what happened, but it is less upsetting. EMDR can be thought of as a psychologically based therapy that helps a person see disturbing material in a new and less distressing way.

KAP FAQs

  • The Inner Calling: Being stirred to wake up to something in your experience and seeking support to explore ways to find deep transformation.

    Assessment: Meeting with a licensed provider for medical & psychiatric risk assessment to determine the appropriateness of KAP for you and obtaining a prescription if you are moving forward. Completing a separate intake and assessment with a psychotherapist.

    Prep: Learning more about the details of the process and exploring any questions or concerns about it. This is also the time for your therapist to learn more about your background and how they can best support you during this process.

    Intention Setting: Getting clear about the golden thread that you want to weave through each Medicine Session and back into the tapestry of your day-to-day life.

    ● Can create more understanding and meaning of your experience

    ● Helps to anchor you and move you through unexpected places you may go during the journey

    ● Insights that come after the journey day will be easier to integrate

    ●Reflecting on the intentions you set and how they are showing up will help solidify your understanding of changes that are occurring

    While it is best to form an intention for your journey before you start, you may or may not be able to hold onto that. An expectation of what will happen is different than an intention. An expectation forms an attachment that can keep you stuck and you need to be mindful of them, while intentions help you get clear about why you are entering the journey space.

    In general, it helps to remain an open and allowing witness to the organic unfolding of your process. Indeed, no holding on is best as holding on is often the main source of anxiety in journeys. The journey will flow whether or not you hold on and resist or if you follow the path that unfolds and relax into it—so being prepared for a state of surrender may be a part of the prep process as well.

    Setting the Container: Co-creating the set and setting with your therapist. (See “Journey Space” below for more information.)

    Set: The mindset we are in when we arrive to any experience.

    Setting: The environment that creates the container you enter into for the experience.

    Journey Space: Your experience will be unique to you and each of your sessions will likely be different, even if there are some similarities. In other words, the landscape may be familiar, but we cannot predict the weather on that day until it has arrived.

    Psychedelic journeys are known to sometimes bring out your deepest fears and also to offer incredible healing and growth on the other side of them. To prepare yourself to meet the challenges that may arise is to be willing to face your fears and have support to do so. This process will begin during the assessment and prep phases and this is why we don’t step into the Journey Space right away. We honor the process and its timing.

    On Journey Day, you will arrive with comfy clothes, nesting gear (personal items you may want for comfort,) and any totems, tokens, and/or pictures that you would like to place on your altar. You may also want sunglasses to protect your eyes post-journey.

    There will be headphones and a curated music playlist to guide you through the experience, and eyeshades to support you to go inside. There will be blankets, pillows, and the ability to lay down comfortably. There will be some art supplies available if desired.

    *Totems or token items: In order to build a sacred ceremony space, you may want to bring items of significance to have with you during the journey that honor you. Examine what you hold sacred and what this means to you. Often, it can simply help you to enter the space with reverence. Some people like to have an item or items that accompany them to each journey as a shared anchor to their different experiences.

    After Care: This is a time to rest, nourish, be gentle, and hold the experience and the stories of your journey with care. This is not a day to over-schedule, jump back into work, or strenuously exercise. This is sacred time with yourself to be honored as such.

    To support your physical body as you re-emerge, consuming snacks and water is an important part of the transition from the journey space. Some light snacks will be available to you, or you can bring your favorites with you.

    You cannot drive on the day of your journey. Part of aftercare is having a supportive person drop you off and pick you up, and be available to you for the first couple of hours post-journey for support as needed.

    Integration: Processing and understanding an experience in order to make meaning that can be brought into one’s life.

    Some examples of tools to support this process: talking to others, journaling, art and/or creativity, use of music (participating or listening), and movement practices such as yoga, dance, breathwork, etc.

    Embodiment: The step beyond integration when information has landed deep within and flows out of you. When a truth or a way of being has become embodied, you no longer have to think about it, and it naturally emanates from you and can be seen by others.

  • Often, a minimum commitment of 3-6 medicine sessions are recommended (this does not include assessment, prep and integration sessions) as Ketamine is a medicine that compounds in its effects. In other words, each experience builds on the last both psychologically and physiologically.

    Depending on spacing that works for your processing needs, this may take place over 3-6 months or longer.

    More integration time between sessions to weave new insights into the fabric of your life may lengthen this time frame, while adding a richness to the experience. There is no such thing as too much integration!

  • Each Medicine Session is 2.5 to 3 hours in duration.

    The session begins with conversation to reconnect and discuss intentions, followed by a guided meditation tailored to your intentions to facilitate dropping in to the experience.

    You will lay down with eye shades and headphones on, to a playlist curated for the experience to support your movement through the journey. Your job is to be curious and observe the unfolding.

    During a session, you may feel relaxation from ordinary concerns and your usual mind, while maintaining conscious awareness of the flow of your mind. Sometimes you have a bigger experience and feel an overwhelming sense that you are one with the universe and the session moves you! Either way, this tends to lead to a disruption of negative feelings and obsessional preoccupations. It seems that this relief and the exploration and experience of other possible states of consciousness can be singularly impactful.

    You may see memories, images and colors, like lucid dreaming, or you may have a more “psychedelic” experience of these things. Sometimes people feel in their body like they are a different shape or size. Sometimes people feel like they have become the embodiment of an animal or other figure that is not human. All of these experiences often alert the mind that consciousness is flexible and we can hold things with less rigidity. You may explore current issues in your life and find that symbolism and alternative perspectives arise to help you understand and relate to them in a new way.

    Your therapist acts as a guide to the experience and helps you process its impact before, during, and after the sessions. All information that arises is rich and vibrant to the process (even if intense at times) and the therapist holds a container to make you feel safe as you explore your deep inner world.

  • Chances are, you have done some amount of research and inner assessment if you find yourself here. That is already a step on the path toward change!

    If you have a lot of hesitation and fear, you may want to pursue other types of therapies first to prepare yourself to go more deeply into the unknown places inside of you. I can support this process and can consult with you about what that could look like based on your needs.

    If you are (mostly) excited about what you read here and find yourself being called forward, this can be an indicator that KAP may be a tool to support your transformation. It takes a mix of vulnerability and bravery to step into deep transformative work.

    If you are feeling called, the next step is to have a conversation with me so we can assess together if ketamine is the right tool for what you’re looking to address. If so, I will refer you to a prescriber for further assessment. Then, we will decide what the pacing of treatment will look like to start.

  • If we decide to pursue this type of treatment together, you will be given referrals for licensed psychiatric prescribers.

    They charge from $300-$750 for initial consultations, and from $125-500 for follow-up appointments.

    In this office, we typically utilize a prescription of Troches (lozenges) or Rapidly Dissolving Tabs (RDTs) that dissolve in your mouth.

    During this assessment, you will be screened both medically and psychiatrically for any potential safety risks to determine if this treatment is an appropriate tool for you.

  • The fees for this work depend on what type of session, due to the varying lengths of time and presence offered (i.e. medicine vs. non-medicine.)

    I do not take any insurance but can provide a “Superbill” that you can submit to insurance for potential reimbursement after you have paid me first. I have a list of questions available to ask your insurance to determine if you have out-of-network benefits and what your coverage may be.

    FYI: Most insurance companies do not cover the entire duration of a KAP session, but may cover the 1st hour as they would for any therapy hour. Assessment, Prep, and Integration Sessions may also be reimbursable as a therapy hour if you have coverage.

    Please reach out for a consultation by email at cat@wildpresence.co or call/text at 415.857.2292 to discuss further.

  • Contact Cat Jensen by email at cat@wildpresence.co or call/text at 415.857.2292.

    If we decide to move forward, you will be referred to a licensed provider for medical and psychiatric screening and clearance. 

Disclaimer for Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy:
I am unable to prescribe any medications as a therapist, but will refer you to licensed providers I work closely with to assess you for your appropriateness to work with Ketamine in a therapeutic setting, which is legally scheduled by the DEA for use. There is no guarantee that you will be given a prescription for medication if it is not appropriate.
I do not promote or provide any illegal substances. I support harm reduction and integration of experiences but not the abuse or misuse of any illegal substances.