News / mental health
UK’s first Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic opens in Clifton
The team behind the UK’s first ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic say their unique treatment offers hope to those suffering from addiction and depression.
Awakn Life Sciences has developed a psychedelic medicine to treat mental health conditions and its brand new facility in Clifton is only the start of a major rollout, with plans to open centres in London and Manchester later this year and a further three in 2022.
It is the only healthcare provider in the world to provide evidence-based ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, which advocates say has proven particularly successful with otherwise treatment-resistant patients with addiction.
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The treatment will cost £6,000, which includes an initial assessment and 11 sessions of psychotherapy spread over a nine-week course.
Dr Ben Sessa says Awakn Life Sciences “offers understanding and hope for a life unencumbered by a mental illness” – photo by Hannah Silver from BGN Productions
Dr Ben Sessa, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Awakn, says: “Some patients with severe mental health disorders are unremitting and resistant to traditional treatments.
“Our highly personalised therapy puts the patient at the centre of their treatment regime; instead of having to fit with a traditional talking therapy model our programme is led by the patient’s own ability to go deeper, break-through, and address the root cause of their disorder.
“For any patient locked in a cycle of prescription medication or talking therapies, with no meaningful outcome on the horizon, we offer an evidence-based and clinically sound alternative. We offer understanding and hope for a life unencumbered by a mental illness.”
Although ketamine has already been adopted as a standalone treatment by a small number of doctors, Awakn’s clinic on Regent Street will be the first in the UK to integrate its use into a proprietary psychotherapy programme.
Medical grade ketamine is administered by a qualified doctor in a strictly controlled environment at four of eleven psychotherapy sessions. The combination of therapy, alongside the ketamine, is said to enable the patient to access parts of themselves not otherwise easily available and to consider new perspectives to their difficulties.
Awakn has plans to open clinics in London and Manchester later this year – photo by Hannah Silver from BGN Productions
A multi-disciplinary project undertaken by researchers at the University of Exeter looked at ketamine for the reduction of alcoholic relapse (KARE). The clinical trial explored the combined use of psychological therapy and a low dose of ketamine as a possible treatment for alcoholism.
Grant Plant, a 53-year-old events manager, took part in the KARE therapy programme, which will now be delivered by Awakn.
Grant enrolled over two years ago after his alcohol use escalated following a bereavement and a divorce.
“During the ketamine psychotherapy sessions, I felt I was able to access a part of my unconscious where I hadn’t gone before. Together with the talking therapy, I was able to process the reasons behind my drinking, reset my brain and begin a new life as a permanently sober man.”
Although Awakn will begin by using licenced ketamine, the company says it is researching other therapeutic regimes that are currently in late-stage clinical research. These includes adjunct therapy with MDMA in conjunction with a proprietary therapeutic programme.
Main photo by Hannah Silver from BGN Productions
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