Ketamine Medicine Work
Ketamine Medicine Work supports mental health, healing, and personal transformation. It has been shown to help folx navigate depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, existential suffering, and burnout with greater clarity and tools for resilience.
This work mirrors Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), using the same scientific foundation and medicine, and is facilitated by a licensed nurse practitioner with training in psychedelic therapies rather than a licensed mental health provider. Those with more complex psychiatric histories should pursue KAP alongside a licensed therapist.
My approach is rooted in blending evidence-based science with holistic/traditional practices and Indigenous Wisdom, to create space for deep insight, inner exploration, and lasting change.
Ketamine medicine is not a magic bullet, but rather a tool in our healing toolbox.
This is sacred work and is honored and practiced with reverence.
Offerings:
Individual Ketamine Sessions
Group Ketamine Sessions
Retreats
Serious Illness & End-of-Life Care
Collaboration with other providers & KAP Therapists
Care for justice activists & community healers
*This medicine is for our community with flexible pricing to support both
access and collective sustainability
Get in touch to learn more
When you’re ready… I’ll be here
Frequently Asked Questions:
Ketamine Medicine Work
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Ketamine is a legal, evidence-based medicine used in therapeutic settings at low doses to support emotional processing, insight, and healing
Experiences are supported with preparation, clinical oversight, and integration of the experience
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Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a clinically structured treatment delivered by a licensed mental health provider, typically a psychologist, licensed counselor, or therapist, who uses ketamine as a catalyst within an ongoing psychotherapeutic relationship.
Ketamine Medicine Work shares the same evidence-based foundation and deep respect for the medicine, but is facilitated rather than clinical. The focus is on preparation, the medicine experience, and integration to create space for insight and inner exploration rather than delivering formal psychotherapy. -
Yes. Ketamine is a Schedule III controlled substance, meaning it can be legally prescribed by licensed medical providers including Nurse Practitioners, within an established provider-patient relationship.
Every client undergoes a thorough medical evaluation before any medicine work begins. Ketamine is prescribed only when it is clinically appropriate and safe to do so. All sessions follow established safety protocols, including monitoring and clear criteria for who is and isn't a good candidate.
This work is held with care, rigor, and full legal compliance. -
During the Journey
Individual experience lying comfortably on a mat
Eye mask and music available to support an inward, reflective state
Intramuscular Ketamine injection or lozenge with dose determined during your clinical intake session with Elias Snyder, PhD, NP
Optional booster dose if appropriate and desired
The Experience
Most people experience an expanded, psychedelic state of consciousness
Often described as dreamlike, introspective, or expansive
Can support new perspectives, emotional release, and deeper insight
Dosing is carefully titrated prioritize safety
Support & Comfort
Clinician present throughout the experience
Nausea medication available if needed
After the Journey
Integration including art, movement, music, and discussion to support grounding and meaning-making
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Prior to the session, you will complete an online health history form to assess safety and readiness.
This includes a review of your health and medication history as well as a details about your expectations.
A virtual or in-person preparation meeting will also take place so you can ask individual questions, discuss intentions and ensure the experience is appropriate and supportive for you. -
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) supports folx on their journey to wellbeing. It should not replace psychotherapy with a licensed therapist.
For some folx, Ketamine Medicine Work stands well on its own, particularly when the goal is personal growth, insight, or moving through a stuck place. For others — especially those navigating complex trauma, active mental health diagnoses, or significant life transitions, working alongside a licensed therapist before, during, and after the medicine experience can deepen and sustain the benefits.
Collaboration with KAP therapists is always available and encouraged. If you don't have a therapist, help finding the right fit is part of what's offered here. -
Comfortable clothes (layers are recommended)
Journal and something to write with/art supplies
Water
*Optional: Some people like to have important items with them during a journey for grounding & intentions. Small items of significance are welcome (ie, spiritual items, photo, grounding items that are important to you)
An open mind & heart
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I offer sessions at a cozy psychedelic therapy space in Hampden (Baltimore, Maryland), home-based visits, and retreat spaces.
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I offer individual and group sessions up to 3 people.
For larger groups, a co-facilitator will be present to support the session. -
These services are provided by Elias Snyder, PhD, NP, a licensed Nurse Practitioner (NP) double board-certified in both primary care and palliative care, with specialized certificate training in psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Elias also holds a PhD in East West Psychology which weaves together diverse modalities of healing, spirituality, and wisdom traditions from around the world to support folx on their journeys in a way that honors the whole person.
As a licensed NP, Elias is legally authorized to evaluate clients medically, prescribe and administer ketamine, and provide preparation and integration support. This breadth of training includes the clinical precision of palliative and primary care to the depth of East West psychological and spiritual traditions, bridging the medical and experiential worlds.
You're in qualified, experienced hands. -
Scroll down to see pricing table
Prices vary based on individual vs group sessions, retreats, and location of services (office or home-based).Home-Based Care available to support accessibility.
Sliding Scale & Lower Cost options are available to support equitable access to this work.
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Serious illness often raises questions about meaning, identity, legacy, fear, and what comes next. For many folx, these existential dimensions of illness can feel just as overwhelming as the physical ones, and yet they often go unaddressed in conventional medical settings.
Ketamine Medicine Work creates a space to explore those questions with guidance and support. For some people, the medicine has a unique capacity to soften the grip of fear, quiet the mind, and ease suffering. Most people who use Ketamine find it clarifying and comforting. -
Death anxiety is the fear that arises when we reckon with our own mortality. It can show up differently in everyone.
Research in psychedelic medicine, much of it conducted at Johns Hopkins and NYU, has shown that psychedelic experiences can meaningfully reduce death anxiety, sometimes after a single session. Many participants describe a shift in their relationship to death itself — not necessarily the elimination of fear, but more of a gentleness and an opening toward acceptance…even peace.
This work doesn't promise a particular outcome, but it does create the conditions for something new to become possible. -
Safety is first!
As a board-certified Nurse Practitioner in both primary care and palliative care, every client undergoes a thorough medical evaluation before any medicine work begins. For those living with serious illness, that evaluation is especially careful.
Ketamine has a well-established safety profile when used at therapeutic doses under supervision, and it does not suppress respiratory function the way many other sedatives. There are situations where ketamine medicine is not appropriate, and those will be discussed honestly and directly.
It also important to discuss Ketamine Medicine Work with your other healthcare providers and collaboration with them is warmly welcomed. -
Not at all. This work is available to anyone navigating the weight that serious illness can bring — whether a new diagnosis, a chronic condition, a period of difficult treatment, or those in the last chapter of life.
Grief, anticipatory loss, caregiver burden, and the fear of what's coming are all forms of suffering that are welcome here.
The medicine does not require a person to be at a particular stage of illness. -
Existential suffering is the distress that arises when we confront things like mortality, loss of identity, loss of control, isolation, and the search for meaning. For someone facing serious illness, grief, or a life changed by illness, it can sometimes feel like life has lost its purpose and the future is uncertain.
Existential suffering or distress is a type of suffering that medication alone rarely touches.
Ketamine medicine, held within an intentional container, has shown meaningful promise in addressing this kind of suffering. Many people describe the experience not as an erasure of pain, but as a shift in their relationship to it — a loosening, a softening, a sense that they are a part of something bigger.
This work doesn't promise a particular outcome. It creates the conditions for something new to become possible.
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Yes! Ketamine Medicine Work is not meant to exist in a silo, and the most meaningful outcomes happen when this work is woven into the larger tapestry of someone's care.
Whether you have a primary care provider, a therapist, a palliative care team, a hospice nurse, or all of the above, collaboration is warmly welcomed.With your consent, communication with your existing providers helps ensure that everyone involved in your care is on the same page. We will review medications, contraindications, and safety.
The insights and shifts that emerge from this medicine work can be supported and integrated by other members of your care team as well. -
Elias Snyder, PhD, NP is a licensed Nurse Practitioner (NP) with dual board certifications in primary care and palliative care, a PhD in East West Psychology, and specialized certificate training in psychedelic-assisted therapies.
In 2025, the National Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association recognized Elias as an Emerging Leader in Palliative Care — an honor reflecting both clinical excellence and new visions in the field of palliative care.With almost 15 years of experience in palliative care practice, Elias has accompanies people through serious illness, suffering, and the last chapter of life.
Being with people during this chapter of life is my greatest honor and is the foundation this work is built upon.The PhD in East West Psychology weaves together diverse healing traditions and spiritual frameworks from around the world, shaping how sessions are held, how suffering is understood, and how the whole person is honored.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Ketamine Medicine Work &
Palliative Care
If you or someone you love is navigating serious illness and wondering whether this work might help, reach out.
There is no wrong time to start the conversation!
Ketamine Medicine Work
Session Pricing
Standard Pricing
| Package | Sessions | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Initial intake | 1 | $250 |
| Single session | 1 | $400 |
| 3-session bundle | 3 | $360 / session $1,080 total |
| 6-session bundle | 6 | $320 / session $1,920 total |
Community Care*
Lower Income Justice activists, healers, BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities
| Package | Sessions | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Community intake | 1 | Sliding scale — please contact me to discuss options |
| Community session | 1 | Sliding scale — please contact me to discuss options |
Group Pricing
| Package | Sessions | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Initial intake | 1 | $250 / person |
| Group session — 2 people | 1 | $275 / person |
| Group session — 3 people | 1 | $225 / person |
- Initial intake is approximately 1 hour and is required before beginning sessions.
- All sessions are 2 hours and include a ketamine injection administered by your provider.
- Clients may also choose to have lozenges prescribed as an alternative to injection.
- Group sessions are available for 2–3 people. Each person pays the listed per-person rate.
- *Community care is self-identified, no documentation required. Limited slots available each month.
All services are provided by Elias Snyder, PhD, NP — board certified nurse practitioner.