Better U assists affiliated psychiatric medical practices to provide important mental health services. The affiliated medical practices and the states in which they operate are:
*Due to COVID regulatory changes, our operations have shifted to only the states listed above. We are rapidly expanding to additional states. If your state is not on this list, we will notify you when Better U becomes available in your state in the coming weeks.
Better U is an alternative mental health organization dedicated to increasing access and awareness to breakthrough treatments. Our clinicians provide clinical at-home oral ketamine programs for those wanting to experience an alternative to traditional medications. Our ketamine treatments support individuals looking to improve their mental health and achieve long term success. Our mission is to transform mental health and reform psychiatry from the diagnose and treat illness model to a thought expansion, neurological reset and spiritual health model by addressing the core causes of depression, anxiety, and chronic stress. By utilizing psychedelic therapy, functional neurology, and other alternative mental health modalities, we provide the tools to enhance our greatest human quality, self-healing. Our licensed clinicians work with you to create a safe environment where you can begin your healing journey, guided by a world-class team led by the renowned Dr. Sam Zand, from Johns Hopkins University.
You begin with an online assessment and video consult with a clinician to see if at-home ketamine therapy is right for you. Then, you'll schedule your first visit where you'll prepare with your clinician to undergo your first session. Based on your response, your clinician will provide a personalized plan for the initial sessions. Throughout your journey, you'll use our online platform to help prepare for your sessions, self-exploration, and integrate what you've learned into your daily life.
A treatment is when you begin the Better U treatment session with the self-administered ketamine troches in the place you feel safest at: your own home. This is accompanied by an online safety and integration program. Before and after your treatments it is mandatory that you adhere to everything in the ketamine assisted therapy protocol in the members portal, which is accessible after one of our clinicians accepts you into the Better U program.
Psychedelic therapy is a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, and self-improvement techniques during a mental state of accelerated acceptance, peace and flexibility. Psychedelic medication enhances neuroplasticity, which allows our mind to overcome rigid thinking and negative thought patterns. As a result, therapeutic exploration becomes easier and more efficient. By deconstructing rigid neurological and emotional barriers, psychedelic therapy promotes transformational shifts in perspective.
At-home ketamine therapy may produce a sense of disconnection from one’s ordinary reality and usual self that may induce or enhance feelings of creativity, purpose, perspective, serenity, insight, inspiration, gratitude, empathy, connection with others and the world, openness to new ideas, psychological rebirth, and traveling outside of one’s self, among others. You may also experience visual, auditory, and other sensory effects.
Depending on the dose of ketamine and the time between your last session, you may experience anything from being more aware of how your body feels, quieting of the mind, feelings of love and gratitude, all the way to increased feelings of connection to yourself, to the universe/god, ego-transcendence, and revisiting past experiences from a different perspective - without the normal emotional charge attached to those experiences. The level of dissociation is not directly related to the efficacy of the medicine.
Ketamine has an extensive history of use as an anesthetic agent for medical procedures and surgery. How ketamine allows for sedation during these procedures is due to its dissociative property. This dissociative property “disconnects” the mind from body by disrupting the action of the neurotransmitter (aka brain chemical) glutamate. When ketamine is used for non-anesthetic indications (KNAI), it can create transformational experiences. Because of this property, patients become dissociated and can have a “ketamine-induced non-ordinary state of consciousness.”
Ketamine treatments range from feeling like a deep-meditation to a "journey" or separation from your body & ego. While each experience is different, here's how we categorize the experiences:
Empathogenic Experience (EE):
Awareness of body
Comfort and relaxation
Reduced ego defenses
Empathy, compassion, and warmth love and peace
Euphoria
Mind is dreamy with non-specific colorful visual effects
Out-Of-Body Experience (OBE):
Feeling of separation from one’s body.
Significantly diminished ego defenses.
Visits to mythological realms of consciousness
Emotionally intense visions (e.g., deceased relatives, spirits)
Vivid dreams of past and future incarnations
Feelings of rebirth
Ego-Dissolving Transcendental Experience (EDT):
Ecstatic state of the dissolution of boundaries between the self and external reality
Complete dissolution of one’s body and self (soul)
Transcending normal mass/time/space continuum
Collective consciousness
Unity with Nature/Universe
Sacredness
During your at-home ketamine treatments, you may revisit memories, emotions, and stories which may contain unprocessed or repressed feelings - without the normal emotional charges. This release allows for an opportunity to work through or process these past experiences and feelings.
Unfortunately, at this time, at-home ketamine treatments are not covered by insurance.
Select a package then you will be prompted to schedule a your telemedicine appointment with a licensed psychiatric clinician. After your initial medical evaluation, the prescription(s) will be sent in to a compounding pharmacy then delivered to your home. After receiving the medication, there's a treatment preparation appointment where we prepare you for your first treatment and walk you through the process, what to expect, provide access to the membership portal, and we're available for you every step of the way. After completing the treatment, an Integration Guide is available to help you process the experience and get the most out of your treatment. You will receive all information, materials, playlists, etc. prior to your first treatment.