Slowing the Mind to Open the Heart
In this transformative retreat, we combine the groundbreaking principles of Internal Family Systems therapy with intramuscular (IM) ketamine to offer a unique and holistic approach to help recover from depression.
If you are struggling with depression and burnout, you know that no matter how much willpower you muster to feel better, the dark clouds of skepticism, fear, and discouragement can make life feel unbearable. As one psychiatrist told me, depression is not the result of your brain underperforming. Quite the contrary, depression results from your brain working far too hard on millions of small things which is caused by disconnection. If I have to walk three miles to get a drink of water, that’s going to constrict my range of possible activities.
Similarly, if we are cut off from sources love and acceptance, the mindbody responds by conserving energy. This up-tuning of the parasympathetic response can result in perpetual dampening of our emotional range. Instead of feeling the helpful motivation of anger that resulted from a mistake we made, we feel the far less sophisticated rage that obliterates and numbs any connections we might have otherwise been able to make to grow, learn and develop.
Retreat Details
There are two completely separate retreat dates below. Choose the dates that work best for you (space is limited to 12 people per retreat).
June 2024 Retreat Dates
Friday June 14th, 2024: 6-8 PM – Zoom Orientation
Saturday June 15th, 2024: 8:45am – 3PM – Preparation and Administration of the Medicine
Sunday June 16th, 2024: 9 -3pm – Putting IFS into practice with your protectors
Friday June 21st, 2024: 4-6pm EST – One week check-in. What new patterns and pathways are showing up for you?
October 2024 Retreat Dates
Friday October 18th, 2024: 6-8 PM – Zoom Orientation
Saturday October 19th, 2024: 8:45am – 3PM – Preparation and Administration of the Medicine
Sunday October 20th, 2024: 9-3pm – Putting IFS into practice with your protectors
Friday October 25th, 2024: 4-6pm EST – One week check-in. What new patterns and pathways are showing up for you?
Choose one retreat weekend:
Looking for the Two-Day K-IFS Retreat for Couples? Learn more about this unique opportunity to improve your intimacy (…yes, you could do both the individual depression-focused retreat and do the couple-focused retreat).
Required Reading:
Required reading before the retreat is Richard Schwartz’s book, No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model.
Recommended reading is Jay Earley’s book, Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness Using IFS, A Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy
“It turns out that we are all multiple…”
If you are new to IFS, I recommend that you watch its creator, Dick Schwartz, in this brief video below. You can also learn more by following the link below the video. I’ve devoted several podcast episodes to IFS, including this in-depth interview with Dr. Schwartz.
Choose one retreat weekend:
Slowing the Mind and Opening the Heart with IFS and Ketamine
Alongside the powerful effects of ketamine, we incorporate the principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, a highly regarded model for understanding and healing the mind. IFS views the psyche as composed of various parts, each with its own unique role and perspective. Two key types of parts are firefighters and managers, which often operate in response to emotional distress. Firefighters are reactive parts that emerge in moments of crisis, seeking to extinguish intense emotions or experiences through behaviors such as substance abuse or self-harm. Managers, on the other hand, work to prevent the activation of these intense emotions by controlling and organizing life experiences.
Learn more about Internal Family Systems Therapy
The Orchestra Conductor Inside
Depression often arises from the internal conflict and polarization between these protective parts. By exploring and de-escalating these polarities, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their internal dynamics and access their true Self—the core, compassionate, and unburdened essence within. IFS facilitates your inner “orchestra conductor” that is capable of tuning and balancing parts that have become extreme, like anger, sadness, or fear. Through the integration of ketamine-assisted therapy and the principles of IFS, this retreat offers a profound opportunity for healing, self-discovery, and empowerment.
Richard Schwartz, the creator of IFS therapy, says he believes that ketamine seems to allow Self (the inner orchestra conductor) to expand exponentially, allowing us to re-orientate ourselves to what is genuinely true in our life.
Rest for your hardest working protectors
Our group process in our short time together allows each of us in the room to act as “Self Mirrors.” Each of us will reflect back to each other the qualities of Self as we navigate our inner experiences: Clarity, connection, curiosity, compassion, courage, calm, confidence, creativity. This retreat will help you focus on removing the shame that keeps us from fully acknowledging, respecting, and befriending our most compulsive protective parts that contribute to depression symptoms, such as: The Perfectionist, The Inner Critic, The Pleaser, The Caretaker, The Performer, The Avoider, or The Taskmaster.
When these so-called Manager parts feel more secure and more appreciated, they no longer need to be extreme or relentless. To help them feel more secure, once we have established trust and respect with our Protectors, we courageously ask permission to work with the parts of us they are protecting: The Exiles. Exiles are the parts of us we usually don’t want others to ever see. When a depressing pattern dominates our inner system, it is usually because these very vulnerable parts of us feel too overwhelming, chaotic, or dangerous. Exiles usually carry burdens of intense fear and shame. Although the intention of this two-day retreat is to focus on our Protectors (meaning we will not explicitly encourage you to retrieve Exiles), some of you may experience moments of connection, clarity and healing with your Exiles.
Reclaiming simplicity and joy
After being on the giving end of treatment for serious trauma and depression for 20 years, my own debilitating form of depression resisted even the most compassionate and loving overtures. A course of ketamine infusions opened me up to new dimensions that launched a recovery. Using ketamine as a tool for healing is not “easy” and it is not a “cure.” The work is cut out for you. I believe that with the kind of supportive community that we will build in this special weekend, the hard work required to reconstruct your life and reclaim simplicity and joy can be rewarding and sweet.
Ketamine: A catalyst for healing
Choose one retreat weekend:
We will use ketamine to greatly expand self-awareness, reduce typical shame and fear reactions to strong emotional content, and improve your ability to accept all parts of you. Without being flooded with vulnerability or dominated by a protective reaction, more healing can begin. With the loving and supportive energy from our group, you will have the wider vision to see pain or discomfort as the opportunities they can truly be, and to experience yourself as more alive, sensitive, and resourceful.
Ketamine, most widely known as an anaesthetic agent, and has gained recognition in the field of psychiatry for its remarkable antidepressant effects.
Unlike conventional antidepressants which may take weeks to alleviate symptoms, ketamine has shown rapid and robust antidepressant effects, often providing relief within hours. This makes it a promising option for individuals struggling with treatment-resistant depression or those looking for a powerful breakthrough to help jumpstart healthier behavioral changes. Ketamine works by modulating the neurotransmitter glutamate, which plays a crucial role in mood regulation. Learn more about how ketamine works to treat depression (I especially encourage you to watch the video/lecture by John Krystal on aforementioned link.)
Opening New Windows: Altered perceptions and side-effects of Ketamine
A rare side-effect of ketamine is nausea which can be managed by fasting in the hours before a journey, and be prevented by the use of an anti-nausea medication, which we can prescribe. Our medical staff will verify that you are healthy enough to receive ketamine treatment. We nonetheless ask that you carefully review our Informed Consent document, which gives a comprehensive description of the possible, but extremely rare, adverse effects and how we are prepared to respond.
So-called psychedelic hallucinations are also referred to by scientists as a “side-effect” of ketamine. In psychiatric and personal growth uses, however, it is these very altered perceptions that our group will use to open up new ways of seeing yourself.
Although ketamine is not a “classic psychedelic,” and is technically a “disassociative anesthetic,” most people do have vivid, altered sensory experiences. Neuroscientists hypothesize that the psychedelic effects of a medicine like ketamine cause the brain’s hierarchical organization (rigid associations, beliefs, feelings, and thoughts such as “the sky is blue”) to loosen and temporarily dis-associate (“the sky is an ocean,” or “I am the sky.”) According to their model, psychedelics reduce the brain’s reliance on prior beliefs about the world. Learn more about How Psychedelics Open a New Window on the Mechanisms of Perception.
How to Apply
Space is very limited since we only have room for 12 people. By submitting an Application, your spot is temporarily reserved until it is reviewed. You will be contacted for a brief phone call to discuss the retreat. Once invited to enroll you will be given 48 hours to register before your spot may be given to someone else. Once registered, Anna Richards, PMHNP, will contact you to schedule a 30-minute zoom medical screening. In the event that you are not medically cleared to participate you will be fully refunded, less $150 for the medical consult.
Outline of the KAP-IFS day-retreat:
- 2 hour zoom meeting Friday night 7-9pm, introductions, intention-setting, brief overview of core IFS concepts, addressing managers fears, what to expect, Q&A
- Saturday: 8:45-10:30 – Group meeting: Slowing the mind, centering, getting into Self
- 10:30-12:00: Ketamine IM journey on floor mats in room together as a group
- 12-1:00: Initial group processing
- 1-1:30: Break: Snacks provided (bagels and fruit)
- 1:30-3:00 – Group meeting; Body movement; Integration; How are you seeing your Self differently? What parts of you are you most curious about? How to work with your parts.
- Sunday: 9am – 10am: Check-in
- 10-12pm: The fundamentals of the inner system; Dealing with polarities
- 12:00 – 12:30: Food break
12:30pm-1:30pm: Practice getting into Self and getting to know from protector parts with Self - 1:30pm-2:30pm: Debrief from dyad work; How can I love and care for my protectors?
- 2 hour zoom meeting, 1 week post-retreat integration on the following Friday 12-2pm; What are you learning from your journey? What supports are you more or less open to since our retreat?
LOCATION: 4300 Montgomery Ave, Suite 302, Bethesda, MD, 20814
COST: $1199 – Early-bird registration prior to May 18th (Includes medical assessment)
$1399 – Standard registration after May 18th (Includes medical assessment)
REFUND POLICY:
- A partial tuition refund of $400 will be given if you withdraw prior to 30 calendar days before the retreat.
- Tuition is non-refundable inside of 30 days before the retreat.
- We ask you to report if you have signs or symptoms of any communicable disease (COVID/flu/cold) before attending the retreat.
About Your Teacher: Keith Miller, LICSW
I’m a social worker with 20 years of clinical experience as a psychotherapist in private practice. Since 2007, I’ve been the owner and Clinical Director of Keith Miller Counseling, a private practice that has provided mental health and couples counseling to thousands of people. In 2022, since a majority of our clients and staff preferred remote therapy, we closed our Dupont Circle location to focus on in-person care in Bethesda. In February, 2023 I founded Calliope Health Ketamine, offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
I completed my Level I training in Internal Family Systems therapy in 2008, going on to become a Certified IFS therapist, and completed Level III and Advanced IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside-Out, IFS-for-couples, training.
I’ve been a national speaker and educator on the topic of mindfulness in psychotherapy and am the author of several books on personal growth and relationships, including many free webinars and courses, and Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy. I regularly teach my course for couples, Mindful Marriage, a mindfulness-based and IFS curriculum for relationship enhancement. In 2021, I started the psychology and spirituality podcast, The Soul of Life.
Anna Richards, PMHNP
Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner
Psychiatric Mental Health Practitioner
Board Certified
I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner with 10 years of clinical experience across the lifespan in a variety of settings. I am experienced in treating psychotic disorders, mood disorders, and substance abuse as well as extensive work in crisis stabilization. I have a special interest in treatment resistant depression, trauma related disorders, and bereavement.
My past clinical experience led to an interest in ketamine assisted psychotherapy because many of my clients seeking treatment through psychotropic medications are met with limited relief of symptoms and/or intolerable side effects. I believe in patience, persistence, and collaboration with my clients as a path forward to recovery.
Choose one retreat weekend:
Learn More About IFS
Want to learn more about IFS? This free, 30-minute webinar is a concise overviews of the model.
