Our Blog
Welcome to the Growing Roots Blog page - here we will showcase our involvement within the community, treatment and services that deserve to be highlighted and other exciting activities that we’re working on.
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December 2024
- Dec 18, 2024 Boundary Setting: During the Holidays Dec 18, 2024
- Dec 9, 2024 Holiday Stress: How to Avoid Overspending Dec 9, 2024
- Dec 4, 2024 How Laughter Can Improve Your Physical and Mental Health Dec 4, 2024
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November 2024
- Nov 26, 2024 Ask a Therapist: How to Survive the Holidays while in ED Recovery Nov 26, 2024
- Nov 20, 2024 Thanksgiving Survival Guide Nov 20, 2024
- Nov 18, 2024 5 Tips to Mentally Prepare for Food Holidays While in Recovery Nov 18, 2024
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October 2024
- Oct 16, 2024 Supporting Your Child Through Bullying: A Guide for Parents Oct 16, 2024
- Oct 2, 2024 Breast Cancer Awareness: Understanding, Prevention, and Self-Examination Oct 2, 2024
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September 2024
- Sep 25, 2024 Embracing the Dark: Understanding S.A.D and the Power of Hygge Sep 25, 2024
- Sep 18, 2024 The Science of Happiness: Impact on Mental Health and Managing Digital Habits Sep 18, 2024
- Sep 12, 2024 Suicide Prevention: Statistics, Resources, and How to Make a Difference Sep 12, 2024
- Sep 4, 2024 Understanding Burnout: Causes, Symptoms, and Strategies for Recovery Sep 4, 2024
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August 2024
- Aug 28, 2024 Navigating Grief: How People Cope and How Loved Ones Can Offer Support Aug 28, 2024
- Aug 21, 2024 The Power of Reiki: A Journey into Japanese Healing and Energy Balance Aug 21, 2024
- Aug 14, 2024 Preparing for Back to School: Tips for Mental Health and Smooth Transitions Aug 14, 2024
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July 2024
- Jul 31, 2024 The Effects of Loneliness on Mental and Physical Health Jul 31, 2024
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June 2024
- Jun 26, 2024 Understanding PTSD: Unpacking the Impact and Path to Healing Jun 26, 2024
- Jun 12, 2024 Ending the Stigma: Understanding Men’s Mental Health Jun 12, 2024
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May 2024
- May 22, 2024 The Benefits of Meditation May 22, 2024
- May 15, 2024 Empowering Women: Advocating for Your Right to Healthcare May 15, 2024
- May 8, 2024 The Effects of Diet Culture May 8, 2024
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April 2024
- Apr 17, 2024 How Therapists Destress: Tips and Strategies for Self-Care Apr 17, 2024
- Apr 10, 2024 The Benefits of Walking Apr 10, 2024
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March 2024
- Mar 29, 2024 Interview With a Ketamine Patient Mar 29, 2024
- Mar 22, 2024 Healthy “Mocktail” Recipes Mar 22, 2024
- Mar 15, 2024 Understanding Sleep Apnea and How to Improve Your Rest Mar 15, 2024
- Mar 1, 2024 Social Media: Understanding Its Impact on Self-Esteem Mar 1, 2024
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February 2024
- Feb 14, 2024 Attachment Styles and Relationships Feb 14, 2024
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January 2024
- Jan 26, 2024 The Vital Role of Sunlight Exposure in Human Health Jan 26, 2024
- Jan 18, 2024 The Importance of Delayed Caffeine Intake Jan 18, 2024
- Jan 11, 2024 The Pennebaker Protocol Jan 11, 2024
- Jan 4, 2024 The Surprising Benefits of Sodium: More Than Just Salt Jan 4, 2024
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December 2023
- Dec 23, 2023 11 Warning Signs of an Eating Disorder Dec 23, 2023
- Dec 21, 2023 Effective Communication Techniques for Building Stronger Family Bonds Dec 21, 2023
- Dec 20, 2023 7 Reasons to Digital Detox for the Holidays Dec 20, 2023
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November 2023
- Nov 30, 2023 The Silent Struggle: The Impact of Eating Disorders on Mental Health Nov 30, 2023
- Nov 22, 2023 8 Ways Families Can Support A Loved One With An Eating Disorder During The Holidays Nov 22, 2023
- Nov 15, 2023 Managing an Eating Disorder During Thanksgiving Nov 15, 2023
- Nov 14, 2023 A Guide to Understanding Eating Disorders Nov 14, 2023
- Nov 2, 2023 The Impact of Negative Online Content on Mental Health Nov 2, 2023
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October 2023
- Oct 30, 2023 5 Benefits of B12 Shots Oct 30, 2023
- Oct 18, 2023 What is NAD+ and how can it benefit your overall health Oct 18, 2023
- Oct 11, 2023 9 Benefits of Seeking Help For Mental Health Oct 11, 2023
- Oct 9, 2023 Mental Illness Awareness Week Oct 9, 2023
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September 2023
- Sep 22, 2023 What is Functional Medicine? Sep 22, 2023
- Sep 20, 2023 5 Action Steps for Helping Someone in Emotional Pain Sep 20, 2023
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August 2023
- Aug 31, 2023 7 helpful tips to address back-to-school anxiety Aug 31, 2023
- Aug 22, 2023 Recognizing the Signs: When to Seek Help for Your Mental Health Aug 22, 2023
- Aug 9, 2023 7 Reasons why couples counseling could be right for you Aug 9, 2023
- Aug 4, 2023 The Important Role Grief Plays In Our Lives Aug 4, 2023
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July 2023
- Jul 27, 2023 Top 3 Ways To Stay Hydrated Jul 27, 2023
- Jul 24, 2023 45 Self-Care Ideas Jul 24, 2023
- Jul 20, 2023 What is Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy? Jul 20, 2023
- Jul 13, 2023 What is a Stellate Ganglion Block Jul 13, 2023
- Jul 5, 2023 5 Reasons Why Summer Is the Best Time For Adolescents and Teens To Seek Help Jul 5, 2023
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June 2023
- Jun 28, 2023 First Responders and PTSD Jun 28, 2023
- Jun 19, 2023 Misconceptions about PTSD Jun 19, 2023
- Jun 14, 2023 Men's Mental Health Statistics Jun 14, 2023
- Jun 5, 2023 Men's Health Month: Therapy for Men Jun 5, 2023
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May 2023
- May 30, 2023 Mental Health Statistics May 30, 2023
- May 25, 2023 5 Ways To Improve Your Mental Health May 25, 2023
- May 22, 2023 The Stigma of Mental Health May 22, 2023
- May 10, 2023 Parenting & Mental Health May 10, 2023
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April 2023
- Apr 27, 2023 The Impact of Stress Apr 27, 2023
- Apr 20, 2023 How to help an alcoholic Apr 20, 2023
- Apr 13, 2023 Understanding Sexual Assault Apr 13, 2023
- Apr 6, 2023 Signs & Symptoms of Alcoholism Apr 6, 2023
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March 2023
- Mar 28, 2023 Symptoms of self-harm Mar 28, 2023
- Mar 22, 2023 Supporting Someone With Mental Health Illness Mar 22, 2023
- Mar 17, 2023 Good Sleep Starts The Moment You Wake Up Mar 17, 2023
- Mar 16, 2023 Cutting-Edge Treatment for PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, and Trauma Mar 16, 2023
- Mar 14, 2023 Social Media & Your Sleep Health Mar 14, 2023
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February 2023
- Feb 21, 2023 The Power of Affirmations Feb 21, 2023
- Feb 13, 2023 Our New Location Feb 13, 2023
- Feb 8, 2023 5 Steps To Build Confidence & Self Worth Feb 8, 2023
- Feb 2, 2023 February is International Boost Self-Esteem Month Feb 2, 2023
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January 2023
- Jan 17, 2023 A New Growing Roots... Jan 17, 2023
- Jan 9, 2023 Creating a habit Jan 9, 2023
- Jan 4, 2023 New Location Progress Jan 4, 2023
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December 2022
- Dec 30, 2022 New Satellite Location Dec 30, 2022
- Dec 29, 2022 Pre-New Year cleansing tips Dec 29, 2022
- Dec 16, 2022 Stress Management at Woodstock PD Dec 16, 2022
- Dec 9, 2022 Are you constantly getting sick? Dec 9, 2022
- Dec 7, 2022 Disordered eating Q&A from New Hampton School students Dec 7, 2022
- Dec 2, 2022 We're moving! Dec 2, 2022
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November 2022
- Nov 21, 2022 Integrative Medicine | Your First Appointment Nov 21, 2022
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October 2022
- Oct 25, 2022 Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy Client Testimonial Oct 25, 2022
- Oct 19, 2022 Holderness Central School Presentation Oct 19, 2022
How Therapists Destress: Tips and Strategies for Self-Care
Therapists are often seen as pillars of strength and resilience, providing support and guidance to their clients during their darkest moments. However, what many fail to realize is that therapists themselves are not immune to stress and emotional strain. In fact, the nature of their work can take a toll on their own mental health and well-being. At Growing Roots Integrative Health and Wellness, we recently conducted a survey of our clinicians to gain insight into their stress levels and the strategies they use to manage stress. The responses were illuminating.
Overall, our survey highlighted the importance of both physical and mental self-care in managing stress. It's so important to take care of yourself and manage your stress before it takes a toll on your health. By incorporating these simple strategies into your daily routine, you can keep stress at bay and lead a happier, healthier life.
The Benefits of Walking
April marks the beginning of Spring. Birds are chirping, the sun is out, and days are getting longer. April is also the time of year we celebrate Move More Month! Exercise is incredibly important for our bodies, but can be a bit daunting to start. Joining a gym can be expensive and intimidating if you aren’t experienced at using the equipment. A great way to get started on your movement journey is to simply go for a walk!
Walking is a simple and enjoyable form of exercise that can have numerous benefits for both our physical and mental well-being. Here are some of the reasons why going for a walk can be beneficial for our health:
Overall, walking is a simple and accessible form of exercise that can have a multitude of benefits for both your physical and mental health. So, lace up your shoes, hit the pavement, and start reaping the rewards of a regular walking routine.
Interview With a Ketamine Patient
At Growing Roots Integrative Health and Wellness, we offer a treatment called Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, or KAP, is an innovative approach that combines the therapeutic benefits of psychotherapy with the use of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic. We use ketamine to leverage intensive psychotherapy. This has proven to produce results far more quickly than traditional talk-oriented psychotherapies, particularly for those who have experienced severe PTSD and Treatment Resistant Depression/Anxiety. KAP is a powerful catalyst to allow inner access to difficult and often “stuck” material and emotions, and psychotherapy allows the client to actively examine, work with, and effectively process that material for long-lasting change.
To give our readers a better idea of how KAP treatment works- we interviewed one of our patients that underwent Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. Here are their responses:
What led you to explore Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy as a treatment option?
I had been dealing with generalized anxiety that had been getting worse and worse over the course of a year or more, much of it related to PTSD. Other treatments had not been working effectively, including medication and talk therapy, and I was looking for something that would give me some relief from the symptoms so I could work to reframe my situation and try to develop better coping mechanisms.
Can you describe your experiences during a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy session?
They felt very safe, but the experience itself is very disorienting. I didn’t feel too much anxiety from the medicine itself, but I did have to confront a lot of anxiety about “letting go.” That process of letting go and accepting that I was incapacitated opened up a lot of opportunities to reflect on why I had been so anxious and how I had become obsessed with controlling my environment. There were times in the sessions when I felt like I was so disconnected from my body that I couldn’t recall having one, but those moments didn’t feel scary.
The actual experience of ketamine is pretty indescribable, but there was a notable lack of anxiety, especially when compared to other psychedelic experiences. I was able to use the space to see my anxiety, different thought patterns, and physical experiences of depression and anxiety as “objects” separate from myself where I could explore their contours without having to fully experience embody the physical experience of those feelings and emotions. Being able to explore them as separate from myself helped me make sense of them in a way I hadn’t been able to before that, and decide how to deal with them moving forward.
How do you feel Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy differs from traditional talk therapy or other forms of psychotherapy?
KAP helped me move past intellectualizing issues I was experiencing and begin to understand them as objects separate from myself. Since I was “outside” of those feelings, I was able to explore them from a distance and understand how they tied into other areas of my life that I wasn’t able to in an ordinary state. One of the biggest benefits I found was that my body was separate from my emotions, meaning that I could explore the sources of my anxiety and depression without also having the somatic responses that would typically turn into a complete spiral if I was trying to explore them on my own.
Additionally, the altered state of consciousness led to surprising insights that weren’t directly connected to the intentions I went into each session with, but each introduced a new facet to my understanding of the overall situation. Even beyond working on specific anxious and depressive issues, the experience helped me gain a lot of insight into who I am as a person, and how impactful the thought patterns are that I identify with.
Have you noticed any changes in your mental health or emotional well-being since starting Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy?
In the short-term following my KAP sessions, I had a physiological break in the anxiety symptoms, which gave me some space to work on developing new thought processes, sort of like performance-enhanced CBT. In addition, I felt like I left with deeper insights into the habits and patterns I had fallen into.
Before KAP my emotions felt like a train rolling past me that I would grab onto without any self-control. I could see them coming and know that I didn’t want to go there, but I felt completely powerless to avoid them. The break in symptoms and the new perspective combined gave me the space to learn how to step back from specific emotions, and gave me a chance to look at my life with a broader lens where I started to understand the bigger things that were impacting my daily mental health.
A lot of the changes came after KAP, and honestly it was harder after than it was before, but because I was able to see the problems more clearly and then had to choose to work towards resolving them. Before KAP I couldn’t even identify the problems and was just suffering from their symptoms without really understanding how or why they were happening to me.
How has Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy impacted your perceptions or understanding of your own mental health struggles?
KAP helped me separate thought patterns from physical manifestations of anxiety and depression. Before KAP I would have an anxious thought and then a physical reaction, which would then tell my brain to start getting more anxious, and a feedback loop would start that would put me into a really bad place — really quickly. Having some separation from the mental and physical symptoms of anxiety and depression helped me get a different perspective that felt safer to explore, and let me go deeper into the anxieties to understand where the sources were.
What precautions or preparations did you take before beginning Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions?
Took a break from cannabis (which ended up being really helpful in itself) and fasted for 5 hours before each session.
How do you manage any potential side effects or challenges that arise during or after a Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy session?
The challenges I experienced mostly stemmed from the disappointment of stepping back out into my life and realizing that most of the factors that had been causing the anxiety or depression were still there. At first I struggled with integration because of the disappointment and the feeling like nothing had changed, but as I worked to make the adjustments in my life and recognize how and why these patterns were there, I was able to integrate what I had learned and make positive changes. The biggest challenge was confronting the hope that I would finish my sessions and be completely cured, and the reality that I still had a lot of work to do on my own.
How do you integrate insights or experiences gained from Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy into your daily life or ongoing therapy?
Integration is a big part of my life in my work with psychedelics, and it takes patience, reflection, diligence, and forgiveness for when some changes or goals fall off. When integration from psychedelic experiences is still fresh, I do a lot of journaling and map out the connections, triggers, and outcomes of certain behaviors, and try to sit with any insights until they truly synthesize.
Something I would have done differently with my KAP was taking it slower when trying to make sense of abstract or vague insights, because once you decide what it meant, it’s difficult to allow the insight to take further shape and you can miss things. Now I try to take an insight and hold it without trying to force it to be something, and sometimes it takes months before it clicks.
What advice would you give to someone considering Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy as a treatment option?
It isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t a cure-all, but if your symptoms or issues align with the relief that ketamine can offer, it’s a safe way to explore non-ordinary states of consciousness and the change in perspective it provides. It’s a great option for people who are anxious about psychedelics because of the dissociative effects of ketamine compared to something like psilocybin, ayahuasca, or others.
Approaching a session with curiosity and willingness is the best way to learn what you are there to learn. Not trying to force anything to “make sense” in the moment is challenging, but letting your subconscious play itself out in front of you is an amazing opportunity to recognize the things that no longer serve you and try to understand how to let them go.
How do you envision the future of Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy evolving as a mental health treatment modality?
I think that ketamine is going to be a central component to trauma work by helping people work through body-stored trauma with a bit of separation between their minds and their physical symptoms. The dissociative nature of ketamine makes it a perfect tool for accessing physical sensations and experiences without immediately going into a trauma response, which can help people reconnect with their bodies (paradoxically, by disconnecting from their bodies), work towards somatic releases, and explore deep traumas.
I also think that ketamine is a really incredible tool for people who may not be in the condition to push further into psychedelic therapy with psilocybin or MDMA. It’s a great “starter” experience, and IV ketamine is the most controlled environment possible because someone can back out of an experience fairly quickly. I do think that the commitment to a longer experience (knowing that there is no “off” switch) is a powerful tool for building resiliency, and personal growth is inherent in the arc of a full psychedelic experience (the Hero’s Journey), but I don’t think that everyone should need to jump head-on into those depths to explore healing spaces in non-ordinary consciousness.
If you’re interested in KAP as a treatment option, we are booking new appointments! Email our office for more information.