Frequently Asked Questions

At Cultivate Confidence in Golden, Colorado, I specialize in anxiety, couples counseling, conscious parenting, and trauma recovery. Trauma is a central specialty because it impacts almost every issue clients bring to therapy; addressing it allows us to heal the root patterns rather than just manage surface symptoms.

I specialize in holistic, evidence-based approaches including Transpersonal Psychology, Mindfulness, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Plant-Based Medicine integration, and Compassionate Re-framing.

Yes, I offer a complimentary 30-minute phone, video, or in-person consultation to ensure we are a good therapeutic fit. You can easily request a consultation or book an initial session through the Schedule an Appointment page on my website or by calling my Golden, CO office at 720-470-3526.

Yes. In addition to my clinical work with clients at Cultivate Confidence, I am a clinical supervisor providing guidance, mentorship, and case consultation to new and pre-licensed therapists working toward LPC licensure in Colorado. My supervisory style mirrors my clinical practice—deeply grounded in Transpersonal Psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, and somatic awareness. I help newer clinicians cultivate their own professional confidence, navigate complex clinical dynamics, manage countertransference, and safely integrate progressive, experiential modalities into their work.

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) is a therapeutic approach that combines psychotherapy with the use of a psychedelic medicine to support healing, self-exploration, and personal growth. The medicine isn’t the treatment by itself—it’s used as a tool to help deepen the therapeutic process, allowing you to access emotions, memories, and insights that may be difficult to reach through traditional talk therapy alone.

PAP is typically includes three phases:

Preparation Before any medicine session, we’ll spend time building a strong therapeutic relationship, discussing your goals, reviewing your history, and preparing you for the experience. My goal is to ensure you feel informed, supported, and ready for the journey ahead.

Medicine Session During your medicine session, you’ll be in a safe, supportive environment while I provide therapeutic guidance throughout the experience. Depending on the medicine being used, you may spend much of the session resting comfortably with music and eyeshades, allowing your thoughts, emotions, and insights to unfold naturally.

Integration After your medicine session, we’ll meet to process your experience and explore how the insights you’ve gained can be integrated into your everyday life. Integration is an essential part of the process, helping transform meaningful experiences into lasting emotional growth and positive change.

Under Colorado law, commercial plant medicine sessions cannot take place in a traditional therapy office. Instead, you will ingest the medicine at a state-licensed, dedicated Healing Center. I will travel to that licensed center to sit with you, guide you, and support you directly through your journey.

Regardless of the medicine used, we will always conduct comprehensive therapeutic preparation before your journey and structured integration sessions back at my office afterward to help you process and ground your insights.

Psychedelic therapy helps people safely access hidden or protected parts of their subconscious mind from a profoundly healing perspective. When administered with intentional preparation and integration in a secure setting, it can significantly accelerate the emotional and psychological healing process.

Research continues to show promising results for Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy in treating conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, and certain substance use disorders. During our consultation, we’ll discuss your goals, review your medical and mental health history, and determine whether this approach is appropriate for your unique needs.

Psilocybin works differently than traditional antidepressant medications. While the psychedelic experience begins within 30 to 60 minutes of taking the medicine and typically lasts 4 to 6 hours, the therapeutic benefits often extend well beyond the day of treatment.

Many people report feeling shifts in mood, perspective, or emotional well-being within days of a guided psilocybin experience. Research has shown that, for some individuals, improvements in symptoms of depression and anxiety can last for weeks or even months when psilocybin is combined with psychotherapy and thoughtful integration.

Every person’s experience is unique. Factors such as your mental health history, treatment goals, preparation, and integration all play an important role in your outcomes. I’ll work closely with you throughout the process to help you prepare for your experience and support you in turning the insights you gain into meaningful, lasting change.

Colorado has become a leader in expanding access to psychedelic-assisted care. Under the state’s Natural Medicine Health Act, adults 21 and older may legally access psilocybin through licensed Natural Medicine Healing Centers with trained, state-licensed facilitators. Colorado also decriminalized the personal use and possession of certain naturally occurring psychedelic substances for adults, but commercial sales outside the regulated system remain illegal.

This is the right question to be asking. Psilocybin-assisted therapy is legal for licensed use in Colorado under the Natural Medicine Health Act, which underwent an extensive stakeholder and advisory board review process to build safety measures into how it’s offered. This is why PAP takes place at a state-licensed healing center, and why every client goes through an extensive health and history review before any session — if it’s determined that PAP isn’t appropriate for you, we won’t proceed.

That said, it’s honest to say that any substance that affects the mind and body carries some risk. A 2025 systematic review of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy safety data found that the most common effects were things like temporary increases in blood pressure, headache, nausea, and short-term anxiety. The researchers were also clear that the overall evidence base is still emerging and more research is needed. We’ll walk through both the potential benefits and the potential risks together, in detail, as part of a thorough informed consent process before you ever begin.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) combines ketamine treatment with psychotherapy to help support healing and personal growth. Rather than using ketamine as a treatment on its own, I integrate it into the therapeutic process to help you access new perspectives, process difficult emotions, and create meaningful, lasting change.

Ketamine is a fully legal, Schedule III controlled substance that can be administered directly in my Golden, CO office.

KAP is typically divided into three phases:

Preparation

Before any ketamine is administered, we’ll spend time getting to know each other, discussing your goals, reviewing your medical history, and making sure you feel informed and prepared for the experience.

If we feel KAP treatment is right for you, you will need to obtain a medical prescription from a qualified prescriber. You will then bring your prescribed medicine to my office.

Ketamine Session During your ketamine session, you’ll receive the medication in a safe, supervised setting. While the medication is active, I’ll be there to provide immediate, hands-on psychotherapy and support as you navigate your experience. Many people report feeling more open, gaining new insights, or viewing challenges from a different perspective.

Integration After your session, we’ll meet to explore your experience and discuss how to apply any insights to your everyday life. Integration is one of the most important parts of the process, helping transform the experience into meaningful, lasting change.

KAP may be beneficial for individuals experiencing:

• Treatment-resistant depression
• Major depressive disorder
• Anxiety
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• End-of-life anxiety
• Certain substance use disorders
• Chronic pain (in some cases)

We’ll discuss your individual needs to determine whether KAP may be an appropriate option for you.

Ketamine works differently than traditional antidepressants. It affects the brain’s glutamate system, which plays an important role in learning, memory, and neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to form new connections.

Many clients find that ketamine helps reduce rigid thought patterns, increase emotional openness, and create space to approach difficult experiences with greater flexibility and compassion.

One of ketamine’s unique qualities is that many people experience improvements in their symptoms much more quickly than with traditional antidepressant medications. While every person’s experience is different, some individuals notice changes within hours or days. Lasting improvement is most often achieved by combining ketamine with psychotherapy and ongoing integration.

Having trained directly under IFS creator Richard Schwartz and Ketamine pioneer Phil Wolfson, I utilize a powerful blend of these modalities. Ketamine temporarily quiets the protective parts of your psyche, allowing us to safely step into your ‘Self’ energy using Internal Family Systems to heal deep-seated trauma and emotional blocks more rapidly than talk therapy alone.

Yes. Ketamine is a fully legal, Schedule III controlled substance that can be administered directly in my Golden, CO office.

For most healthy individuals, ketamine is considered safe when administered in an appropriate medical setting and under the supervision of trained professionals.

As with any medical treatment, there are potential side effects, including temporary dizziness, nausea, increased blood pressure, drowsiness, or feelings of dissociation. I’ll review these risks with you beforehand and work closely with your medical provider to help ensure your safety throughout the process.