Psychedelic Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

Break Free from Addictive Patterns and Reclaim your Life with KARE: Ketamine for the Reduction of Alcohol Relapse.

As seen on Netflix’s “How to Change Your Mind”

Person looking out the window

When Standard Alcohol Use Disorder Treatments Fail to Deliver Results

Alcohol Use Disorder is a devastating condition that affects approximately 285 million people globally and results in more than 5% of all deaths.

In the U.S., only 8% of those suffering from Alcohol Use Disorders seek treatment[3], and 75% of them relapse within 12 months[4].

Through clinical trials, the KARE program has demonstrated that ketamine-assisted therapy has the potential to be more effective than any Alcohol Use Disorder treatment currently available.

The Power of Ketamine Therapy

86%
86%
Of days were abstinent for participants 6 months following treatment with ketamine-assisted therapy[1].
VS
25%
25%

Of days were abstinent for participants 6 months post-treatment with standard alcohol addiction recovery programs.

“After a crisis, I used alcohol to dampen my feelings. After my final ketamine journey, I had this feeling of joy, that I am enough—and it sticks. Nushama felt very safe.”

SUE ELLEN

nushama member

How Can Psychedelic-assisted Therapy Help with Alcohol Use Disorder?

The KARE program, a clinically validated approach, combines psychotherapy with sessions assisted by ketamine[2]. This program has been proven to be multiple times more efficacious than traditional alcohol treatment at a fraction of the cost of many in-patient programs[1]
The KARE program is intended to provide insights into the underlying cravings for alcohol and understand the deeply ingrained behavioral patterns that keep individuals stuck in cycles of addiction.

If other treatments have failed to deliver lasting change, ketamine therapy offers an alternative approach to help you gain new perspectives, improve mental health, and make a fresh start.

The KARE program, a clinically validated approach, combines psychotherapy with sessions assisted by ketamine[2]. This program has been proven to be multiple times more efficacious than traditional alcohol treatment at a fraction of the cost of many in-patient programs[1]

The KARE program is intended to provide insights into the underlying cravings for alcohol and understand the deeply ingrained behavioral patterns that keep individuals stuck in cycles of substance dependency.

If other treatments have failed to deliver lasting change, ketamine therapy offers an alternative approach to help you gain new perspectives, improve mental health, and make a fresh start.

KARE is a structured, 4-week outpatient protocol that combines the power of psychedelic insights with rigorous psychotherapy.

How It Works

Our highly experienced clinicians deliver a 7-session program over 4 weeks in a safe, serene, therapeutic environment.

  • All seven sessions include preparation, psychotherapy, and the integration of key insights gained during journeys, facilitating psychological breakthroughs and lasting behavioral change.
  • Three of the seven sessions include IV ketamine journeys.

Most medications work by pharmacologically inducing a masking response, without addressing the underlying issue. Instead, ketamine provides a doorway into consciousness, so you can explore the root causes of addictive patterns, reframe your personal narrative, and gain powerful insights that can lead to a therapeutic breakthrough.

How Nushama’s Ketamine Therapy Compares with Traditional Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery Programs

Harness the Power of Psychedelic Therapy to Uncover the Root of Alcohol Use Disorder

Ketamine produces an ego-dissolving experience, so you can break free of your usual thought patterns and compassionately examine the underlying issues of your relationship with alcohol. When combined with therapy, this approach can lead to powerful breakthroughs that lead to lasting change.

Lower Cost & Greater Efficacy

Traditional rehab centers can cost $25,000-$50,000 per month or more, due to the extremely high costs of providing extended in-patient care. Our approach costs a fraction of traditional rehab with a much higher rate of success[1].

Greater Convenience

Many Alcohol Use Disorder recovery programs require you to stay onsite 24/7 for 30 to 90 days, disrupting your work and personal life. Our outpatient treatment program is completed with seven sessions over four weeks, requiring significantly less time and allowing you to fit treatments into your schedule.

What is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that elicits psychedelic-like effects at certain doses. Ketamine-assisted therapy can be used as an alternative treatment for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mood disorders

Our Process - 7 Sessions Over 4 Weeks

$9,950 if paid in full or $788 for 12 months
(excluding medical intake and if approved by CareCredit)

Common Questions

You will be asked to complete a questionnaire to determine if you are eligible for the treatment. The eligibility criteria being met are a critical step in the process. We will then need your general practitioner’s records to ensure the eligibility criteria are correct. Our medical team will review this and then get in touch to either invite you in for an initial assessment or to inform you that, unfortunately, we will not be able to offer you this treatment.

Finally, the initial assessment will determine if psychedelic therapy is right for you. You will then be allocated to one of our clinics to undergo a 7-session course that includes preparation, integration, ketamine-assisted therapy, and psychotherapy, which will include three ketamine “dosing” sessions.

The therapy and dosing regimen delivered in our clinics for people with alcohol problems was developed and tested through Awakn Life Sciences’ clinical trials for KARE (Ketamine in the Reduction of Alcoholic Relapse).

These trials showed ketamine-assisted therapy delivered 86% abstinence at 6 months post-treatment, significantly more than the approximate 25% abstinence in the standard treatment. Trial participants also experienced significant improvement in liver function and a substantial decrease in depression.

Anecdotally, many participants also reported sudden profound changes and ease of giving up after struggling for years. The results were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in January 2022.

Because psychedelic-assisted therapy is effective at addressing underlying traumas that are linked to harmful repetitive thinking patterns, it presents the possibility of addressing a wide range of mental health issues rooted in trauma.

Click here for details of clinical trial outcomes.

$9,950 if paid in full or $788 for 12 months (excluding medical intake and if approved by CareCredit). By comparison, many in-patient alcohol use disorder treatment programs in the United States range from $25,000 to $50,000 for a 30-day program.
While the entire program may not be covered by insurance, we will provide a superbill (also known as an itemized list of services to submit to your insurance company) for all therapy sessions. A total of 10 hours of therapy will be provided, which may be reimbursable depending on your insurance policy.
Still have questions? Give us a call at (646) 216-8241.

Our Team & Advisors

Our team includes medical specialists in mood and eating disorders, alcohol use disorders, as well as leading researchers and practitioners in ketamine and other psychedelic therapies.

Dr. Radowitz’s focus is preventive medicine, getting to the underlying source before it manifests as “dis-ease,” a misalignment of mind, body, and spirit, evolving his career as a board-certified internist to psychedelics for mental health.

Dr. Julia Mirer is a psychedelic medicine advisor and advocate, bridging eastern and western practices, merging them to create a new paradigm for integrative health and wellness.

Eva Muschkin is a Nurse Practitioner who believes in a holistic approach to patient care, encompassing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. She worked in primary care prior but became more interested in how psychedelic medicine can benefit mental health.

Steven Radowitz, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Radowitz has a wealth of experience seeing the effects trauma can have on our physical health firsthand. He joined Nushama to oversee and develop treatment modalities, believing psychedelics are the future of mental wellness as current solutions treat symptoms, not underlying issues.

Dr. Radowitz also runs the primary care program at Goldman Sachs and has practiced internal medicine and primary care since 1998. Originally from Montreal, he completed his M.D. at Chicago Medical School. He worked at St. Vincent’s in general medicine and HIV/AIDS units and was Medical Director of the inpatient alcohol and opiate detox and treatment unit.

Dr. Radowitz’s focus is preventive medicine, getting to the underlying source before it manifests as “dis-ease,” a misalignment of mind, body, and spirit. He believes psychedelics are a powerful tool to discover the origin of imbalance. On a spiritual journey with Kabbalah, he also studies meditation and yoga. At Nushama, he leads one of the most experienced teams in psychedelic medicine.

Julia Mirer, MD

Director of Strategy & Impact

Dr. Julia Mirer is an advisor and advocate in the emerging field of psychedelic medicine, serving as a bridge between eastern and western practices, committed to merging them to help create a new paradigm for integrative health and wellness.

Her passion lies in education and advocacy for the responsible use of these medicines. Dr. Mirer believes that a successful future for this field depends on the interplay between policy, research, and clinics and has therefore positioned herself to play a role in each.

Nationally, Dr. Mirer is an advisor for the Plant Medicine Coalition, lobbying the NIH for $100 million for psychedelic research. In Florida, she works in psychedelic clinical research at Segal Trials as a facilitator for USONA’s phase 2 trial using Psilocybin for Major Depression. Most recently, Dr. Mirer joined Nushama as Director of Strategy, where she hopes to combine all of her experience to realize the vision of a new type of healthcare system.

Eva Muschkin, MSN, AGACNP-BC

Nurse Practioner

Eva Muschkin is a Nurse Practitioner at Nushama. She is passionate about using the power of psychedelics to help people with various mental health conditions. Eva believes in a holistic approach to patient care, encompassing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. She worked in primary care for over two years but became more interested in learning about depression and anxiety to understand better treatment approaches.

Eva studied psychology at Ohio State University, lived abroad in Madrid, Spain, and then graduated from Vanderbilt University with her Master’s Degree in Nursing. After becoming a Nurse Practitioner, she moved to New York City for work. In her free time, she enjoys tennis, skiing, and being on the beach.