March 27-29 2026

Ketamine Essentials

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What to Expect

This is an introduction training designed for therapists, counselors, social workers, and other mental health providers who want to experientially understand the ketamine experience so they can better support their clients through preparation, meaning-making, and integration.

❋ This training is for mental health providers who:

  • Work with clients receiving ketamine treatment (or plan to)

  • Want to understand what their clients actually experience

  • Wish to strengthen their preparation and integration skills

  • Are curious, thoughtful, and ethically grounded

  • Value experiential learning

❋ Ketamine Experience

While a facilitated Ketamine experience is not required, it is highly recommended to deepen your experience and understanding of the material provided. We will be specifically discussing intermuscular ketamine administered by a medical provider with a sitter using the therapist as a prep and integration part of the team. We recommend you set up your experience as soon as you are able prior to the training.

Facilitated experiential sessions will not be provided in this training and are not required but HIGHLY recommended prior to training with Connections Ketamine.

❋ Expert Facilitation

Guided by:

  • A medical doctor with extensive ketamine expertise

  • An experienced sitter with over 15 years of preparation, sitting, and integration work

  • In collaboration with The Healing Group Institute to bridge the provider, sitter, therapist collaboration.

Participants are invited into a weekend of learning that is grounded, relational, and clinically meaningful—supporting both professional growth and personal insight.

❋ Training Topics Participants will explore:

  • History of ketamine therapy

  • Mechanisms of action

  • Indications & therapeutic applications

  • Current statistics & outcomes

  • Medical oversight: screening, monitoring, safety

  • The power of Set & Setting

  • Ethical considerations

  • The role & responsibilities of a sitter

  • Navigating challenging experiences (“bad trips”)

  • Integration models & therapy techniques (collaborative)

  • Clinical collaboration: doctor–sitter–therapist

Meet the Facilitators

At Connections Ketamine and Healing, Dr. Nathan Unkefer and Shandell Pino bring together two powerful halves of the healing process: medical expertise and emotional integration. Most ketamine clinics stop at administering the medicine. Nathan and Shandell believe that’s only the beginning. Healing requires safety, science, and a trusted guide to help anchor insights into everyday life.

Nathan, a board-certified ER physician, ensures every treatment is safe, physician-guided, and backed by nearly two decades of emergency medicine experience. He’s seen ketamine work thousands of times in clinical settings — and now applies that expertise to support patients searching for lasting relief from depression, anxiety, and PTSD across the Salt Lake Valley.

Shandell, a certified psychedelic integration specialist, provides grounding, compassion, and a calming presence before, during, and after each at-home session. She helps patients process insights, release emotional blocks, and integrate breakthroughs into daily routines so change becomes lasting transformation.

Together, they provide what no traditional clinic can: the balance of science and soul that restores hope and makes true healing possible.

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Pricing

Early Bird Registration (through February 27, 2026)

Tap here to find out more information about joining The Healing Group Institute.

  • Early Bird Tuition $500

    Tuition $575

  • Early Bird Tuition $650

    Tuition $575

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Orientation & Medical Foundations

Day One | March 27 | 5:00-8:00pm

As everyone arrives, we take time to settle in, get comfortable, and begin connecting with those around us. The journey starts here.

Welcome + Introductions

5:00-5:30pm

Group Activity

5:30-6:15pm

Roles: Medical Provider

6:15-6:45pm

Ethics

7:00–8:00pm

Day Two | March 28 | 8:30am-5:00pm

Psychedelic Process & Clinical Application

Together, we pause to consider our goals, hopes, and direction. This is about aligning with ourselves and with the journey ahead. This is a chance to reconnect with what brought you here—your questions, your hopes, your turning points—and consider how they’ve shifted or deepened.

Medical Foundations – Part 1

8:30–10:00am

Morning Break

10:00–10:15

Medical Foundations – Part 2

10:15–11:45am

Lunch

11:45–12:45pm

Psychedelic Experience

12:45–2:15pm

Afternoon Break

2:15–2:30pm

Integration Practices

2:30–4:30pm

Daily Closing + Reflections

12:45–2:15pm

Day Three | March 29 | 8:30am–12:00pm

Experiential & Integration

We explore the possibilities beyond this moment, making space for growth, action, and forward momentum. As we end our time together, we honor the experience, the growth, and the connections made along the way.

Experiential Journey Sonic Induction Drum Journey

8:30–9:15am

Break

9:15–9:30am

Integration Practice & Processing

9:30–11:30am

Final Q&A + Closing Circle Reflections

11:30–12:00pm

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