WHAT IS KAP? | Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, TELOS

Meet Our Provider Brandon Zahl

Brandon recognizes we all have a strong drive to experience our fullest sense of vitality and an inner healing intelligence which can help us get there. He is honored to work with clients in the ketamine space – bearing witness to the medicine’s transformative ability to show us a peaceful, expansive sense of Self that is separate from chronic, self-limiting patterns of reductive thinking and emotional pain-body identification. He understands that the rich insights offered during the experience can be profound yet also can quickly fade if not integrated carefully back into our ordinary state of consciousness and daily life. His offers extensive preparation and integration support to maximize the benefits of the ketamine experience. Additionally, his experience with Buddhism, contemporary spirituality and somatic therapy offers a set of tools to help clients weave their experiences and insights from the ketamine experience back into their daily lives to achieve long-lasting change.

Brandon spent over 9 years in the software engineering field, with experience at Microsoft, Amazon and Intel. After realizing his passion for authentic human connection and transformative growth, he left to earn a master’s degree in Mental Health counseling with a concentration in Addiction Studies at Antioch University in Seattle. He has had experience working in a community mental health agency and a private group practice with depression, anxiety, mood disorders, addiction and unresolved trauma. He holds an Associate’s license in Mental Health Counseling and also has the Substance Use Disorder Professional Trainee credential. He sees himself as a playful, genuine, caring and creative person who enjoys time with loved ones, playing and listening to music, spiritual practice, dancing, nature, and photography.

Meet our Medical Team

Rafael Gonzalez-Vizoso, MD

Dr. Gonzalez-Vizoso started his education at Brooklyn College where he earned his BA in chemistry while fulfilling his pre-med requirements, graduating Cum Laude. He completed his medical school education at Harvard Medical School where he also did a year of research in Tropical Medicine.

His internship was done at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, a Tufts University Medical School affiliated program, and his residency in Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center, a Boston University Medical School affiliated program.

He has been board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine since 1996. He has been practicing Emergency Medicine in multiple settings -anywhere from Level 2 Trauma Centers in urban settings to small to medium rural hospitals- since his graduation from residency in 1994. He is currently the Medical Director for Emergency Services at a critical care access rural hospital in Eastern Washington. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Lightshine, a non profit organization dealing with the care of orphans -specifically in the setting of attachment disorder-, and has traveled extensively on behalf of this organization through Central and South America.

After arriving in Seattle in 1996, he taught Introduction to Clinical Medicine at the University of Washington Medical School as a clinical instructor for 5 years. He also engaged in outcomes research as the medical director of Health Research Associates, Inc. where he co-authored papers, wrote grants and lead studies for 10 years. For the past 18 months, he has been interested in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy and has undergone all the appropriate training with The Ketamine Training Center, headed by Dr. Phil Wolfson, a leading authority on ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) and has become certified in this treatment modality.

Dr. Gonzalez-Vizoso’s interest in KAP was sparked by the dearth of options available for mental health patients in crisis as well as people with addiction disorders. This induced him to delve into the latest research in the use of psychedelics for mental illnesses. He has used ketamine as an anesthetic in the emergency medicine setting as aid for painful procedures and rapid sequence intubation for over 25 years and is very familiar with the use and safety profile of ketamine. During his training for KAP, Dr. Gonzalez-Vizoso experienced firsthand the amazing effects of ketamine. In association with veteran, ketamine trained psychotherapists, he has become increasingly active in the field of applying psychedelics in the setting of mental illnesses and hopes to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Besides his interests in medicine, Dr. Gonzalez-Vizoso holds two black belts in two different styles of martial arts, is an avid free diver and spearfisherman as well as an avid cyclist. He is an amateur historian and has serious spiritual and religious pursuits. He also writes poetry but is too afraid to show it to anyone yet.

Getting started

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