WHAT IS KAP? | Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, TELOS

Meet Our Provider Catherine Larkin

As a seasoned psychotherapist and a lifelong seeker, I welcome the opportunity to guide and assist people who choose psychedelics for healing and transformational change.

I have a special interest in neuroscience and attachment theory in the context of helping people heal from complex trauma and grief, and I am interested in finding underlying causes for symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and patterns of addiction. I am also interested in and have experience supporting people in difficult transitions such as professional changes, postpartum depression, men’s issues, parenting, divorce, hormonal changes, and chronic or terminal illness.

I believe that deeper healing takes place when the client can feel safe and vulnerable with their therapist. I strive to create this connection and containment throughout the ketamine experience. Setting an intention and integrating the experience is a powerful exercise, and having a witness and guide to your experience can deepen the meaning.

I continue to do my own inner work and attend trainings that are relevant to KAP and my own therapeutic practice:

In 2017 I attended a 10-day retreat with Gabor Mate. Our group’s purpose was to guide one another in our own deep process in order to effectively assist others in healing early childhood trauma, PTSD, grief, and addictive patterns and behaviors.

In 2015 I completed an 18-month post-graduate training in somatic transformation with Sharon Stanley that explored the physiological and psychological effects of complex traumatic experiences.

I hold a master’s degree in counseling from Bastyr University with an emphasis in family systems. In addition, I am trained in Psychodynamic therapy, Gestalt, Jungian therapeutic approaches, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, harm reduction, and somatic therapy. Currently I am in a full-time private practice and work with teens through geriatric ages, couples, families, and groups. I base my work with my clients on a combination of approaches, in the spirit of collaboration.

I love to play chess, tennis, pickle ball, ping-pong, swim and dance. I am a parent to three interesting young adults who keep me on my toes.

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.

If you are interested in future trainings or participating in KAT when alternative options become available you can send inquiries to scott.ross@salishseacounseling.com