Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and Preparation & Integration Sessions
PSYCHEDELIC ASSISTED THERAPY IN NJ, NY & CO
Psychedelic-assisted therapy can help access emotions, insights, and healing opportunities that may feel difficult to reach through traditional talk therapy alone. At Holding Space Therapy, we provide thoughtful preparation, integration, and support to help you make meaningful sense of your experiences.
A Different Path to Healing
At Holding Space Therapy, we offer both KAP as well as Psychedelic Preparation & Integration sessions.
This page offers a general overview about Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, but for those who already know what they’re looking for, you can find more details at the pages linked here.
What is Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy?
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT) is an emerging, research-informed approach that combines psychotherapy with carefully supported altered states of consciousness to support healing, insight, and transformation.
Psychedelic substances can shift perception, mood, and awareness—sometimes opening access to parts of ourselves that are not easily reachable in our everyday state. While these experiences have been part of spiritual and cultural traditions for centuries, modern therapeutic approaches emphasize safety, preparation, and integration.
In this work, the experience itself is not the treatment.
Healing comes through the relationship, the process, and what is done with what emerges.
These states can gently soften protective patterns, allowing for deeper emotional access, connection to the body, and new ways of understanding long-held beliefs and survival responses. For some, this may create space to approach painful or overwhelming experiences—such as trauma or attachment wounds—with more openness and less fear.
At the same time, these experiences can be intense. They may increase emotional vulnerability and bring forward material quickly. Because of this, a steady, attuned therapeutic container is essential—one that prioritizes pacing, safety, and integration.
What does psychedelic assisted therapy look like?
From a trauma-informed, relational, and somatic perspective, the focus is not on the experience alone, but on how it is held, processed, and woven into everyday life.
Most models of this work include three phases:
Preparation - Creating safety, building trust, and supporting you in approaching the experience with clarity and internal resources
Experience - Entering a supported altered state in a way that allows whatever arises to unfold with care and presence
Integration - Making meaning of the experience and supporting it to become part of lasting, embodied change
A Trauma-Informed, Integrative Approach
Therapist Alein Haddad-Perez’s work is rooted in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation, which deeply shapes how she approaches Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy.
These experiences can open access to parts of the self that have been held outside of awareness—protective patterns, implicit memories, and nervous system responses that developed to help you survive. While this can create meaningful opportunities for healing, it can also feel disorienting or overwhelming without the right support.
This is where a trauma-informed, integrative approach becomes essential.
Alein works from a trauma-informed and somatic lens, supporting the nervous system with care, pacing, and attunement. This includes understanding how different parts of the self organize around safety, how the body holds experience, and how healing unfolds through connection rather than intensity.
Rather than pushing for breakthrough, the focus is on:
Safety and stabilization
Respecting protective parts of the self
Working at a pace your system can integrate
Staying connected to the body and present moment
In this approach, psychedelic-assisted work becomes less about the experience itself, and more about how it is held, processed, and integrated over time—within a consistent, attuned therapeutic relationship.
DISCLAIMER
I do not provide psychedelic medications, promote the illegal use of psychedelics, offer sitting or guiding services (with the exception of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy where legally applicable), refer clients to underground or international providers, or provide advice related to substance type or dosing. I provide psychotherapy only.
Curious about our therapeutic approach?
Working with Alein
The legal landscape of psychedelic-assisted therapy is evolving and varies depending on location.
At this time:
Ketamine is legally available for medical use across the United States and is sometimes used off-label in psychotherapy.
MDMA-assisted therapy is currently under federal review and is not yet approved for general clinical use.
Psilocybin-assisted therapy is legal in certain jurisdictions (such as Colorado), but remains illegal in New Jersey and New York.
Because of this, access to these treatments can look different depending on where you are and what services are being provided.
Alein is a licensed Natural Medicine Clinical Facilitator in the state of Colorado. Despite being trained and authorized to provide psilocybin-assisted services in that context, she does not currently offer this service. As New Jersey moves toward potential legalization of psilocybin-assisted therapy, she intends to align the practice with state regulations as they evolve.
Alein additionally offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) as one of several therapeutic tools. KAP is not a standalone service—it is offered only to established, long-term clients, and always within the context of ongoing therapy. This allows the work to be grounded in a strong therapeutic relationship, with careful attention to preparation, pacing, and integration, working at the pace your nervous system can integrate.
Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Sessions
Alein also offers psychedelic preparation and integration sessions from a harm reduction and trauma-informed perspective.
This may include:
Preparing for a potential experience by building safety and internal resources
Exploring intentions and expectations
Processing past psychedelic experiences
Supporting integration into daily life in a way that feels grounded and sustainable
This work does not require participation in a dosing session. It is centered on supporting your process in a way that prioritizes safety, autonomy, and long-term wellbeing.
In-Person and Online Therapy in Montclair
103 Park Street
Montclair, NJ 07042
Call or Text (201) 500-7112
There is ample onsite parking available for clients as well as elevator access in the building.
HIPAA compliant Teletherapy options to clients in New Jersey, New York & Colorado