I wasn't initially going to write a review of this place, but when I learned that my wife's (she went here for treatment too) review was removed, it made me want to make sure other patients are aware of what they're getting into when they come here, knowing BPA is heavily censoring out negative reviews.
My main advice to anyone considering BPA for ketamine treatment would be to not come here at all. I hate to say it, but it's true for me. I experienced most of the doctors as very dismissive, some made me feel scared and like my boundaries weren't being respected, some don't follow basic standards of care, nor ethical and legal codes around ketamine administration and how to make a safe set and setting for entheogenic-assisted therapies. Many of the docs have billed our insurance for an hour-long psychotherapy code when the doctor only actually talked to me for five minutes or less (before anyone tries to argue that ketamine changes your sense of time: I know this from looking at my watch). That's usually considered insurance fraud, in my experience as a mental health professional. This place seems to mostly care about making money and not about actual patient care.
You often get shuffled through appointments in less than two hours as they're constantly trying to see more patients and add more ketamine treatment rooms in order to make more money. They might call this "helping more people," but it actually hurts the quality of care given to the existing patients and ends up being worse for everyone and everything except the doctor's bank accounts. It made me as a patient feel like I didn't matter and wasn't worth their time. It's very disorienting being moved between rooms or having to leave while still very much "high." The walls are uninsulated and you can hear everything happening in the rooms adjacent to you, as well as in the waiting room. I could hear other patients' names, their whole talk session, and the details of their ketamine experience. Sometimes you will hear other patients screaming, banging on walls, etc. which feels quite scary in general and especially when you're trying to sink into your own ketamine experience. You can also hear all the doors opening and closing and because of their weight it's often a frightening "slam" sound. This happened multiple times every time I was at the clinic. It's so loud I could still hear all this WHILE wearing noise cancelling earphones. For these reasons, it could be very triggering to get treatment here if you have severe depression or PTSD. I know it was for me.
The techs are kind and treated poorly by those with more power than them. It's sad to see. They're the people NOT actually making more money from all the changes, yet having to do more work.
I do have to shout to Dr. Cohen, who stands out as kind, relatable, and very smooth and humanistic in his clinical style. And of course Dr. Duran who is the reason I kept coming to this otherwise pretty terrible clinic for a long time. He is gentle, sweet, and smart and has some quality I can't quite name which makes his presence lead to deeper ketamine sessions.
Unfortunately though you can't even reliably get sessions with the doctors who make you feel safe. BPA on principle doesn't seem to place much importance on the actual therapeutic alliance, so you often end up being shuffled amongst many different doctors every week especially if you didn't manage to schedule things three months in advance. If something changes and the doctor you were scheduled with is sick, they won't tell you, so you don't even find out until you get to the clinic.
In addition to it not being the right setting for me, I realized I was paying money into a system that I take a lot of ethical issues with (recall: insurance fraud, mis treatment of techs who are at the bottom of the pay totem pole, and a profit sharing model that benefits only the doctors (and maybe a few other stakeholders) and incentivizes quick-- rather than good and thorough-- clinical care).
I'm using a remote ketamine treatment service now and it feels so much better to be in a place where I feel safe, to have as much time as I need for the session, and to pay less for a better quality ketamine experience. I'd recommend others do the same and not waste time or emotional energy trying to make BPA work for what you need. read more
