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Field Trip to Better Health
Local psychedelic clinic helps patients access a better life PHOTOS COURTESY OF FIELD TRIP HEALTH
By Bridgette M. Redman cross between a clinic and a spa, a therapy office and a lounge, Field Trip Health is Los Angeles’ first legal psychedelic clinic. Combining ancient wisdom and rituals with modern research and scientific evidence about psychedelics, Field Trip Health offers treatment for such challenges as post-traumatic stress disorder and treatmentresistant depression. They have nine clinics around the world with the one in Santa Monica being the first in California. Angel Cortes, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment, found the treatments to be life changing, something that he said made him into a better father, husband and person. He learned about the therapy from a Navy Seal friend of his, Mike O’Dowd, whom he met at a shooting range. “One day, he brought up the therapy and told me what it had done for him,” Cortes said. “But I wasn’t ready to do it for a while.” In summer 2020, Cortes started helping out at a printshop where he had worked in the past. He noticed that there was something different about the guys working there — they seemed more mellow. The told him it was because they were all doing DMT together. DMT, or N-dimethyltryptamine, is a hallucinogenic psychedelic drug similar to LSD and magic mushrooms. It is illegal to make, buy, possess or distribute it in the United States,, though some cities have recently decriminalized it including Oakland and Santa Cruz; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Cortes said he tried it twice, but then the person who supplied it moved to Wisconsin and his connection was cut off. “I did the DMT and I remember that a layer of anxiety was taken off, so that really sparked my interest in psychedelics,” Cortes said. For a while, he tried magic mushrooms. He shared these experiences with O’Dowd, who encouraged him to try the
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Field Trip Health is a clinic in Santa Monica that offers psychedelic-enhanced psychotherapy to help people heal and beat depression and other mental health conditions. ketamine therapy at Field Trip Health. Cortes is the founder and owner of OG Pumpkin, a clothing and lifestyle brand that donates the proceeds to fund veteran initiatives. In early summer, Field Trip Health sponsored one of his events. They came and talked to a group of veterans about their programs. That was when Cortes decided he was ready for the treatment.
Program for ketamine treatments Ketamine has been used as anesthesia medicine for animals and people since the 1960s. According to WebMD, it was used to treat injured soldiers in Vietnam battlefields. Because it doesn’t slow down breathing or heart rates, patients don’t need to be on a ventilator to receive it. In recent years, it has been researched as a treatment for
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depression, and medical protocols using it have seen a great deal of success. The use of a nasal spray has been FDA approved for the treatment of depression, but many doctors are using infusions, which is what is done at Field Trip Health. The programs start with an initial consultation in which the patient meets with a therapist for an initial psychiatric consultation to discuss their past physical and mental health history and goals for the treatment. The therapy is introduced, and the therapist and patient discuss consent and safety. The second part of the program is the psychedelic exploration, which can be done alone or as part of a group experience. When the patient is comfortable, the therapeutic team will administer a low dose of the psychedelic medicine. Depending on the patient’s response, more may be admin-
istered. Afterward, the patients will speak with therapists about their experiences. The third step in the program is an integration session in which a therapist works with the patient to understand their experience and translate their new awareness into life practices. Subsequent sessions are typically designed to include more psychedelic exploration with follow-up integration. The treatment is not available to anyone with an allergy to ketamine, recent traumatic brain injury or a history of psychosis. Other contraindications can be discussed with the therapists. The introductory package that includes one psychedelic exploration is $750. Subsequent sessions are $750 for the psychedelic exploration, $250 for a full integration session and reduced rates for group sessions. They also offer payment plans.
Veteran experiences intense first session Cortes said that when he first arrived at Field Trip Health, the therapist asked him what he wanted to get out of it. He replied that he wanted to be a better human being. The therapist pressed, asking him what that would look like, what it would do for his everyday relationships. “I thought I would get cheat codes to life or just be better,” Cortes said. “In a way I got that, but the journey or the trip itself took me in a different direction that really impacted my life in a positive way.” The day of the exploration session, Cortes spent the morning at the range where he and Mike teach SWAT teams. When he arrived at the Santa Monica clinic, he said everything immediately changed. “You can just feel the energy was calm,” Cortes said. “Just walking in, I felt more
