I’ve been sitting on the front line of human suffering for over 25 years now. I went into medicine after a mystical experience that I had in my grandparent’s barn in Northern Wisconsin when I was ten years old. My parents sent us there for three weeks every summer, and on this special night a cow went into labor. I was captivated. I sat up alone with that cow until 3am when the baby calf finally emerged and took its first wobbly steps. I had never seen anything so magical, and instead of being scared or disgusted by any part of the process, I knew in that moment that I wanted to commit my life to understanding the mystery of life.
After that moment my personality structure kicked in and I started executing on the pieces I would need to manifest my dream. I graduated as the high school valedictorian and went on to study neuroscience, specifically mouse models of food and alcohol consumption, and molecular biology and married my college sweetheart who also had big career aspiration. I completed medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated second in my class, being acknowledged with the Pincus Prize for my excellent promise as a clinician.
Between medical school and residency at the University of Chicago Internal Medicine program I had my daughter because becoming a mother was as important to me as becoming a doctor, and I didn’t want to delay that part of my journey. Being a mom and a resident was hard, so I left academic medicine to practice in the suburbs and shift my focus to my family. I became pregnant that year with my first of three sons and spent the next five years either being pregnant or nursing while also working 30 hours as a private practice doctor each week. I could have stayed home full time, and I never questioned my commitment to continue developing my skills as a physician and healer.
In every hero(ine)’s journey there’s a challenge, and in my case my husband and I allowed work and family pressures to overwhelm the connection we had with each other. We divorced after seventeen years of marriage and suffered in the ways many people in these situations do. While I wouldn’t wish the painful parts of my journey on anyone, it was my longing to understand the psychospiritual side of what was happening inside of me, my husband, my family, and my patients that started my growth path which ultimately led to an experimenting with cannabis and psychedelic medicine a few years ago.
I share all of these details to give you a flavor of what you’ll get if you choose to pursue Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with me. I am an evidenced based physician that heavily bought into the whole “Just Say No” campaign of the 80’s because our family lore also contained a person who was experimenting with drugs in the 70’s and also developed schizophrenia. So I deeply understand the fear and skepticism that can arise when people start talking about psychedelics. But today we are lucky enough to be living in an era where the magical healing properties of psychedelics are being combined with the scientific rigor to support their use in some of the most challenging conditions that humans face, specifically, depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and addiction.
I spent a year completing both didactic and experiential work to earn Naropa University’s Certificate in Psychedelic Medicine in 2023. I am currently pursuing a training license for psilocybin facilitation in the state of Colorado. My thorough review of the literature and my own personal experience with psychedelics has led to a real passion for guiding people towards incorporating these medicines into your own healing journey if you feel called to do so.
Many are stuck in depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, or addiction because of rigid mental models that they are unable to loosen without medical support. While the current treatments dampen the nervous system response enough for many to work, live, and love more effectively, the side effects are often intolerable, and many are left with the sense that cause of their psychiatric problems are only being covered up and not truly healed. Psychedelics seem to open the areas of the brain that are stuck in unhealthy patterns and with skilled integration therapy, an individual can choose ways of being in the world that are more life serving instead of life defeating. No matter what has happened to you, the opportunity to heal and be free of any fixed state is available to you.
You can find links to articles and podcasts that I hope will help you to decide if psychedelic medicine may be right for you. If you’re interested in exploring further I hope you will schedule a consulation.
Currently Dr. Nance offers Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with either oral or IM administration at her Schaumburg, IL location. She can accompany via telemedicine those interested in using the FDA approved formulation of intranasal ketamine, Spravato, because this medication has less intense effects and can be used in the safety of your home. Please call the office and schedule a consultation to learn more. If you can come live and have insurance that Dr. Nance accepts, this initial consultation can go through your insurance.