Gilbert, Arizona — Interventional Psychiatry
Ketamine Therapy, Done Like Medicine
Monitored IM ketamine for adults whose depression has outlasted the standard playbook. Evaluation first, vitals on protocol, your provider on-site the whole session — inside LifeSpann at 2451 E Baseline Rd, Suite 310.
The short version
- Ketamine for depression is off-label. I tell you that up front, because a clinic that won't say it plainly will bend other facts too.
- You cannot book a session directly. Every patient starts with a candidacy evaluation, and treatment only proceeds if it is appropriate and safe for you. Some people leave that visit with a better plan than ketamine.
- This is in-person care at the Gilbert, Arizona office only. Because IM ketamine requires in-person monitoring, it is not offered by telehealth and is not available in California.
- Sessions are a monitored 2 to 2.5 hour block — vitals on protocol, provider on-site, ride home required.
- Pricing is on this page: $200 evaluation (credited), $350 per session, $1,999 for six.
- This is not crisis care. If you are in danger right now, call 911, or call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Candidacy
Ketamine is a real option. It is not a universal one.
Worth evaluating if
- Depression that has stayed put through two or more adequate antidepressant trials
- You keep functioning, barely, and each new medication trial costs you another two months
- Anxious depression or suicidal thinking that is persistent but not an active emergency
- You want a monitored, medical setting — not a lounge, not a mail-order nasal spray
We will say no if
- Uncontrolled blood pressure or significant unstable heart disease
- A history of psychosis or a primary psychotic disorder
- Active substance use that is not yet stable — ketamine has real misuse potential
- Pregnancy
- Looking for same-day relief in a crisis — that is emergency care, not ketamine therapy
Screening at the evaluation covers blood pressure, cardiac history, psychiatric history, pregnancy, substance use, and your current medications. A "no" comes with a different plan, not a shrug.
The diagnostic angle
"Treatment-resistant" is sometimes a lab result nobody ordered
Horizon Peak Health is a diagnostic psychiatry practice first. Before your depression gets labeled treatment-resistant, your evaluation looks at the things that quietly imitate it — thyroid, iron stores, sleep apnea, hormones, and the medications already on board.
Sometimes the workup changes the plan and ketamine moves down the list. Sometimes it confirms the label and ketamine moves up. Either way, you get the investigation before the injection.
I do not call it treatment-resistant depression until I know the body has actually been investigated.
What a session looks like
Walk in, get monitored, get driven home
Before anything, the evaluation
A candidacy evaluation comes first — treatment history, medications, heart and blood pressure screening, and whether anything medical explains why treatment has not worked. Some people leave this visit with a different plan than ketamine, and that is the point.
Arrival and vitals
You check in at the LifeSpann front desk and settle into a private room in Suite 310. Blood pressure and vitals are checked before any medication is given.
The dose
Ketamine is given as an intramuscular injection. No IV pole, no infusion pump — a single injection with the dose set from your evaluation.
The monitored block
You stay with us for the full session — plan on 2 to 2.5 hours door to door. A medical assistant checks vitals on a set protocol and your provider is on-site for the entire session. The dissociative period itself usually runs under an hour; the rest is recovery and re-check.
Going home
You will need someone to drive you. No driving until the next day, and we confirm your ride before we dose.
Who is supervising: every session is provider-supervised by Canybec Sulayman, PMHNP-BC — 19 years of critical care nursing across 7+ ICU types, including cardiac surgery ICU, CCRN and CSC certified, DEA-registered. Watching vitals respond to a medication is the part of this job he has done the longest.
Pricing
The prices, on the page
Ketamine sessions are self-pay. The evaluation can sometimes go through insurance as a psychiatric visit — we confirm which before you book anything.
$200
Ketamine Candidacy Evaluation
Credited toward your first session if you start treatment within 30 days. In some cases this visit can be billed to insurance as a psychiatric evaluation.
$475
Evaluation + First Session
The evaluation and your first monitored ketamine session together. Fully credited toward a 6-session package purchased within 14 days.
$350
Single IM Ketamine Session
One monitored intramuscular session, roughly a 2 to 2.5 hour visit end to end.
$1,999
6-Session Package
The typical induction series. Spacing is set clinically, not by the calendar on a brochure.
$150
Ketamine Follow-Up Visit
Progress review, dose planning, and the decision about whether to continue.
Start with the evaluation
$200, credited toward your first session if you move forward within 30 days.
Questions
Ketamine therapy FAQ
Is ketamine therapy covered by insurance?
The ketamine sessions themselves are self-pay. The candidacy evaluation can sometimes be billed to insurance as a psychiatric evaluation, and we tell you which applies before you book. Pricing is listed on this page — no quote call required.
Is this FDA-approved?
Ketamine itself is FDA-approved as an anesthetic. Its use for depression is off-label — legal, widely practiced, and supported by research, but not an FDA-approved indication. Spravato (esketamine) is the FDA-approved version for treatment-resistant depression; we are building toward offering it and keep a waitlist on this page.
How many sessions will I need?
A typical induction series is six sessions, which is why the package exists. Whether you continue past that depends on your response, reviewed at a follow-up visit — not on a subscription schedule.
Will I stop my antidepressant first?
Usually no. Most people continue their current medication. Do not stop or change any psychiatric medication on your own before the evaluation — that decision gets made with your provider, deliberately.
Who is actually in the room?
A medical assistant monitors you on a vitals protocol, and the session is supervised by a psychiatric nurse practitioner who spent 19 years in critical care, including cardiac surgery ICU. Monitoring someone through a hemodynamic response is not new territory here.
What does it feel like?
Most people describe a dissociative period — floating, detachment, altered perception of time — that peaks in the first 45 minutes and fades within the hour. Some find it strange, some find it peaceful. Nausea and a temporary blood pressure rise are the most common physical effects, which is exactly why vitals are on a protocol.
Coming to Gilbert
Prefer the FDA-approved, insurance-based route?
Spravato (esketamine) is the FDA-approved nasal-spray form for treatment-resistant depression, typically covered by insurance and given in a certified clinical setting. We are building toward offering it at the Gilbert office. Details on the Spravato page, or get on the list now.
Join the Spravato waitlist
Leave your first name and email. When Spravato (esketamine) is available at the Gilbert office, you hear about it first.
First name and email only — that's all we ask for, and all we store.
Ketamine therapy is not emergency care
If you are thinking about harming yourself or are in immediate danger, do not wait for an evaluation appointment. Call 911, go to the nearest emergency room, or call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any hour. And do not stop or change your current psychiatric medications on your own while you wait for a visit — medication changes belong inside a plan, made with your prescriber.
Start with the evaluation, not the injection
A $200 candidacy evaluation — credited toward your first session — tells us whether ketamine is your next step or whether something better fits. Appointment availability varies.
Book a Candidacy Evaluation