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You’re lying on a bed in a dimly–lit room. Music surrounds you, and the air is soft on your skin. You slip a lozenge under your tongue. As it dissolves, you close your eyes, settling in for the experience ahead. Sitting beside you, a therapist offers a reassuring presence. If anxiety sets in, you’re prepared: deep breath in, then out. Slowly you ease into an altered state of consciousness as visions, memories, and visceral sensations wash over you in waves. Your journey begins.

This is ketamine–assisted psychotherapy, a fully legal and evidence–based psychedelic therapeutic practice. It’s a small piece of the budding psychedelic renaissance that’s sweeping the health care and wellness industries—and it’s happening a few blocks away from Penn’s campus at the SoundMind Center.

The SoundMind Center opened in August of 2021 and is the first talk–therapy–based clinic in the Philadelphia area licensed to practice ketamine–assisted psychotherapy. It’s spearheaded by Dr. Hannah McLane, founder of the SoundMind Center, who completed her residency in neurology and occupational and environmental medicine at Penn. Throughout her time working with patients and encountering a spectrum of neurological and mental health concerns, there was one common thread: unresolved trauma.

“As I passed through my medical education, I started seeing trauma everywhere,” she says.

McLane saw a particular need for accessible therapies for trauma among the BIPOC, LGBT, and neurodiverse populations in West Philadelphia and the surrounding community, where access to mental health care is limited and high levels of ingrained trauma are particularly prevalent. And in such a powerhouse health care hub like Philadelphia, with innovative advances in medical research coming out of Penn, Temple, and Jefferson, it seemed like the perfect place to open a clinic. 

“There is a really big barrier to entry in psychedelics with people of color. The War on Drugs has been a catalyst for that—it can be very difficult for people of color to trust medical doctors, to trust the government in general,” says Aubrey Howard

“Some people will have really powerful rebirth experiences or out-of-body experiences or play through memories from their childhood. It really runs the gamut. The therapist is there to create a safe holding environment while people are on ketamine, and then afterwards, you integrate what came up and use that as part of therapy,” says Courtney Hutchison.

“When we look at the mental, emotional, and physical body as a whole, integrated approach, we're able to really tap into our own innate healing abilities. Everybody has this ability to heal, given the right conditions and the right atmosphere,” says Howard.

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