Setting Intentions for an IV Ketamine Therapy Session: A Foundational Step at Ember Health

At Ember Health, we know that the path to healing from depression—including anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, OCD, and related challenges—is deeply personal and often layered. Treatment with IV ketamine paired with good talk therapy offers a powerful opportunity for transformation, but the process is most effective when guided with care, presence, and intention.

That’s why, at all of our NYC-based clinics, setting intentions is a cornerstone of the therapeutic experience we create with and for our patients.

What It Means to Set an Intention

An intention is not a goal. Rather than fixating on a specific outcome, an intention reflects the emotional or psychological approach you’d like to carry into your ketamine session. It may be a quality you wish to embody—like curiosity or gentleness—or a readiness to engage with something new.

At Ember Health, we invite patients to consider intentions that feel authentic to where they are in their healing process. Before the infusion begins and while in their private infusion room with a trusted member of our clinical care team, patients often reflect on where they’ve been, what they’re noticing now, and what they hope to open up to. Whether you’re visiting our Chelsea or our Brooklyn Heights clinic, our care team consistently makes space for these conversations without pressure or expectation—just a steady presence and deep respect for your perspective.

Why Intentions Matter in the Ketamine Experience

In the altered state that ketamine can evoke, intention acts like a soft anchor—a quiet reminder of your inner compass during a session that may be expansive, emotional, challenging, or unexpected. Patients who take a moment before the infusion to settle into an intention often report feeling more grounded during their session, and more connected to self afterward.

At Ember, this grounding begins from the moment you walk into a clinic. Our Office Administrators have been specially trained to greet you with warmth and empathy. Before each session, your nurse or doctor will check in with you, exploring your state of mind and revisiting any previous intentions. Together, you may identify something as simple and powerful as:

• “May I be open to what arises.”
• “I invite clarity and calm.”
• “I want to reconnect with hope.”

These intentions don’t need to be profound—they just need to be yours.

Intentions as Part of Integration

Healing doesn’t stop when a session ends. In fact, some of the most meaningful moments and neural activity in the brain happen afterward, when you begin to reflect, integrate, and make sense of what you experienced.

That’s why Ember provides post-session integration support, including thoughtful guidance and opportunities to process what emerged. Your pre-infusion intention can be a helpful thread to return to. Did your experience align with your intention? Did something shift in how you relate to it? These questions can deepen emotional understanding and empower you to make changes aligned with your values.

We leave deeper therapeutic integration to the experts: your therapist and/or psychiatrist. At Ember, we do not play the role of therapist. We simply unlock the door of your perspective and mental state using the neuroplastic effects of ketamine; you and your therapist or other mental health provider then have the opportunity to open and walk through it. Our intention-setting practices with patients are a helpful way to set up for productive therapy after the infusion, especially in the 24-72 hours after treatment when your neuroplastic window is most open.

We’ve seen that patients who engage in this full arc—from intention through gentle integration with an Ember clinician, and then talk therapy—often find that ketamine becomes not just a medication, but a catalyst for healing in their relationships, work, and sense of self.

Real Intentions, Real Impact

Here are just a few examples of intentions that have emerged in our work with patients at Ember Health:

• Openness to change: For someone stuck in repetitive thought patterns, this can be a gateway to seeing new possibilities for healing.
• Self-compassion: Patients who feel burdened by shame or self-criticism often find that naming a desire for compassion helps them approach difficult memories more gently.
• Emotional clarity: Those navigating complex relationships or big life changes use this intention to better understand what they’re truly feeling—and why.
• Connection: Some patients enter sessions wanting to reconnect with themselves, their bodies, or the world around them in a more authentic way.
• Curiosity: Rather than fearing the unknown, this intention invites exploration—and often leads to transformative insights.
• Rekindling joy: Given the nature of depression, some patients have not felt true joy in some time; they seek to reconnect with the feeling of happiness or positive energy.

How Ember Health Supports Intention-Setting

With care, humility, and a deep respect for lived experience, our approach to intention-setting is central to our care methodology. Before your first session, your Ember provider will meet with you to understand your history and reasons for treatment. This is a collaborative process, not a checklist. At subsequent visits, we revisit your intentions and offer space to adjust based on how you’re feeling that day or what’s unfolding in your life.

You’ll never be rushed, judged, or pushed, but instead, supported in connecting with what feels meaningful and true—on your terms, and in your time.

A Final Word

At Ember Health, we believe IV ketamine therapy is most effective when it honors the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. Setting an intention is one of the simplest and most profound ways to engage with this work more fully.

Wherever you are on your healing path, we’re here to walk alongside you—with clinical expertise, wholehearted holding of space, and a belief in your capacity to heal.

To learn more about Ember’s treatment approach, or to connect with a clinician about starting your ketamine journey, email us at intake@emberhealth.co or get started here.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.