Number First Name Last Name Email Address
1 Anne Evans anne.evans@mail.com
2 Bill Fernandez bill.fernandez@mail.com
3 Candice Gates candice.gates@mail.com
4 Dave Hill dave.hill@mail.com

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Specific Trauma Therapy Available

More Than 50 Years of Combined Experience

Will Bill Insurance

Ketamine Therapy
West Des Moines, IA
West Des Moines, IA

Specific Trauma Therapy Available

More Than 50 Years of Combined Experience

Will Bill Insurance

Hours:

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Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) at Moore Life Counseling

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) pairs evidence-based talk therapy with medically prescribed ketamine to help individuals break through rigid thought patterns and heal from depression, anxiety, and trauma. At Moore Life Counseling, therapy is always the foundation. Ketamine is never utilized on its own; it serves as a supportive tool to open windows of neuroplasticity, allowing you to access deeper emotional insights and create lasting change in a secure, grounded environment. 

Spravato With Integration Therapy vs. Spravato Alone


While Spravato without therapy can alleviate physiological symptoms of depression, pairing it with integration therapy addresses both the biology and the psychology of mental health.

Feature/Outcome Spravato Without Integration Therapy Spravato With Integration Therapy
Symptom Relief Offers temporary, biological reduction in depression symptoms. Combines biological relief with psychological tools for long-term recovery.
Emotional Insights Experiences or feelings during sessions may feel confusing, fading over time. Insights are systematically captured, interpreted, and applied to real-life challenges.
Behavioral Change Harder to break old behavioral loops once neuroplasticity windows close. Capitalizes on windows of neuroplasticity to build healthy new thought patterns and habits.
Relapse Prevention High reliance on ongoing medication to manage symptom return. Empowers patients with self-regulation strategies, reducing risk of severe relapse.
Trauma Processing May stir up unresolved feelings without a safe space to process them. Provides a safe, guided environment to process surfaced memories and trauma.

Our Philosophy: A Therapy-First, Trauma-Informed Approach

We prioritize long-term healing over quick fixes. Our approach is built on core principles designed around your safety and comfort: 


  • Safety Before Speed: We move only as fast as you feel secure. 
  • Your Nervous System Sets the Pace: Pacing, dosing, and sessions adapt to your unique capacity and emotional regulation.
  • No Forced Reliving of Trauma: You are never forced to revisit painful memories; sessions focus on insight, emotional healing, and stability.
  • Integration is Essential: The medicine opens the door, but intentional psychotherapy helps you step through and apply those breakthroughs to everyday life. 

 

How KAP Works 


Ketamine is an FDA-approved anesthetic medication utilized off-label under the strict supervision of a medical provider to alleviate mood disorders, treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and PTSD. 


Biochemically, ketamine acts on the brain’s glutamate system, promoting neuroplasticity—the nervous system’s ability to rewire and form new neural pathways. Psychologically, it offers a temporary, gentle shift in perception and body awareness (often described as meditative or dreamlike), helping quiet defense mechanisms and rigid patterns of thought. Guided with a trained professional, this state enables you to process emotional material that may otherwise feel out of reach or overwhelming. 

Reclaim Your Self: Visualizing the Codependency Trap 

The Treatment Journey

At Moore Life Counseling, your care is handled through close collaboration between your therapist and a qualified medical partner. Moore Life Counseling provides all preparation, guidance during your ketamine journey, and integration therapy; the collaborating medical provider conducts medical screenings, prescribes the sublingual lozenge (troche), and oversees medical safety. 


Medical Screening & Intake ➔ Preparation Sessions ➔ Ketamine Dosing Session ➔ Integration Therapy ➔ Maintenance / Next Steps 


1. Medical Screening & Intake 

  • Medical Evaluation: Conducted by a collaborating medical provider to review your physical health, medications, and medical history to ensure safety and determine dosing. (referrals available) 
  • Therapy Intake (1–2 sessions): We explore your personal history, clarify your intentions, outline how KAP works, and confirm this modality aligns with your goals. 

2. Preparation Phase 

  • Before taking medicine, we establish nervous system stabilization, trust, and a shared set of intentions. 
  • For Anxiety or Depression: Typically requires 1–2 preparation sessions. 
  • For Developmental or Complex Trauma: Often involves several sessions to focus heavily on emotional pacing, regulation tools, and personal safety. 

3. The Ketamine Session 

  • Administration: Ketamine is administered sublingually via a dissolvable troche. 
  • Experience (45–90 minutes): You will relax in a calm, supportive setting with your therapist present throughout the entire duration. 
  • Therapist Presence & Grounding: Your therapist offers guidance, reassurance, and—only with your explicit, prior consent—light, nonsexual therapeutic touch (such as a hand on the shoulder or arm) to support grounding and safety. 
  • Pacing: Sessions are intentionally spaced out. Clients working through anxiety or depression typically meet weekly for a short-term series, while those working through developmental trauma space sessions 3–4 weeks apart. 

4. Integration Therapy (Essential) 

Scheduled after each ketamine experience, integration sessions are where real transformation takes root. Together, we: 

  • Unpack and make sense of the emotions, memories, or symbols that arose. 
  • Translate temporary shifts into sustainable daily habits and emotional resilience. 
  • Build long-term nervous system regulation. 

5. Ongoing Care & Maintenance 


Following your initial treatment block, decisions regarding booster sessions or continuing with standard talk therapy are entirely collaborative, symptom-guided, and self-paced. There is never any pressure to continue ketamine. 

Flexible Care Built Around Your Needs

Area of Support Therapeutic Approach The Practical Outcome
Meaning & Legacy Narrative Therapy & Life Review Reconnects you with purpose, pride in your lived story, and personal agency.
Grief & Emotional Pain ACT & Compassion-Focused Care Gentle space to process profound losses without feeling rushed or judged.
Health Anxiety & Stress CBT & Somatic Grounding Down-regulates physical tension and quietens persistent worry over health changes.
Family & Caregiver Support Systems & Solution-Focused Therapy Resolves relational tensions and helps families communicate with respect and clarity.

Moore Life Counseling

What Does an EMDR Session Look Like? 

One of the greatest benefits of EMDR is that you do not have to recount every painful detail out loud. Healing happens internally through an organized, phased process: 

Phase Clinical Focus What You Experience
1. Grounding & Resourcing Preparation & Safety We establish internal calm, somatic grounding tools, and safe coping skills before touching any memories.
2. Reprocessing (Desensitization) Bilateral Stimulation You briefly recall a specific target image or sensation while tracking back-and-forth stimuli, letting the brain untangle the knot.
3. Installation & Body Scan Cognitive & Somatic Relief We replace outdated negative self-beliefs with empowering truths, checking the body to ensure no residual tension remains.

"The memory doesn't disappear, but its power over you does. You will be able to remember what happened without reliving the physical panic or emotional pain." 

What We Focus on in Couples Counseling

Relational Challenge Where We Focus The Lasting Shift
Escalating Arguments De-escalation & Emotion Regulation Breaking the spiral before words turn hurtful; learning how to pause and repair.
Communication Breakdown Assertive, Compassionate Dialogue Speaking without attacking, and listening without becoming immediately defensive.
Emotional Distance Vulnerability & Shared Meaning Rebuilding safety, rekindling physical and emotional intimacy, and aligning life dreams.
Trust Repair Accountability & Transparency Structured, step-by-step guidance to process betrayal, rebuild security, and heal.

Is KAP Right for You?

KAP May Be a Good Fit If: 

  • You feel "stuck" despite therapy, medication, or personal effort. 
  • You live with depression, anxiety, or trauma that has not fully resolved through traditional methods. 
  • You want a structured, supported process that combines medicine with relational therapy. 


KAP May Not Be Suitable If: 

  • You are looking for a quick chemical fix without engaging in therapy or integration. 
  • You are in active crisis or lack a stable outside support system. 
  • You have medical or psychiatric conditions that preclude safe use, including uncontrolled hypertension, active mania or psychosis, active substance use disorder, certain neurological conditions, or pregnancy/breastfeeding. 
  • Your nervous system requires significant stabilization before introducing experiential medicine. 


If KAP is not the right fit for your situation, we will explore other therapeutic modalities and support options together. 


Practical Details & Financial Policy 

  • Private Pay Structure: All ketamine therapy services at Moore Life Counseling are self pay and are not billed through insurance. Clients pay their therapist for ketamine related support and the medical partner directly for screening and medication prescriptions. 
  • Transportation & Safety: Because ketamine alters motor and cognitive faculties, clients must arrange transportation home and agree not to drive or operate machinery until the following morning. 

Rebuilding the Connection with Yourself 

Restoring Energy and Agency

Focus Area Integrative Modalities The Healing Transformation
Silent Numbness & Isolation Behavioral Activation & DBT Slowly re-engaging with the world through small, manageable acts that rebuild energy.
Harsh Inner Critic CBT & Parts Work (IFS) Quietening the voice of worthlessness; replacing shame with gentle self-compassion.
Physical Heaviness Somatic Grounding & Mindful Care Learning to listen to and soothe the body's fatigue without judgment.
Lost Purpose & Identity Narrative & Creative Therapy Reconnecting with your personal values and rewriting your story beyond the darkness.
Focus Area Healing Modalities The Meaningful Transition
Boundaries & Pleasing DBT Interpersonal Skills & CBT Move from guilty "yes" responses to confident, compassionate boundaries and saying "no".
Identity Recovery Narrative Therapy & Parts Work (IFS) Untangle who you are from who you have been fixated on trying to save or manage.
Somatic Hyper-Vigilance Somatic Grounding & Polyvagal Tools Lower the "walking on eggshells" panic in your body, anchoring you in your own physical safety.
Relationship Repair Attachment & Emotion-Focused Work Shift from "over-functioning" to healthy, mutual interdependence where both people matter.

What Financial Therapy Addresses 

Focus Area What We Unpack The Real-World Result
Couples & Money Differences in money values, hidden accounts, and unequal power dynamics. Transparent, calm financial conversations and united financial goals without blame.
Emotional Spending & Avoidance Using purchases to soothe stress, or feeling completely paralyzed by bills. Somatic regulation tools to pause impulses and confront finances with grounded calm.
Generational Money Scarcity Growing up in poverty, housing instability, or unpredictable households. Releasing survival-mode guilt and learning how to safely enjoy financial stability today.
Career & Earning Blocks Imposter syndrome, chronic under-earning, and terror around negotiating pay. Healthy boundary-setting with employers and aligning compensation with true value.

Gentle, Person-Centered Care at Your Own Pace

When you are struggling with depression, the thought of starting therapy can feel like just another demanding task on an already exhausting checklist. Will they expect too much of me? Will I be judged for how little I've been doing?

At Moore Life Counseling, our foundation is person-centered care. We meet you exactly where you are, even if that means sitting together in the quiet heaviness of your current state. We will never rush you, reprimand you, or hold you to unrealistic expectations.


We work with your nervous system’s natural pacing—building trust, cultivating small moments of safety, and highlighting gentle spark points of hope first. We provide a warm, compassionate harbor where you don't have to perform or "fake it"—you just have to show up as you are.

Compassionate, Shame-Free Care at Your Own Pace 

Money is often the last taboo subject in our culture—people will readily share their medical history or relationship woes before opening up about their debts or bank balances. 


At Moore Life Counseling, our foundation is person-centered care. There is zero judgment in our therapy room. We will never scold you, force you to expose numbers you aren't ready to share, or hand you an unrealistic to-do list. We move at the pace your nervous system can handle, ensuring you feel safe, heard, and supported every step of the way.

Moving From Constant Panic to Grounded Peace 

Our Eclectic, Tailored Therapeutic Toolkit 

Because no two neurodivergent profiles are identical, we blend evidence-based and creative modalities into a flexible, person-centered framework: 

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Utilizing adapted, neuro-affirming DBT tools for sensory grounding, distress tolerance during meltdowns, and emotional balance. 
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) / Parts Work: Compassionately meeting the "masking part," the "perfectionist part," and the vulnerable inner child wounded by past misunderstanding. 
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT - Neurodivergent Adapted): Identifying distorted self-blame loops while honoring that sensory and executive challenges are biological realities, not cognitive errors. 
  • Narrative Therapy: Rewriting your personal story outside of neurotypical standards and celebrating your unique strengths, special interests, and hyper-focus. 
  • Somatic Grounding & Vagal Regulation: Teaching body-first calming tools, deep-pressure strategies, and regulating movement rather than expecting forced stillness. 
  • Creative & Expressive Arts: Allowing children, teens, and adults to process experiences visually, tangibly, or non-verbally when verbal articulation feels exhausting. 
Anxiety Trigger Where We Intervene The Meaningful Shift
Racing Thoughts CBT & Cognitive Reframing Disarms catastrophic spirals so your mind can rest and focus.
Acute Panic Surges Somatic Regulation & DBT Restores normal heart rate and breathing, signaling real safety to the brain.
Paralyzing Avoidance ACT & Exposure Pacing Gently expands your comfort zone without triggering sensory overwhelm.
People-Pleasing & Control Narrative & Boundary Work Frees you from carrying everyone else's emotions and expectations.

Transforming Struggle Into Self-Compassion

Neurodivergent Challenge Affirming Modality The Meaningful Shift
Chronic Masking & Burnout IFS & Somatic Unburdening Safe unmasking; reclaiming energy, authentic voice, and bodily comfort.
Executive Dysfunction Solution-Focused Scaffolding Replacing shame-based discipline with customized, friction-free systems.
Sensory Overload Polyvagal & Sensory Mapping Proactive regulation, sensory accommodations, and honoring personal limits.
Rejection Sensitivity (RSD) Adapted DBT & Narrative Work Tools to soothe acute emotional pain and build durable internal self-worth.

Person-Centered Care Paced Around Your Nervous System 

When you already live with anxiety, the prospect of starting therapy can trigger anxiety of its own. Will I be judged? Will I be pushed too fast into things that terrify me? 


At Moore Life Counseling, our foundation is person-centered care. We will never push you into situations your body isn't ready to handle. You set the pace. 


We prioritize establishing emotional safety, building genuine trust, and teaching internal calming tools first before we unpack deeper fears. We provide a calm, judgment-free space where you can let your guard down and finally exhale. 

Paced Strictly Around Your Sensory & Nervous System Needs 

Traditional therapy environments can sometimes feel overstimulating or demanding. 

At Moore Life Counseling, our clinicians prioritize person-centered care. We tailor the therapy environment to you. Whether that means dimming the lights, providing fidget tools, allowing movement and pacing during sessions, accommodating virtual visits from your favorite safe corner at home, or taking sensory breaks—you are in complete control of how we work together. 

We never expect you to maintain unnatural eye contact, suppress natural regulation methods, or push past your sensory limits. 

Life on the Other Side of Trauma 

Imagine waking up without that familiar undercurrent of dread. Imagine entering relationships without waiting for the other shoe to drop, or driving past a triggering location without your pulse racing. 

 

You’ve carried this heavy weight for long enough. At Moore Life Counseling Center, our trauma-informed therapists are here to guide you toward genuine relief, freedom, and self-connection. 

Restoring Energy and Agency 

Navigating the In-Between: Mind, Body, and Identity 

Dimension of Transition Modalities We Draw From The Real-World Outcome
Identity & Meaning Narrative & ACT Therapy Redefines who you are on your own terms rather than relying on past titles or roles.
Anxiety & Uncertainty CBT & Somatic Grounding Soothes physical fight-or-flight sensations and quiets racing catastrophizing loops.
Overwhelm & Panic DBT Distress Tolerance Practical, immediate tools to steady yourself during unexpected changes or setbacks.
Practical Momentum Solution-Focused Strategies Transforms a daunting horizon into clear, manageable daily steps that honor your energy.

Gentle, Authentic Pacing for Recovery 

When you've spent your entire life prioritizing others, the thought of starting therapy and focusing entirely on yourself can feel selfish, uncomfortable, or intimidating. 


At Moore Life Counseling, our trauma-informed clinicians prioritize person-centered care. We will never push you to cut off relationships before you are ready, or force you into uncomfortable boundaries. 

We work with you at your nervous system's pace, building your internal safety, self-trust, and grounded confidence first. We provide a warm, judgment-free harbor where you don't have to perform, fix, or appease—you just have to show up. 

Focus Area Integrative Modalities The Healing Transformation
Silent Numbness & Isolation Behavioral Activation & DBT Slowly re-engaging with the world through small, manageable acts that rebuild energy.
Harsh Inner Critic CBT & Parts Work (IFS) Quietening the voice of worthlessness; replacing shame with gentle self-compassion.
Physical Heaviness Somatic Grounding & Mindful Care Learning to listen to and soothe the body's fatigue without judgment.
Lost Purpose & Identity Narrative & Creative Therapy Reconnecting with your personal values and rewriting your story beyond the darkness.

What Support Looks Like in Practice

Dimension of Grief Therapeutic Modality The Meaningful Shift
Somatic Ache Somatic Grounding & Breathwork Releases the tension of bracing against the pain, soothing the body's alarm response.
Guilt & Regret CBT & Compassion-Focused Care Replaces punishing self-blame with kindness and understanding for your past choices.
Story & Memory Narrative & Legacy Exploration Integrates the loss into your broader life story without erasing the love attached to it.
Daily Survival Solution-Focused Pacing Provides practical, low-pressure steps to navigate daily routines, anniversaries, and holidays.

Person-Centered Care at the Pace You Need 

When everything around you is shifting, therapy should be the one place where nobody is demanding that you hurry up or have it all together. 


At Moore Life Counseling, our clinicians prioritize person-centered care. We walk with you at your pace. We don’t rush you into rapid decisions or force you into a pre-set agenda. We provide an anchor—a grounded, judgment-free harbor where you can catch your breath, grieve what ended, and build confidence in who you are becoming. 

Paced Strictly Around Your Heart 

The modern world often demands that we return to "normal" within days or weeks of a shattering loss. 

At Moore Life Counseling, we refuse to rush you. Our therapists provide person-centered care that honors your exact timeline. There are no expectations, no performance standards, and no judgment. Whether your loss happened yesterday or thirty years ago, we provide a safe harbor where you can lay the burden down and let the tears, silence, or memories unfold naturally. 

Take the Next Step

Healing is not a race, and you do not have to navigate it alone. If you would like to explore whether Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is right for your path forward, reach out to schedule an initial consultation. 


At Moore Life Counseling, we are dedicated to guiding you toward authentic change and emotional freedom. If you are curious whether Ketamine-Assisted EMDR Therapy is the right fit for your healing journey, contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.

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