When Marci Patton, LPC, founder of Ketagenics Psychotherapy, looks back on how her practice began, she starts with a season of major personal change. “About a decade ago, I was in my first year of substance-use recovery,” she explains. “Even though my life was full of accomplishments, multiple degrees, marriage, children, and a thriving real estate career, I felt an unmistakable emptiness.”
What restored her sense of purpose wasn’t success, but service. “The place where I felt the most hope wasn’t in any of those achievements, but in the evenings I spent volunteering at Celebrate Recovery,” she says. “Supporting others who were walking a road I knew so well ignited a sense of purpose in me that I couldn’t ignore.”
That clarity, and what she describes as God’s prompting, led her back to school to pursue counseling. When Marci and her family moved from Washington to Texas in 2022, she launched her own practice, eventually discovering the therapeutic potential of ketamine when integrated with trauma-informed approaches. “Founding Ketagenics Psychotherapy became the natural next step,” she says. “An integration of my redemption story, my passion for helping individuals encounter God in their healing, and my belief in the transformative potential of ketamine-assisted work.”
What sets Ketagenics apart, Marci notes, is how ketamine is used within therapy. Not before or after. “In most settings today, ketamine is administered at a clinic and then therapy is scheduled separately,” she explains. “Important material can be lost in the gap.”
Her vision is different. Low-dose sessions that allow clients to remain present, verbal, grounded, and capable of engaging in EMDR during the dosing experience itself. “At these low, therapeutic levels, ketamine gently reduces defenses without overwhelming the client,” she says. It creates a window where traumatic material can be accessed with more clarity and less fear.
Marci blends EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and ketamine-assisted therapy to create a spiritually aligned, multifaceted approach. EMDR reprocesses traumatic memories. IFS helps clients understand and nurture the protective “parts” that formed in response to pain. Ketamine increases neuroplasticity and softens emotional barriers so deeper work can occur.
“Because clients stay communicative and spiritually present, we can weave EMDR and IFS directly into the dosing session,” Marci says. “It makes the work more fluid, less overwhelming, and often profoundly meaningful.”
For Marci, healing is inseparable from spirituality. “I believe God created each person with intention, purpose, and identity,” she says. Insights that arise in therapy are brought back to Scripture, and clients are encouraged to engage with God actively throughout the process. “It becomes a deeply personal and relational experience,” she adds.
Every client receives a thorough psychiatric evaluation and as many preparatory sessions as needed. Ketamine is self-administered through a gentle “swish and spit” method that keeps clients grounded. Sessions conclude on an InHarmony vibroacoustic bed, which Marci says helps regulate the nervous system and anchor emotional or spiritual insights. A dedicated integration appointment follows every dosing session.
“We’re living in a moment where people feel more overwhelmed and spiritually disconnected than ever,” Marci says. Low-dose ketamine, paired with trauma-informed therapy and faith, helps clients who have tried everything yet still feel stuck. “People need a space where they can encounter God in the depths of their story.”
Marci hopes Ketagenics will help reshape faith-based, psychedelic-assisted care. She is especially passionate about destigmatizing medication among people in recovery. “Medication doesn’t replace sobriety,” she says. “It can support it by healing the wounds that drove the addiction.”
And above all, she wants readers to remember one message: “God loves you!”
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