Offering individual, couples, and group therapy, ketamine-assisted therapy, medication management…
Offering individual, couples, and group therapy, ketamine-assisted therapy, medication management…
-Brené Brown
You can love someone deeply and still find yourselves stuck in the same arguments, avoiding the same conversations, or feeling less connected than you once did.
Acheron Psychiatry’s couples Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy group in NYC is for committed couples who want to deepen intimacy, trust, communication, and authenticity in their relationship.
Through couples-focused Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), supported by preparation and integration sessions and facilitated group work, participants will have opportunities to explore their relationship from a different perspective, better understand the patterns in their relationship, and practice approaching one another with greater openness, vulnerability, curiosity, and compassion.
Not every relationship that needs attention is a relationship in crisis.
Maybe you keep having versions of the same argument without reaching a resolution, or one of you pulls away while the other pushes for connection. Maybe you’re avoiding difficult conversations, or sex and intimacy has changed. Maybe the mental load—work, parenting, household responsibilities, and other stressors—has started taking up more space between you. Or maybe your relationship is strong, but you both know there is more depth, vulnerability, pleasure, and connection available.
Group ketamine therapy for couples creates a structured therapeutic environment where couples can slow down, get curious, and explore new ways of relating to each other.
Every relationship develops its own patterns. We learn ways of communicating, protecting ourselves, responding to conflict, reaching for closeness, and creating distance. These patterns are typically shaped by our families, previous relationships, attachment experiences, and the ways we learned to protect ourselves.
Over time, these patterns can become a kind of couples dance. One partner may pursue connection, asking for reassurance, pressing for a response, or becoming more critical or emotional, while the other may pull away, shut down, or create distance in an effort to protect themselves or the relationship. The more one partner pursues, the more the other may withdraw, and vice versa. Before long, both partners can find themselves caught in a cycle that neither intended to create and that leaves both feeling less connected.
Working with ketamine and therapy, couples can become more aware of the relationship they are co-creating and explore how each partner can help tend to it with greater love and care.
Understanding deep relationship patterns doesn’t always make them easy to change. Ketamine can temporarily shift how you experience thoughts, emotions, and familiar perspectives. Within a therapeutic setting, this may create space to slow down automatic reactions, approach emotions with greater curiosity, and notice relationship patterns from a different perspective.
Throughout the group, partners are supported in exploring their own experiences while developing greater curiosity about one another. Preparation and integration help couples reflect on what emerges and consider how those insights may translate into communication, vulnerability, intimacy, and everyday ways of relating.
Ketamine is only one part of the process. The experience is paired with psychotherapy, preparation, integration, and facilitated group work to help couples explore what emerges, and to bring that work into their relationship.
Every relationship is different. The experiences and patterns you bring into the group will be your own. Depending on what feels meaningful in your relationship, the group can create space to explore:
Recognize recurring cycles, communicate needs more clearly, and explore ways of approaching difficult conversations with greater curiosity and understanding.
Explore what you need to feel emotionally safe, open, understood, and fully yourself with your partner.
Create space for conversations around physical and emotional intimacy, desire, closeness, and differences between partners.
Better understand the behaviors, defenses, attachment patterns, and past experiences that influence how you respond to each other today.
Explore experiences that have created distance or eroded trust, and consider what repair and reconnection might look like for your relationship.
Reconnect with what matters to you as a couple: your values, joy, pleasure, security, goals, and the life you are building together.
The group is designed to create opportunities for couples to develop greater insight into their own needs and behaviors, communicate with more openness and vulnerability, and experience one another with greater curiosity, empathy, and compassion.
Relationships can feel incredibly private. It’s easy to assume other couples have figured out something you haven’t, or to experience challenges in your relationship in isolation. Group couples therapy creates an opportunity to do personal relationship work while also hearing and learning from the experiences and perspectives of other couples.
Group process can offer new perspectives, shared understanding, and opportunities for growth that may not emerge when exploring a relationship only with a therapist. The intention isn’t comparison. It is to create another source of connection, perspective, and shared learning alongside the work you are already doing with your partner.
The couples therapy group follows the broader arc of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, with each part of the experience supporting the next.
Preparation sessions help couples build safety, trust, and shared intentions while becoming familiar with the therapeutic process and what to expect when ketamine is introduced.
During in-person medicine sessions, couples participate in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy within a clinically supported environment, creating space for individual reflection and relational exploration.
Virtual integration sessions help couples reflect on what emerged, make meaning of their experiences, and consider how new insights may relate to their everyday interactions.
Throughout the program, facilitated couples and group work support continued exploration of communication, vulnerability, emotional connection, conflict, and familiar relationship patterns.
Acheron Psychiatry’s couples KAP group is designed for committed couples who have been together for at least one year and want to develop a deeper, more authentic connection. You do not need to be in crisis to participate.
The group may be a good fit if you:
Group ketamine therapy for couples welcomes married and unmarried couples, straight and LGBTQIA+ couples, and monogamous and nonmonogamous relationships.
All prospective participants complete an intake to help determine whether the group is clinically appropriate for both partners and supportive of the overall group environment.
Ketamine is one component of a broader psychotherapeutic process. Before participating, prospective participants will complete appropriate clinical and medical screenings. Acheron’s Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy process incorporates medical supervision, medication administration and monitoring, therapeutic preparation and integration, and follow-up support.
Our team will explain what to expect, answer questions, and determine whether ketamine-assisted treatment is clinically and medically appropriate for each participant.
The couples therapy group follows the broader arc of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, with each part of the experience supporting the next.
October 19 – December 14, 2026
Mondays | 5:00–8:00 PM In Person
Tuesdays | 11:00 AM–12:00 PM Virtual via Doxy.me
Acheron Psychiatry 11 Broadway, Suite 930 New York, NY 10004
Aetna and Cigna in-network options may be available for eligible services. Out-of-network options are also available.
Kathy Ehrich Dowd, LMSW, is a psychotherapist whose warm, affirming approach helps people explore the patterns and experiences that can shape how they relate to themselves and others. Drawing from Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), mindfulness, and psychodynamic therapy, she creates space for greater self-awareness, vulnerability, compassion, and authentic connection. Kathy also brings the perspective of her own lived experience as a mother and as someone who has spent 30 years in a committed relationship with the same partner, navigating the joys, challenges, and evolution of a long-term partnership.
Dana Drori, LMSW, is a psychotherapist specializing in relationships, sexuality, life transitions, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. She works with individuals, couples, and people in diverse relationship structures, bringing a warm, nonjudgmental approach that integrates rigorous analysis with experiential practices like mindfulness, somatic awareness, and parts work. This helps people better understand themselves and connect more authentically with others. She has been with her husband for 15 years, and they recently welcomed their first child.
Every KAP group is medically supervised by experienced psychiatric providers dedicated to creating a safe, supportive, and individualized treatment experience.
With expertise in conventional, integrative, and psychedelic psychiatry, Dr. Zimmerman oversees Acheron’s KAP program, ensuring each participant receives thoughtful, evidence-informed care within a comprehensive therapeutic framework.
Rachel brings a warm, holistic approach to psychiatric care, helping participants feel safe, supported, and empowered throughout every stage of the KAP process.
No. Group couples therapy is designed for both couples navigating challenges and those who are generally doing well but want to deepen their connection, understand one another more fully, and bring greater openness and intentionality to their relationship.
Ketamine experiences vary from person to person and from session to session. Some people describe feeling deeply relaxed, physically light or heavy, more inwardly focused, or temporarily less connected to their usual sense of their body or surroundings. Perceptions of time, space, thoughts, and emotions may also feel different.
Temporary side effects can include dizziness, nausea, changes in coordination, or changes in perception. Medicine sessions take place within a clinically supported and monitored environment.
Ketamine can temporarily change how you experience thoughts, emotions, and familiar perspectives. Within psychotherapy, this altered state may create opportunities to approach emotions, experiences, and established patterns with a different kind of awareness.
The goal is not for ketamine to change the relationship. Instead, Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy combines the medicine experience with preparation, therapeutic support, and integration so participants can explore what emerges and consider how those insights may be meaningful within their lives and relationships.
No treatment can guarantee a particular outcome for an individual or a relationship. Group therapy for couples is designed to create opportunities to deepen connection, trust, authenticity, communication, self-understanding, and understanding of one another.
Each couple can share at their own comfort level. While you will never be expected to disclose more than you feel is appropriate, participants are encouraged to embrace the therapeutic process with openness and curiosity. Sharing, listening, and learning alongside other couples can be an important part of the group experience, while still respecting each couple’s individual boundaries.
No. This therapy group for couples welcomes committed couples, whether married or unmarried, monogamous or nonmonogamous, straight or LGBTQIA+.
Yes. No previous experience with ketamine is required to participate. Before joining the group, each participant will complete a clinical and medical screening process to make sure Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is a safe and appropriate option for them.
Whether you’re working through a challenge or simply want to deepen a relationship that already matters to you, Acheron Psychiatry’s ketamine therapy group for couples offers a space to invest in your connection with intention.
If this experience feels meaningful for your relationship, we invite you to tell us a little about yourselves and learn whether the group may be a good fit.
Contact Acheron Psychiatry if you have any questions.
