As the Corona virus and fear of COVID-19 continue becoming a part of our daily life, we have been having conversations that will have a lasting impact on not only our personal lives but also how we think about mental health, functional and herbal medicine. We have realized that this calamity, like all calamities, has provided us with a learning experience. 

This virus has been affecting people with varying intensity. In my most recent conversation with our nutritionist, she pointed out how the virus does not exist in isolation. The virus finds a terrain that is hospitable to its survival and causes illness. She points out that this combination of terrain with pathogens is something that microbiologists have known all along. Even now when we send a specimen to be cultured, our labs are providing that terrain for the microorganism to grow in a petri dish. 

This has far reaching implications. Because this gives us an opportunity to not only address the virus outside (with medications and vaccinations) but also to address the terrain the virus likes to live in. We can make our bodies more resistant to the virus. 

This is the same exact principle that we see in trauma recovery. When people get traumatized, the trauma can find a terrain within us. And the result is that life gets choked out of us. In order to not get hurt again we devoid ourselves of spontaneity by seeking safety and predictability. Does that sound familiar to how we are behaving with the virus? Yes. It makes sense to be safe, but we have to focus on our resilience against trauma. We have to pay attention to our resilience against the virus. 

Developing resilience is a life-journey and it is not a goal but a way of life. We try to hold the space while people work with us and experiment with resilience. As we proceed into the next phase of reopening our clinic to in-person appointments, we would want not only to keep in mind the safety rules but also work with people on improving the terrain. 

According to Texas Medical Association (TMA), we are implementing the following policies:

Most of our patients will have a choice to seek services from us online or in-person. However, we will be making recommendations based on clinical criteria. If we feel one type of modality would be more useful than the other.

For your convenience we will have these guidelines printed and posted in the clinic. 

  • Please contact us for setting up an online appointment.
  • In the clinic we will not be opening up our waiting rooms. It is recommended that you wait in your car and someone will come out to greet you and escort you into the appointment.
  • As per TMA, everybody in our clinic will be wearing a mask, and all patients are also expected to wear a mask.
  • Every person might be screened by asking questions pertinent to viral infection or have their temperatures taken.
  • For Ketamine guided sessions, we will be exposed to the potential of contact with secretions. Thus we will be observing precautions with face shields, masks and gloves. We will not be asking people journeying with Ketamine to wear masks, as we think it will interfere with the set and setting of their experience. 

We will keep you apprised of any other changes that happen prior to your appointment.