Can Someone Come With Me to Ketamine Therapy? A Support Person Guide

Short answer: Yes. You are welcome to bring someone, and for first sessions especially, many patients find it genuinely steadying. Your person can be with you at check-in, wait comfortably during the infusion, rejoin you for the landing, and handle the drive home, which someone has to anyway. Here is how it works and how they can help best.

Why bringing someone helps

First infusions come with first-time nerves, and a familiar face on both sides of the experience quiets them measurably. Beyond comfort, a support person solves the practical non-negotiable, the ride home, and gives you a soft landing: someone who heard the same aftercare instructions, stocked the kitchen, and will not need anything from you for the rest of the day. Patients with a consistent support person often keep their aftercare and journaling habits better too, because someone gently expects it of them.

What it looks like during the visit

The usual rhythm at our clinic: your person comes in with you for check-in and settling, meets the team, and sees the room, which does more to calm a worried spouse or parent than any brochure. During the infusion itself, the session is yours alone, the dissociative experience is private, inward work, and our staff handle all monitoring, so your person relaxes in the lounge or steps out for coffee along the marina. As the infusion ends and you land, they can rejoin you, be a familiar anchor while the dreaminess fades, and take the aftercare notes your foggy self will not retain. Then they drive.

How to be a great support person

If you are the one accompanying someone, your job description is short: be calm, be logistics, be undemanding. Before: help clear their day and arrange the small comforts. During: genuinely relax; anxious pacing in a lounge helps no one. After: drive gently, keep the evening quiet, offer food and water, and resist the urge to debrief them in the car. The experience needs hours to settle before it wants words, and "you do not have to talk until you feel like it" is the most supportive sentence in the language. If they want to share later, listen without analyzing; their journal and therapist handle the heavy processing.

When skeptical family want to come

A special case worth naming: the worried parent or spouse who is not sure about all this. Bring them. Watching a physician-led clinic do careful, unhurried medicine dissolves more doubt than any conversation, which is exactly what we suggested in talking to family about ketamine therapy. We are glad to answer their questions directly at check-in or by phone beforehand; skeptics who visit tend to leave as allies.

When you would rather come alone

Also completely fine, and plenty of experienced patients prefer it: rideshare there and back, eye mask on, a private ritual by the sea. There is no right configuration, only yours, and it can change across the series. Many people bring someone for session one and fly solo after, which is its own kind of progress.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.

The bottom line

Yes, someone can come with you, at check-in, in the lounge during your session, and beside you for the landing and the drive home, and for first sessions especially, it often makes everything gentler. Bring your person, or come solo with a rideshare; both are well-trodden paths. Questions about visit logistics? Call (310) 280-4440.

Frequently asked questions

Can a family member or friend come to my ketamine appointment? Yes. They can join you for check-in, wait in the lounge during the infusion, rejoin you as you recover, and drive you home.

Can someone sit with me during the actual infusion? The infusion itself is a private, inward experience monitored by clinical staff, so support people wait in the lounge and rejoin you as you land. It keeps the session focused and the experience your own.

Do I have to bring someone? No. A rideshare or taxi home satisfies the transportation requirement, and many patients attend solo. First-timers often appreciate company; veterans often prefer the solo ritual.

How can I best support someone getting ketamine therapy? Handle logistics calmly, keep the ride and evening quiet, do not press them to describe the experience, and let them share on their own schedule.