Your 7 consultation prompts are below

Use these after a session, before consultation, or when you notice yourself trying to figure everything out alone.

How to use these prompts

Choose one recent session or one upcoming client situation. Move through the prompts in order. Keep your notes brief. The goal is not to solve the whole case. The goal is to leave with one clearer consultation question.

Do not include identifying client details in notes you plan to bring to consultation.

1. What happened in the session, and where did I start feeling unsure?

Name the moment as specifically as possible.

Not “the whole session felt hard.”

More useful: “I started feeling unsure when the client became quiet.”

This keeps the consultation focused on an actual clinical moment instead of a global feeling of doubt.

2. What did I notice in myself?

Did you feel urgency, protectiveness, confusion, pressure to reassure, fear of doing harm, over-responsibility, a pull to explain, or a wish to move faster than the client?

Did your body tighten, go numb, lean in, pull back, speed up, or freeze?

Your response may hold useful information about pacing, countertransference, parts activation, or the intensity of the session frame.

3. What am I wondering about the client’s experience?

Let's shift from certainty to curiosity.

What might the client have been experiencing in their body, nervous system, internal system, attachment pattern, or meaning-making process?

Were they inside their window of tolerance, moving toward overwhelm, protecting against contact, tracking an inner part, or complying?

In KAP preparation or integration we also consider whether the client may be idealizing the medicine, fearing loss of control, minimizing risk, or hoping the treatment will bypass grief, trauma, or relational work.

4. What feels clear?

Before focusing on what is uncertain, name what you do know.

Maybe the client needs more preparation before any medicine session.

Maybe informed consent needs to be revisited in plain language.

Maybe the integration plan is appropriate and the work is to slow down.

Maybe you are clear that a prescriber question, safety concern, scope issue, or documentation step needs attention.

Clarity does not need to be complete to be useful.

5. What practical detail needs review before the next session?

Pick one practical detail that could affect safety, consent, or clinical containment.

Consider documentation, informed consent, emergency planning, transportation, space setup, music, eyeshades, technology, communication with the prescriber, contact expectations, post-session support, or what the client understands about your role.

Ask yourself: “If I clarified only one practical thing before the next session, what would help me be able to meet this client where they're at?”

6. Where might I be under-explaining, over-explaining, or overselling?

KAP can be hard to describe clearly, especially when clients are hopeful or scared.

Notice whether you are using language that sounds too certain, too mystical, too medicalized, or too vague.

A grounded explanation might sound like:

“Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can create a state of softened awareness that may support therapeutic work. We still need preparation, consent, safety planning, integration, and attention to your nervous system and history.”

Use consultation to refine language that is accurate, ethical, and understandable.

7. What specific question could I bring to consultation?

Turn your reflection into one clear question.

Less useful: “What should I do with this client?”

More useful: “I felt unsure when the client described wanting KAP mainly to get rid of a trauma response quickly. I am wondering whether more preparation is needed before referral back to the prescriber. How would you think about pacing, consent, and readiness here?”

Less useful: “Was that session okay?”

More useful: “During integration, the client reported a powerful experience but struggled to connect it to daily life. I noticed myself wanting to make meaning for them. How can I support integration without leading or over-interpreting?”

Less useful: “How do I document this?”

More useful: “I want my documentation to reflect preparation, consent, risk discussion, coordination with the prescriber, and the integration plan without overstating outcomes. What needs to be included?”

Before you finish

Write one sentence that starts with:

“The question I want to bring to consultation is...”