Building a responsible model for Ketamine‑Assisted Therapy
The University worked with Silva Wellness, a holistic therapy centre, on a three‑month Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) project delivered in response to Innovate UK’s round 4 call focused on addiction.
The project explored how ketamine‑assisted therapy (KAT) could combine ketamine with structured psychotherapy to support better mental‑health outcomes. The aim was to understand what would be needed to deliver this type of care safely, effectively, and at scale within everyday healthcare settings.
Rather than focusing solely on whether KAT was clinically effective, the project examined the practical factors that influence safe implementation and how controlled research processes can be translated into reliable, real‑world practice.
The project had three main goals:
- Define a core KAT model – to outline the essential elements of ketamine‑assisted therapy, including dosing approaches, key psychotherapy components, session length and structure, and the staff needed to deliver it safely and consistently.
- Understand workforce and training needs – to explore what skills, qualifications, accreditation, and governance systems are required to ensure high‑quality care.
- Assess feasibility and ethics – to examine practical, financial, and ethical considerations using approaches that look at both implementation and effectiveness.
The project examined how KAT could be delivered in a trauma‑informed, community‑based, and scalable way. Using a qualitative research approach, the study gathered views from people involved in or affected by mental‑health care to understand how KAT might move safely from clinical trials into everyday, non‑clinical settings.
Two hybrid focus groups were held in January 2026 as part of a single‑case study design. Participants included clinicians, therapists, doctors, psychologists, community members, and carers, providing a broad range of insights into how KAT could be introduced responsibly.
Key findings
- Trauma‑informed care was seen as essential for creating psychological safety and reducing the risk of harm
- Community‑based service models were seen as feasible but require strong governance
- Ethical integration of KAT into future group formats demands clear boundaries and monitoring
- Significant gaps exist in workforce training and accreditation
- Scalability depends on standardised models rather than ad‑hoc practice.
Together, the findings show that clear, ethical, and well‑structured frameworks are needed to support the responsible expansion of ketamine‑assisted therapy.
Partnership contributions
The AKT partnership was essential to achieving the project’s aims, especially those involving real‑world feasibility and stakeholder engagement. Silva Wellness led the organisation of the focus groups, identifying and coordinating participants from across the care landscape – clinicians, therapists, doctors, psychologists, community representatives, and carers. These groups are often difficult to engage through academic channels alone, and the partner’s networks made it possible to gather diverse perspectives from practice.
The academic team provided research leadership, ensuring strong methods, ethical oversight, and high‑quality analysis. They designed the qualitative framework, developed the focus‑group questions, and led the thematic analysis, ensuring the findings were grounded in theory while reflecting lived experience.
This collaboration successfully connected theory, practice, and service delivery - producing insights that neither partner could have generated independently.
Lasting impact
The project strengthened the partnership and created a model for future research on how innovative therapies can be implemented in real‑world settings. It also produced practical guidance for service design, policy discussions, and the responsible scaling of ketamine‑assisted therapy, positioning the partnership to influence both academic research and future service development.