Group Training: Module 1

The Art of Communal Healing: Foundations of Group Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

This module is offered in collaboration with Rainfall Medicine, Veronika Gold, LMFT of Polaris Insight Center, and Dr. Haim Weinberg, PhD.

Module Price:

$425 (partial scholarships available)

8 CE Credits available for $79

Upcoming Dates:

TBD

Instructors:

Steve Rosonke, MD • Veronika Gold, LMFT • Haim Weinberg, PhD

Time:

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Pacific Time Zone • LIVE WEBINAR VIA ZOOM

*Due to multiple time zones, we are only sharing the Pacific Standard Time.

Click here to see the hours in your own time zone

Group Module 1 is a prerequisite for Group Module 2 and Group Module 3.

Please Note:

Most practitioners benefit from taking our Modules in sequence. The professional development acquired in our training program builds progressively upon each previous Module’s knowledge and skills.

We Were Never Meant to Struggle Alone

At Rainfall Medicine we seek to change the stigma around mental illness, trauma, and addiction.

Course Description

Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is rapidly transforming the landscape of mental health treatment, and its healing potential becomes especially potent in group settings. Across many communal and indigenous traditions, non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC) work has long taken place within circles, where shared vulnerability, resonance, and collective intention amplify therapeutic impact. In today’s world of growing disconnection, clinicians are increasingly called to offer spaces where individuals can reconnect with themselves and one another through meaningful, communal healing experiences.

This introductory module of the Group KAP Training provides a comprehensive foundation for understanding how group processes and ketamine-assisted therapy intersect. Drawing from decades of expertise in group psychotherapy, consciousness work, trauma treatment, and KAP, the trainers will introduce participants to core elements of effective group facilitation, including the therapeutic factors that drive change, developmental stages of groups, and the interpersonal and intrapsychic dynamics that arise in communal healing contexts. Special emphasis is placed on how group therapy principles translate into ketamine-assisted settings, including unique opportunities, challenges, and safety considerations.

Participants will learn how to understand and respond to the complex interpersonal processes that emerge in group work, including conflict, rupture and repair, trauma triggers, barriers to connection, and the ways in which consciousness-expanding experiences can deepen or complicate these dynamics. The module also covers selection and consent processes, cultivating a safe container, establishing group agreements, and preparing oneself as a group facilitator, including exploration of countertransference and early group experiences that may shape leadership.

Teachings are designed for healthcare professionals as well as the general public. Healthcare professionals will be able to incorporate the tools and practices offered in this training in ways that support their work with clients and patients in group or individual treatment settings.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

Describe core therapeutic factors in group psychotherapy and identify which are most relevant to group ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
Explain how trauma triggers, conflict, rupture, and repair may manifest in group settings and how to support resolution.
Discuss key stages of group development and describe the facilitator’s role in navigating them.
Analyze the role of countertransference and early group experiences in shaping the facilitator’s leadership style.
Explain essential elements of participant selection, informed consent, group agreements, and container building for safe and effective group KAP.

Information on Group KAP Training:

This training is provided through a collaboration between Rainfall Medicine and Polaris Insight Center. These programs offer didactic, experiential, and residential training in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. These programs are designed to provide interested physicians, psychologists, therapists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals with principles and procedures of KAP and how to use ketamine in combination with psychotherapy in a clinical setting.

We offer the group KAP training with Group Module 1 being a required course for Group Modules 2 and 3, and the Group KAP Practicum training. Taking modules in the sequence is recommended but not required, as each module builds on the knowledge and skills taught in the previous module.

Cost: Group Module 1 is $400 + a $25 non-refundable administrative fee) and 8 CE credits are available for an additional $79.

Cancellation Policy: Participants need to cancel up to 2 weeks in advance to receive a 100% refund of the $400. If cancelled after the 2-weeks-in-advance period they can use the credit for a future training or receive a 50% refund.

Information on Continuing Education Credit for Health Professionals

CE credits for psychologists are provided by Polaris Insight Center which is sponsoring this program. Polaris Insight Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Polaris Insight Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
For questions about enrolling in CEs for psychologists, LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, and LMFT or any other CE questions, contact us at ce@polarisinsight.com.
Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA), a co-sponsor of this program, is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes.
For questions about CEs for nurses, visit www.spiritualcompetencyacademy.com or contact the Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.
Other questions about this specific training, please email regine@rainfallmedicine.com.

Module Instructors

Steve Rosonke, MD (he/him)

Dr. Steve Rosonke is the founder and medical director of Rainfall Medicine, a ketamine and consciousness center in Portland, Oregon. He was in the first-ever KAP training cohort in the US. He subsequently became a trainer in the field and has been leading group experiential KAP trainings for many years. He first taught with the Ketamine Training Center and then transitioned to collaborating with his dear friends at Polaris Insight Center to build their own unique and well-regarded KAP training program. He is passionate about the impact and necessity of group work to heal the collective. He also runs frequent healing groups and retreats from his own clinic at Rainfall. Additionally, he has spent the last 3 years studying psychedelic psychotherapy and shamanism with traditional indigenous healers in communal societies in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Gabon. He has a particular interest in bridging psychedelic healing with consciousness work and spirituality.

Veronika Gold, LMFT (she/her)

Veronika Gold is a marriage and family therapist who specializes in the treatment of trauma, somatic work, energy medicine, and training of therapists. Veronika is a co-founder of Polaris Insight Center, and a lead trainer at the Polaris Insight Training Program and Rainfall Medicine Training Program. She was a Sub-Investigator and Co-therapist, educator, and mentor supervisor on the Lykos MDMA-Assisted Therapy Clinical Trials for the treatment of PTSD. Veronika has been trained through SUR (Czech Republic) in a 4-year intensive training (500 hours) in a group psychotherapy. She has been leading and co-leading therapy groups since 1999, and KAP groups, and KAP group retreats since 2018. Veronika has undergone multiple trainings in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, including advanced training through the Ketamine Training Center and Kriya Institute, 5-MeO-DMT training through Fluence, psilocybin facilitator training through InnerTrack. She is a Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Certified EMDR therapist, Consultant, and a Realization Process Teacher.

Haim Weinberg, PhD (he/him)

Dr. Weinberg is a licensed psychologist in California (PSY 23243) & Israel, in private practice in Sacramento, California, with more than 40 years of experience. He is also a group analyst and Certified Group Psychotherapist. He is past President of the Israeli Association of Group Psychotherapy and the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society. Dr. Weinberg was the Academic Vice President of the Professional School of Psychology, where he created and currently coordinates an online doctoral program in group psychotherapy and marital therapy. He published books on Internet groups and about the Social Unconscious. He is a Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association and of the International Group Psychotherapy Association, as well as a Distinguished Fellow of the Israeli Group Psychotherapy Association. He has received several awards, including the Harold Bernard Group Psychotherapy Training Award, the Ann Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Therapy and the Bob Klein Award for Social Responsibility. Dr. Weinberg published 10 books, 24 book chapters and 55 articles. His books were translated in China, Japan, Romania, South Korea, Czech Republic, and Israel. He developed group therapy training groups in Asia, and is leading online training process groups for therapists around the world.