Erich Goetzel, MD

As for my professional credentials, I am a board-certified Psychiatrist with an additional certification in Functional Medicine and a degree in Chinese Medicine. I currently hold the role of Chief Medical Officer for Eliot Human Services, a psychiatric non-profit organization serving over 25,000 clients in various settings. In addition, I run a private practice exclusively focused on providing a truly individualized functional & integrative healing approach.

As for my experience with Psychedelics, I have learned how to conduct legal ceremonies & hold space outside the US. Within the US, I provide individual and group ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). Years before Spravato, I successfully pioneered Ketamine treatment programs for clients struggling with severe mental illness and in group home settings.

As for my personal development in this space, I focus on supporting the sacred & embodied lenses of knowing and healing. Working with these sacred medicines cannot be taught with results from research settings alone. It requires a dedication to one’s personal journey and the ability to embody the process of moving toward and through challenges. Additionally, this path requires a continuing commitment to work on increasing one's awareness and capacity to hold a space and hold the struggles that manifest in our clients as they move through to rejoin their true path. I enjoy caring for clients with a broad variety of conditions. As a gay man, I feel that I have much to offer in sharing my work with my LGBTQ+ peers. My own challenges with growing up gay added to my anguish & suicidality as an overly sensitive adolescent and young adult. In contrast to what I was told at that time, it was never a major depressive disorder, but a lack of acceptance, patience, proper guidance and understanding of the surrounding community. I see that many of my gay peers never had the chance or took the time to revisit and reshape the consequences of these deferred challenges. Despite many celebrated new freedoms, our gay culture is not much healthier than one or two decades ago. To repair and progress, we need other gay men to mentor and help to reshape our emotional understanding and reactivity patterns within our gay culture. Our retreat offerings are designed to create space for healing in this area and will hopefully also become part of healing our broader community.