IV ketamine for Pompano Beach — psychiatry-supervised, integrated with therapy.

RECO Health's Delray Beach campus sits 18 miles north of Pompano Beach — about 28 minutes up I-95 outside rush hour. IV ketamine at RECO is psychiatry-supervised, delivered at 0.5 mg/kg over 40 minutes in a monitored clinical setting, and paired with an integration therapy session the day after each infusion. For clients in Cresthaven, Lighthouse Point, and Sea Ranch Lakes, the drive is short enough to sustain a six-infusion induction and long enough for real clinical separation from the day-to-day environment.

Pompano Beach sits 18 miles south of RECO Health’s Delray Beach campus — about 28 minutes up I-95 outside rush hour. For clients in Cresthaven, Lighthouse Point, Sea Ranch Lakes, and Hillsboro Shores, that distance is enough to create genuine clinical separation from the day-to-day environment without pulling anyone out of the broader South Florida community. IV ketamine therapy at RECO is a psychiatry-supervised medical treatment integrated with structured psychotherapy — not a standalone infusion service.

Ketamine’s mechanism and why the response emerges in hours, not weeks

Ketamine is a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist. Blocking glutamate binding at that receptor triggers a downstream cascade — increased AMPA receptor signaling, a surge in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and rapid synaptogenesis in the prefrontal cortex. SSRIs like sertraline and escitalopram act on monoamine reuptake and require four to six weeks of steady-state dosing before clinical response is measurable on the PHQ-9. Ketamine’s antidepressant and anti-suicidal effect emerges within hours to days — often before the induction series is complete.

That kinetic profile is why ketamine belongs in the treatment-resistant depression (TRD) pathway and in the acute suicidality pathway. It is not a first-line antidepressant. RECO’s psychiatry team considers ketamine when a client has failed two or more adequate trials of first-line agents — SSRIs, SNRIs, and typically an augmentation agent like aripiprazole, quetiapine, or lithium — when the depression is comorbid with PTSD that has not responded to trauma-focused therapy, or when suicidal ideation is escalating faster than a conventional medication trial can address. When six weeks of a new medication trial is not clinically available, ketamine is.

The 40-minute infusion, the monitored recovery, and the six-session induction

Each infusion session runs roughly two hours end-to-end. Intake vitals — blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation — are recorded before the IV is placed. The infusion itself is 0.5 mg/kg of racemic ketamine over 40 minutes on a rate-controlled pump, weight-adjusted and occasionally titrated based on prior response or tolerability. Dissociative symptoms are assessed during and after the infusion with the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS). Vital signs are monitored continuously; the most common intra-session effects are transient elevations in blood pressure and heart rate, which resolve without intervention in the vast majority of cases.

After the infusion ends, clients remain in the recovery room for 30 to 60 minutes until dissociation clears and vitals return to baseline. Driving is not permitted for 24 hours, so transportation is arranged before the session. The full induction series is six infusions across two to three weeks — typically two or three per week. That window is where a sustained response either consolidates or fails to. Response is tracked between infusions with the PHQ-9 and, when suicidality is the presenting concern, the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS).

Integration with psychotherapy is what makes the response durable

Ketamine opens a window; therapy determines whether the client walks through it. RECO’s protocol pairs each infusion with an integration session — usually the day after — where a psychotherapist works with the affective and cognitive material that surfaced during dissociation and consolidates any shifts into durable change. Modality selection is driven by the presenting picture: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) when depressive rumination and behavioral withdrawal dominate, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) when trauma memories become more accessible during the ketamine window, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for values-clarification work, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills for clients whose depression sits alongside emotion dysregulation.

The published literature is consistent on this point: infusion-only protocols produce shorter response duration and higher relapse rates than protocols that pair ketamine with structured psychotherapy. That is the primary reason RECO does not operate a standalone infusion service. The psychiatrist prescribing the infusions and the therapist running integration sessions coordinate directly on the treatment plan, so material that surfaces in an infusion is not lost between clinicians.

IV ketamine versus Spravato — how the decision is made

IV racemic ketamine is off-label for depression and, in most cases, cash-pay. Spravato (esketamine) is FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression and for depression with acute suicidal ideation, is covered by most commercial insurance plans, and is delivered intranasally under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) protocol — administered in a certified clinic with a two-hour in-clinic observation period per dose.

The choice is clinical and financial. Spravato is often the right answer when insurance coverage is the deciding factor and the twice-weekly-for-four-weeks induction schedule is workable. IV ketamine is often the right answer when dose flexibility matters, when a client has responded better to racemic ketamine in prior treatment, or when a compressed six-infusion-in-two-weeks schedule fits the clinical urgency better than Spravato’s fixed REMS cadence. Both are supervised by the same psychiatry team; the decision is made with the client during the initial psychiatric consult after review of history, prior response, and verification of benefits.

What to expect on your first visit

The first visit is a full psychiatric consultation, not an infusion. A RECO psychiatrist reviews prior medication trials with doses and durations, response to each, cardiovascular history, substance use history, and any prior dissociative episodes. Baseline scales are collected — PHQ-9 for depression severity, GAD-7 for anxiety, C-SSRS for suicidality, and PCL-5 when PTSD is part of the picture. When a co-occurring substance use disorder is present, the psychiatrist screens with the ASAM Criteria dimensions and uses the CIWA or COWS if withdrawal management is on the table.

Contraindications are ruled out: uncontrolled hypertension, unstable cardiovascular disease, active psychosis, active untreated substance use, and pregnancy. If ketamine is clinically appropriate, the induction schedule is built, an integration therapist is assigned, and transportation is confirmed. If Spravato is the better fit, REMS enrollment paperwork is initiated the same day.

Insurance and admissions from Pompano Beach

RECO Health is in-network with Florida Blue, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and BCBS for psychiatric services, integration therapy, and Spravato administration. IV racemic ketamine infusions are typically self-pay; the psychiatry consultation, integration psychotherapy, and any concurrent medication management are billed to insurance in the usual way. RECO’s admissions team runs a full verification of benefits during the intake call and issues a written cost estimate before any treatment is scheduled.

From Pompano Beach, the route is I-95 north to Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach — 18 miles, about 28 minutes outside peak traffic. Admissions can typically schedule an initial psychiatry consultation within a week, and when clinically indicated, begin an induction series shortly after.

Serving residents of: Cresthaven, Lighthouse Point, Sea Ranch Lakes, Hillsboro Shores.