Close-up of the carved stone face of a statue, possibly representing a woman, on a rocky surface with weathered textures and colors.

Even deeply carved
patterns can shift

Individual, couples & ketamine-assisted therapy in Berkeley, CA and virtual across California.

The image is completely blank with a light beige background, no objects or details visible.
A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black turtleneck, standing outdoors in a wooded area with green leaves and trees in the background.
Abstract illustration with curved, textured streaks in shades of green, gray, and beige.

Ida Ahmadi

MFT, LMFT (they/them)

I offer individual, couples & ketamine-assisted therapy for people making sense of identity, culture, and belonging.

My approach is relational, interpersonal, trauma-informed, and collaborative. I’m engaged, curious, and present. I am direct and tend to ask a lot of questions. I’m genuinely interested in knowing and understanding your world. 

Therapy is a commitment to learning about oneself and I’m your thought partner in the process—someone who can sit with you, think with you, and gently help you notice what might be just outside your awareness. And within the process, there’s space here for humor, honesty, and being real. This is work that we build together. 

Individual Therapy

A space to explore patterns in your relationships, reconnect with your needs, and develop a stronger sense of agency in your life.

Couples & Relationship Therapy

For couples and non-traditional relationship structures focused on communication, dynamics, and building relationships that feel more aligned.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

For those who feel stuck or like traditional therapy hasn’t fully helped, ketamine-assisted therapy can support new ways of processing and accessing difficult material.

Close-up of a narrow canyon with smooth, cream-colored rock walls and small pool of water at the bottom.
Abstract illustration with flowing, curved lines in shades of gray, white, and light green.

Many of the people I work with are used to being the one who holds things together.

I work with individuals and couples, many of whom are queer, trans, non-monogamous, or navigating questions around identity, culture, and belonging. A lot of my clients are children of immigrants, people moving between cultures, or people trying to make sense of who they are in spaces that don’t always reflect them.

Maybe you:

  • are someone others tend to rely on: like a caregiver, high-achiever, or someone who holds a lot of responsibility

  • feel conflicted between your individual needs & desires and what your family/culture expects

  • are stuck in familiar yet painful patterns

  • find it hard to identify your own needs, set boundaries, or trust your instincts in relationships

  • want to find more meaning and direction in your life

Our work isn’t about changing who you are, it’s about cultivating greater understanding and awareness which creates more space for choice in your life.

The image is blank with a plain light-colored background.
Narrow slot canyon with smooth, layered sandstone walls and a small water stream flowing at the bottom.

My Approach

I draw from relational and interpersonal psychoanalytic psychotherapy, somatic work, and gestalt, depending on what feels most useful to you. I attend to identity and culture, and how that shapes your experience.  

When I say “relational and interpersonal”, I mean that I utilize our relationship to support you and that it can also function as a laboratory to explore how you relate to people in your life. Together, we create a safe space to look at that in real time together. 

When I say “psychoanalytic”, I mean that I attend to inner conflicts and repetitions that you’ve experienced throughout your life, and the role of the unconscious in those experiences. 

Our work will often be more reflective and exploratory. At times, we may slow things down and pay attention to what’s happening in your body or in the space between us, always from a place of choice.

As a trauma-informed therapist, my approach emphasizes that the safety to explore in therapy is built by experiences that foster trust over time. Change happens when we cultivate trust and safety to be with your authentic experience together. 

Narrow canyon with smooth, wavy sandstone walls in shades of orange and tan, with light shining through an opening at the top.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

Sometimes the patterns we’re working with are difficult to access through talk therapy alone. Ketamine can help create a different kind of opening—one that allows for deeper processing and new ways of relating to your experience.

This work is always grounded in integration and care, moving at a pace that feels right for you.

  • Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy pairs a legal, medically supervised dose of ketamine with the relational work we're already doing together. The medicine can temporarily soften some of the rigid patterns and defenses that keep things stuck, opening a window where new insight, emotion, or memory has more room to surface. My role is to help you prepare for that experience and then work with you afterward to make sense of it and bring it into your daily life.

  • KAP tends to be most useful for people who've already done some work in talk therapy and feel stuck — like they understand their patterns intellectually but can't quite shift them. It's not a quick fix, and it's not a replacement for the relational work. It works best when there's already some trust and self-understanding to build on. We'll talk through your history and goals together before deciding if it's the right next step.

  • Not necessarily, but I want us to have a real working relationship before we do this together. If you're new to me, we'll start with standard sessions so I can get to know you and your history — and so you can get a felt sense of whether I'm the right therapist for you — before we talk about incorporating ketamine.

  • The ketamine therapy session typically lasts 3 hours. The medicine is taken as sublingual lozenges. The effects begin to appear after about 15- 20 minutes, peak for about 40 minutes, and dissipate over the following 1-2 hours.

  • Ketamine has a long history of safe medical use, and KAP is done under medical supervision with careful screening beforehand. It isn't the right fit for everyone — certain medical and mental health histories rule it out — which is part of why intake is thorough. We'll go through your history together, and a licensed prescribing provider evaluates and approves every session.

  • Every individual is unique in how many sessions they need. There is no set amount, however I recommend at least 3 KAP sessions spaced out about 3 weeks apart to begin to notice shifts.

"History is not the past, it is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history."

—James Baldwin

A plain, textured green background.
A close-up of a curved, layered object with earth-tone colors including beige, gray, and green.

You may be wondering…

  • I work with adults individually, as well as with couples or throuples. 

  • I highly prefer in-person sessions and offer virtual sessions for people who do not live in Berkeley or Oakland. 

  • My fee is $255 for individuals and $285 for couples. My sessions are 50-minutes long. 

  • I offer coaching for people outside of California. That work is a bit different from what I’m describing here. If you are living outside California and are interested in working with me, please reach out so we can discuss what that looks like.

Abstract wavy lines in shades of beige, green, brown, and white.
A narrow, winding river flowing through a rugged, rocky canyon with layered sedimentary cliffs and dust clouds rising from the cliffs in a barren landscape.

If you’re considering therapy, you’re welcome to reach out.

Finding the right fit matters. Fill out the form below to schedule a consultation to explore if working together feels like a good match.

Please note this form is not HIPAA-secure, so please avoid sharing any sensitive information.