Your first ketamine or Spravato visit at Reyou South Plainfield, explained step by step — how to prepare, what a session feels like, and what comes after.
If you've been thinking about ketamine therapy or Spravato®, chances are you've already tried other things. Maybe several other things. The medication that helped a little, then didn't. The waiting lists. The mornings where getting out of bed felt like lifting something heavy that nobody else could see.
Walking into a clinic for the first time — especially for a treatment you've only read about — can feel like a big unknown. So here's exactly what that first visit looks like at our South Plainfield clinic, start to finish.
Before you arrive
After you reach out, our intake team talks with you about your history, what you've tried, and what you're hoping to change. If Spravato® is the right fit — it's FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression and typically covered by insurance — we handle the benefits check and prior authorization for you. If IV ketamine therapy is the better path, we'll walk you through that too. Either way, you'll know what treatment will look like, and what it will cost, before you ever sit in the chair.
A few things that make your first session better:
- Come on an empty stomach. No food for at least 4 hours before your session. This is the number one first-timer mistake — eating too close to treatment can leave you nauseous and pull you out of the experience.
- Arrange a ride home. You can't drive after treatment, so plan for a family member, friend, or rideshare.
- Dress comfortably. You'll be reclining for a while. Sweatpants are welcome here.
- Travel light — comfort is on us. Noise-cancelling headphones, eye shades, and comfort items are waiting in your room, along with calming music.
When you walk in
Our South Plainfield clinic at 908 Oak Tree Avenue was built for this — a comfortable waiting room, private treatment rooms, and recliners you sink into. No rushed clipboard handoff, no feeling like a number. You'll meet the team, go over how the session works, and have every question answered before anything starts.
During your session
For Spravato®, you administer the nasal spray under our supervision, then rest in your private room while we monitor you — sessions run about two hours. For IV ketamine, the infusion itself takes around 40 minutes to an hour, with time to settle in before and return gently after.
What does it feel like? Most people describe a dream-like state — thoughts loosen, the mental noise turns down, and things that usually feel stuck can be seen from a little distance. Some sessions are profound. Some are quiet. Both are normal, and the effects tend to build over your series — many people notice the biggest shifts after the second or third treatment, not the first.
You're never alone in the process. Our team checks on you throughout, and you rest in the room until you feel steady and clear.
After — where the real work happens
This is what makes Reyou different from an infusion-only clinic. The hours and days after a session are when your mind is most open to change, so we pair treatment with integration — help making sense of what came up and turning it into real-life change — and weekly psychotherapist-led group therapy. The medicine opens a window. Integration is how you climb through it.
How many sessions, and what about insurance?
Most treatment plans start with a series (typically six sessions over a few weeks), then taper to maintenance as needed. Spravato® is FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression and typically covered by insurance, including Horizon, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare plans. IV ketamine is self-pay, and we're upfront about pricing from the first call.
Serving Middlesex and Union Counties
South Plainfield is our second New Jersey location, built after more than 10,000 treatment sessions at our Howell clinic (here's what a visit looks like there). We're minutes from Edison, Metuchen, Piscataway, Scotch Plains, and Westfield, with sessions available seven days a week.
If you've been carrying this for a long time, you don't have to figure it all out today. Reach out — a conversation costs nothing, and it's the step everything else follows from.
Related reading: Ketamine for OCD: When Your Brain Won't Let Go
