Soft Reboot Wellness

Samantha Sparkman

I’ve seen Dr Sara at Soft Reboot Wellness approximately 10 times for ketamine treatments. The office is very nice, calm, and welcoming. Shade (the office manager and also an integration coach) is great and very insightful. Dr Sara is the best doctor I’ve ever seen. From the start of the first session, I knew I was in great hands. She explained again to me what to expect and how it would go. Before the IV we talk about my intentions of the journey and go over any questions I may have. She stays with you throughout the whole session and monitors your vitals. The sessions are a blessing. Afterwards we go over my journey, feelings, and thoughts. For me it’s like a mental and emotional reset with a different perspective of the things, situations, and questions in my life. Thank you Dr Sara!

Brad Johnson

Ketamine and Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) experiences I'm 50 and have been going through a bit of a "mid-life crisis" over the past few years, including divorce, family stress, health issues, and a general sense of wondering about purpose and my life. I researched Ketamine therapy extensively and decided to give it a try. Over the past few years, I have seen Dr. Sara 15 or so times for Ketamine infusions and have found them to be incredibly helpful in a variety of ways. I originally was going to do this through a place that will send you medication and let you take it yourself at home. I did an intake assessment at one of these providers, but decided that I'd feel more comfortable with an actual doctor present during the treatment. I then was going to go to a place near me with a pretty impressive seeming doctor "leading" the practice. Unfortunately, I learned that I would never meet the doctor and the Ketamine and my overall integrated treatment plan would be administered by a physicians assistant or nurse. I was also discouraged by how quickly they were willing to have me come in - they asked very little about my goals or how Ketamine may or may not help and were mainly focused on how quickly I could come in for my first infusion. That led me to Dr. Sara and Soft Reboot Wellness. I spent a long session with Dr. Sara where she did a thorough review of my goals, described the process, took, my health and psychiatric/ psychological history, and approved me for therapy. I was nervous about what it would be like, and she took great pains to answer all of my questions and reassure me that the process was physically safe and that due to the fact that I was receiving the Ketamine via IV, we could stop and get me back to "normal" quite quickly if I didn't like the experience. She also did a great job of slowly ramping up the dosage over time, so my first infusion was relatively mild so that I got a real sense of what I was going to experience and could work with her to make it effective but not something that was anxiety-inducing or too intense. Her credentials also helped - not only the top tier schools, education, and experience, but also her years of acting as a cardiac anesthesiologist. So I felt really comfortable proceeding with the treatments. Her office is great, by the way, and that matters! A great zero gravity chair to relax in during the infusion, music and headphones to complement the experience, eye shades, and a general sense of peace and calm are all pretty important and she has taken great pains to create a great place that doesn't feel like some medical clinic but rather almost a spa. She monitors vitals and sits with you during the entire experience, and discusses before the infusion what a specific intention or intentions for the session are, then does a debrief afterwards, takes notes so that I don't forget what the infusion was like and what I was thinking and feeling, and sends that on so that I have a record to look back on. She also has a system to regularly follow-up on key indicators of anxiety, depression, and so on so that progress over time can be evaluated. Finally, she made great recommendations for additional integration and general therapists to complement the Ketamine treatment itself. I couldn't be happier that I found her and her clinic for all of the reasons above. I've found the treatments have really helped to ground me, make me less "over-reactive", and helped me work through my divorce, family and health issues, and other stresses with a much clearer sense of purpose and perspective. I feel happier, calmer, clearer, and safer after a session. On another note, I recently did a Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) as I struggle with anticipatory anxiety and there's a lot of research that a single SGB can be really helpful in this regard. Since that treatment, I've noticed a meaningful reduction in this kind of unwelcome anxiety. The procedure felt trivial physically, just a bit of pressure on my neck during and a hoarse voice for about 6 hours afterwards.

D V

I completed my series of 6 initial treatments, and I'm so grateful to have found Soft Reboot Wellness. I had the pleasure of working with both Drs. Sara and Natasha for the infusions sessions, and with Shade for integration work. Before I started my treatments, I was a little nervous since I didn't know what to expect, but everyone in the clinic has a warm, friendly demeanor and created such a a safe space that truly fostered a third-eye opening, holistic healing experience. To see this kind of evolution in medicine to encompass such unique specialties of care has been inspiring and has made me hopeful for what the future has in store for mental health and wellness. I can't recommend this clinic more!

Susanna Lyons

I’m so grateful to have found Dr. Sara and Shade at Soft Reboot! Not only was the experience fantastic, but I can really see the results of the work in my daily life. I have a history of trauma/PTSD, anxiety and depression. I decided to try ketamine therapy (KT) when I hit a plateau in my journey to wellness. I was frustrated and didn’t know what to do, so my therapist recommend I consider KT to help me through the slump. After quite a bit a research, I reached out to Soft Reboot. It had great reviews, Dr. Sara's education and work history are stellar, and I was looking for someone who would stick with me through the process. I couldn't be happier with my choice! Sara is professional and compassionate, and I felt comfortable doing this vulnerable work with her. Shade is an absolute delight, and I really appreciated her support with integration. KT has made such a positive change in my life! It’s not magic, it’s work. Hard work. But the results of the work have been well worth it. If you are considering KT, I can not more highly recommend Soft Reboot. :)

Kelly

I could not recommend Dr. Sara Herman and her IV ketamine infusion clinic more. I've recently developed an interest in psychedelic assisted therapy for stress management and personal growth. Having educated myself, I was convinced of ketamine’s potential for things like anxiety and depression treatment. Yet I was still a bit apprehensive about the actual treatment, as it was so new and unknown to me. From start to finish, Dr. Sara and the entire Soft Reboot Wellness team made me so comfortable and confident. For first timers or just the curious, I will detail the experience here: The process begins with a phone call with Shade, the fantastic and certified psychedelic integration coach. The point of the call is for Shade to learn about your familiarity with psychedelics for mental health therapy, as well as what you hope to get out of the ketamine session. Based on what I shared, she filled in my knowledge gaps so that I understood how the process would work and had clear expectations for the session. Shade is empathetic and insightful. She did an excellent job synthesizing my words into two intentions for the session. Once in the session, Dr. Sara reiterated that no matter what the treatment brings, I am safe, she is right there, she is monitoring my vitals, and that I could ask her to adjust the dosage or end the session at any point. She reminded me that it is my session and I am in control. My first session was fascinating. Ketamine is confronting, in that it will help you confront that which holds you back. But the confrontation is unexpectedly—and thankfully—gentle. Ketamine reduces self-defeating thought patterns that the mind interprets as threats to what they really are: impotent, weightless thoughts born from the insecure ego. When reduced to their rightful size, these thoughts and fears can transmute into the trivial notions they are and then be easily discarded from the conscious mind. In turn, space and time are freed for much more productive ideas. From just one session, I gained empowering realizations that have altered my perspectives and decisions. Two things set Soft Reboot Wellness apart: 1. That the ketamine is delivered via IV infusion. I researched other Bay Area ketamine clinics. There are several cropping up, some of which are VC-backed and expanding rapidly. Many of which offer ketamine via oral supplement. Ultimately, I decided that IV ketamine infusion was the optimal delivery system. With infusion, Dr. Sara is in complete control of the dosage, which is tailored to each patient. She can literally “turn it off” at any moment, which is comforting and seems more efficient. Furthermore, Dr. Sara is a trained and board certified anesthesiologist, which made me feel incredibly at ease in her care. 2. The Soft Reboot team is genuinely compassionate and caring. As so many different types of medical practices get rolled up in private equity or groups, the doctor-patient relationship is getting weakened and care is getting faster and less effective. Soft Reboot Wellness is privately owned, and it shows. Dr. Sara remains fully in control of the patient experience. The team genuinely cares that you benefit from the experience. Through an app, they encourage you to track your progress and they continue to check in between sessions. After the infusion is over, you discuss the experience with Dr. Sara. Oddly, I felt more comfortable sharing with her than I do even with my therapist—which is a testament to how non-judgmental, insightful, and curious Dr. Sara is. In the days that follow, Shade coaches you through the “integration” process, or the work of applying insights from the session into your life. Both Dr. Sara and Shade have a sincere gift for compassion and holding space for you as you share and work to make change. I’m sure there are other good ketamine clinics in the Bay Area. But I wouldn’t go anywhere else but Soft Reboot Wellness. Their empathetic, personalized, highly-thoughtful care is well worth the commute to Menlo Park.