DayTryp’s Medical Director: Guided Ketamine Sessions Can Lead to ‘Extraordinary Outcomes’

Dr. Quinn Snyder is the chief medical officer at DayTryp Health, a ketamine therapy clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, which opened in March 2023. After studying under Andrew Weil and traveling to India to study plant-based medicines, he completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Drexel University.

Quinn recently discussed the launching of DayTryp, how he and his team approach ketamine therapy, the importance of set and setting, and his belief that ketamine is a game-changer in end-of-life and palliative care.

***


How did you get into this line of work?
 

I’ve been a practicing emergency physician for 14 years, and have been using ketamine for years with people in the ED, with ages ranging from 1 to 90-plus, primarily for procedural sedation and anesthesia. While doing this work — and especially throughout the pandemic — I started to learn a lot more about medications with psychedelic properties in general, and specifically the therapeutic benefits of ketamine. Frankly it was shocking to me how robust the data was regarding ketamine. So that was really my entry point.


What sets DayTryp apart from other ketamine clinics?

We’re trying to do something that’s a little different than what you tend to see across this industry. We’re deeply committed to using these medications for healing and therapeutic purposes. We offer fully guided and semi-guided sessions, where somebody will be with you throughout the entire encounter. This includes some initial preparation work, where we’ll help you focus on intent for your session. Then you’ll receive the medicine, and for fully guided sessions, the guide will stay with you, not only to watch your monitors, but by holding space and also to hear whether you say something out loud. Afterward this really helps with the integration process. I always tell people that coming out of ketamine is like coming out of a dream. If you don’t write down all of the details of that dream right when you wake up, you’re going to forget all that richness, all those feelings, all those interesting little things that may actually be relevant to you. Most of our clients choose a fully guided experience like this. In many, many other ketamine clinics, they just administer ketamine,  walk out of the room and give you a call button. When you’re done, you get up and walk out. We think it could be so much more effective than that.


How are your typical outcomes with these fully guided sessions?

It’s just absolutely extraordinary. As I said, I’ve been an ER doctor for 14 years, and I have gotten by far more gratitude from patients within the last year than in my entire career as an emergency physician. These medications are so important, we cannot allow them to fall into a regulatory space where they’re not available to people who desperately need them. And let me tell you there are many, many people who desperately need these medications. They save lives.


What types of conditions are you treating most often?

Depression is by far the most common diagnosis of people who come and seek treatment with us. After that, it’s generalized anxiety, trauma and PTSD. But we’ve also treated people with eating disorders, bipolar disorder (under the right circumstances), and people with substance use disorders. And across pretty wide demographics. We see about 50/50 men and women, which is interesting because typically women tend to utilize healthcare more than men. I think it’s fascinating how men seem to have embraced medications with psychedelic properties more than other forms of medical care. It is very exciting to see. 


Do you also have people coming to you without a specific indication, who are looking more for therapy around personal growth?

Yes, we are open to the prospect of people seeking treatment therapy for the sake of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis and personal growth. I absolutely consider ketamine and psychedelic medications a wellness product. This is very important. And when you look at medical professionals themselves, many of them have neglected their own personal wellness and their mental health for so long. All of a sudden they wake up to this idea that they can actually engage in something that is for their own personal benefit. That’s such a great mindset to have. So much of our mental wellness is related to being able to change how we look at ourselves, to see things in a new way. I think we all can become better people for that.


You launched DayTryp about year ago. How’s business? Are you getting close to break-even yet?

Yes, we’re right at the point of profitability now. We’re very pleased with what we’re seeing overall, and the trends are positive. More and more people are learning about us in the community and what we’re dedicated to. I think when you lead with the heart, people see that, people feel it. And yes, there is a big market for people who want to receive medical care in a setting that doesn’t feel like a medical office. Now if I had designed our clinic, it would have been all chrome, vinyl, plastic and just cold. That’s been my entire career, that’s what I’ve known. Instead, we have something totally different, something warm and inviting. We have beds and sheets and pillows and decorations and fountains and plants. Of course, we still have the supplemental oxygen and all the safety medical equipment. But I think we’ve created something unique. And the word gets out when you’re doing it right. 


I see you offer end-of-life and palliative ketamine treatments through a separately branded offering called Sunset. Can you tell me about that? 

I am so glad you came across Sunset, it’s maybe the most important project we’re doing. Sunset is special, no one’s done this before. We’re going out to people’s homes who are on hospice and on palliative care. We’re providing them sessions of ketamine in the same kind of format as our clinic, but in people’s actual homes. A lot of these people obviously are not very mobile and can’t get to the clinic. So we want to go to them and provide them that in the home experience. 

Our protocol is specifically designed for people near the end of life. We’re partnering with a local concierge nursing practice named Navi Nurses. I cannot even tell you the feedback that we’ve gotten from this. It’s off the charts. It’s very exciting. I firmly believe that in the long run this is a space that ketamine will dominate, because ketamine does something that none of the other medications do for people on hospice: It’s great for depression, anxiety, confronting existential crises, as well as treating pain. All in the same medication. There is nothing else that does all of those things at the same time. So we’re very excited to be able to provide this care to people across Arizona. 


Do you have plans to add MDMA therapy when and if it becomes FDA approved?

Yes, when MDMA becomes rescheduled and publicly available for therapeutic purposes for clinics like ours, we will be the first ones there. Our goal is to provide it the same way we’re currently providing ketamine, but of course based on the MAPS protocol, where there are two people present at all times and a camera in the room. That’s our plan for MDMA, and then we will also prep for whatever happens with the legislation that is currently working its way through Arizona — and potentially the governor signs into law a therapeutic program for psilocybin as early as Jan. 1, 2026. Our goal is to engage in healing through psychedelic medications plain and simple. We will use all the medicines that are available to us.


Last question: A constant challenge in running a ketamine clinic is finding and retaining quality employees. How’s your experience been with staffing
?

It is definitely challenging to find the right people. But right now I’d say we have an extraordinary staff, each of them very impressive in their skills, dedication to the work, and how they interact with our clients. For me the real litmus test is: Would you bring your family to the clinic you work at? And there is no doubt in my  mind that if my family member needed ketamine for therapeutic purposes, there is no other clinic in the world I would take them to.

Search