Unique offerings for optimal healing.

Psychotherapy

The therapists at Expanse bring years of experience to ensure highly individualized, comprehensive care. Many of the clinicians are dually licensed to treat both mental health and substance use issues, and Expanse also offers couples and family counseling.

Several of the clinicians have specialty training to treat trauma. The trauma therapy provided at Expanse emphasizes strong attunement from the therapist, a focus on attachment, and deep somatic (body) processing.

Psychiatry

Expanse MN has a team of physicians offering psychiatry and addiction medicine services:
Our psychiatric team is well-equipped to address both mental health and substance use issues and will take the time to ensure each person’s wants and needs are heard and included in the treatment process.

Learn about the staff’s training and experience »

Expanse offers both individual and group services and can be delivered in person, through telehealth, or both.

Psychological Testing and Assessment

At Expanse MN, our psychological testing and assessment services provide clients with clarity, insight, and direction. Each assessment includes a clinical interview, evidence-based questionnaires, and a feedback session to better understand how a person thinks, feels, learns, and functions in daily life.

Our Approach

Each evaluation begins with a detailed clinical interview to understand history, concerns, and goals. A tailored battery of standardized tests follows, measuring mood, personality, cognition, and executive functioning. Clients receive clear explanations and ongoing feedback, culminating in a written report with practical, actionable recommendations.

Our assessments are not only about identifying challenges—they provide a roadmap for growth. We highlight strengths alongside difficulties and connect results to concrete strategies for improved functioning, decision-making, and quality of life.

Why Choose Expanse MN for Assessment

• Expertise across specialties: Dr. Venables and Dr. Mooney bring decades of combined experience in both therapy and assessment, with training from leading institutions and specialized postdoctoral fellowships.
• Accessibility and flexibility: We offer timely scheduling, including evening and weekend hours, and can often accommodate urgent requests.
• Comprehensive reporting: Every evaluation concludes with a clear, detailed report and personalized recommendations for school, medical care, workplace accommodations, or personal growth.
• Collaborative care: As part of a multidisciplinary clinic, we integrate assessment findings with psychiatry, psychotherapy, and addiction services for coordinated, whole-person care.

Who Benefits from Assessment

Psychological testing can be life-changing for those who:

• Struggle with focus, organization, or learning and want clarity around ADHD or related concerns.
• Experience mood or anxiety symptoms that are difficult to diagnose or treat.
• Need documentation for workplace or academic accommodations.
• Are preparing for surgery and require a readiness evaluation.
• Have questions about memory, thinking, or executive functioning.

Modalities

Expanse offers a wide range of mental health modalities that include:

• Progressive Psychiatry
• Addiction Psychotherapy
• Nursing support for medication concerns
• Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP – for more information please visit www.psychedelicsomatic.org)
• Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Insight-oriented psychotherapy
• Marriage/couples counseling
• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Brainspotting
• Treating substance use/addiction issues
• Assistance with self-regulation
• Counseling for compulsivity/self-medicating
• Counseling for family/concerned others
• Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
• Treatment for Body-focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRD)

Understanding Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP)

From birth to late adolescence, we function in a less regulated, more emotional state of consciousness. During this period of time, we rely on our primary care givers to help our bodies regulate emotional states – to calm us when we’re frightened, soothe us when we’re hurt or sad, to comfort us when we’re upset. When we have the safety and support of our primary caregiver our systems can return to a state of calm, but when we don’t have this our bodies can live in a state of high alert or just shut down and feel nothing.

As our prefrontal cortex develops so does our ability to use executive function. You can think of this as the more rational part of our brain that regulates the more emotional and impulsive regions. Rational thinking and the cognitive tools associated with them are highly valued in Western society; our ability to maintain composure and restrict our emotions and to push our body is something we are told to do as we grow up (i.e., “Suck it up!”, “Don’t be such a crybaby”, and “Don’t get so emotional!” are all examples of this societal norm). We are strongly encouraged to ignore our feelings and think our way through life –  so we build coping strategies.

As a result, when the stress and pain are too much for our coping strategies, our bodies pick up the slack and adapt as best they can by remaining on high alert looking for danger or shutting down in an attempt to feel nothing because it all feels like too much. We call this trauma and it is our body doing its best to survive. As human beings we want to thrive and we are highly adaptable, so even when our bodies are in emotional survival mode we use our amazing cognitive abilities to devise methods to try to pick up the pieces; we cope within the fallout of our nervous system’s failure to cope. This perpetuates a vicious cycle that allows us to function in life, at least some of the time, but rarely do we get to feel a sense of calm.

PSIP helps us reduce our use of executive function in order to ‘reset’ our autonomic nervous system, allowing our body to be less reactive our day-to-day environment. This reset of our autonomic nervous system results in us not needing to lean as much on our coping strategies and be more open to fully engage the world around us.

The process of “resetting” of one’s autonomic nervous system is unique to each individual. For some people it unfolds slowly and gently, for others it can be very intense, involving lots of anguish and terror.

Important Consideration: Due to the unpredictable nature of each person’s held experiences, Expanse MN seeks to provide full disclosure that sessions can be painful, scary, and destabilizing, AND resolution/fluidity often lie on the other side.

Given this, you may hear other people expressing anguish if you seek care at our clinic and you may also smell Cannabis if people are using medicine.

The process of PSIP is founded in the relationship between the client and facilitator. Developing a strong therapeutic connection with the facilitator is essential. A safe connection helps people trust the process and be with discomfort in the body until that discomfort melts away. PSIP can also help people to build deeper attachments and more meaningful connections with others outside of therapy.

PSIP can be done with or without using psychoactive or psychedelic medicine. The medicine is an agent to help people “get out of their heads” and connect more deeply with their body and emotions. The initial session is usually done without medicine to assess and develop readiness.

If medicine is used, the preferred option is cannabis, as it is effective with body awareness and opening nervous system pathways. A low-dose (a.k.a. psycholytic) of ketamine can also used.

During the process of PSIP, our therapists are like a navigator, sitting next to you in the car. We offer suggestions about which roads to turn down and when to move from the gas to the brake. You are always the one behind the wheel with control over how we engage in the process.

Please visit www.psychedelicsomatic.org and watch some of the videos to help you better understand this therapy.

Understanding Expanse MN Approach to Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) at Expanse MN

• KAP is indicated for people experiencing symptoms of depression and/or suicidality, including treatment resistant depression.
• At Expanse MN, a low-dose of Ketamine is used to induce a non-ordinary state of consciousness that includes: Awareness of body; comfort and relaxation; reduced ego defenses; empathy, compassion, that used for anxiolysis and/or and warmth; love and peace; euphoria; mind is dreamy with non-specific colorful visual effects.
• This state will support an individual’s ability to reflect on patterns of behavior – including thought processes – with the help of a therapeutic guide who assists them in the process of examining these patterns within the context of a safe environment.
• The KAP approach used at Expanse MN is highly interactive with the therapist and is considered a “directed/interactional” form of psychotherapy.

Understanding Expanse MN’s Approach to Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness

Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness (KAM) at Expanse MN

Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness is a 12-week program developed by Cliff Dahlberg for individuals experiencing treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, or deeply engrained patterns of coping that no longer support well-being.

• At Expanse MN, mindfulness skills—such as present-moment awareness, attentional focus, the ability to pause habitual reactions, and compassion toward one’s inner experience—are the primary tools for healing. Ketamine is not the treatment itself. Instead, a very low dose is used as a support to temporarily shift how the nervous system processes sensory information, especially signals coming from within the body (i.e., interoception). This shift, coupled with the practice of mindfulness-based skills, can increase the individual’s capacity for perceiving and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.
• During a session, the low-dose ketamine creates a gentle, non-ordinary state of consciousness by disrupting a region of the brain that processes sensory signals. This can soften habitual stress responses by quieting automatic “alarm” signals in the nervous system, making it easier to notice how certain sensations, thoughts, or emotional loops trigger feelings of unsafety or physiological stress activation. With guidance, individuals learn to observe these established thought patterns with curiosity and non-judgment, rather than becoming overwhelmed or trying to control them.
• Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness at Expanse MN is a guided, experiential process. The guide offers grounding, mindfulness cues, and a compassionate presence to help clients orient toward safety, compassion, and non-judgmental awareness within a carefully co-created environment. The goal is not insight alone, but the development of practical mindfulness skills that can be carried into everyday life—supporting greater nervous-system regulation over time.
• Individuals participating in KAM are supported by a structured workbook that includes clear explanations, guided exercises, and simple tracking sheets. The workbook is designed to help participants develop meditation and breathwork into consistent daily routines, while gradually turning mindfulness-based skills into habitual, adaptive responses to stress and emotional activation in everyday life.