If drinking has become harder to control and willpower, meetings, or medication haven’t been enough, you still have options. Florida averages over 13,000 alcohol-related deaths each year, with South Florida counties among the hardest hit. For people in Aventura, Miami-Dade, and Broward, supervised IV ketamine infusions paired with therapy may offer a different path. Here’s an honest look at how that works at Nushama in Aventura.
Why alcohol use disorder can be so hard to move past
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition, not a failure of character. Over time, heavy drinking reshapes the brain’s reward and stress systems, so the pull toward alcohol can feel stronger than any promise you make to yourself. Cravings, low mood, anxiety, and disrupted sleep feed one another, and many people cycle through stopping and starting for years.
Traditional care, including counseling, support groups, and FDA-approved medications like naltrexone or acamprosate, helps many people and remains the foundation of recovery. But for those who still feel stuck, a newer glutamate-focused approach has drawn growing research interest.
How ketamine may support recovery
Most antidepressants and anti-craving medications work on serotonin or opioid pathways. Ketamine works differently. It acts on the brain’s glutamate system and appears to support neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new connections. That may create a short window in which old, automatic patterns feel less fixed and new ones feel more possible.
For AUD specifically, ketamine may help lift the depression and anxiety that sit underneath problem drinking, temporarily soften cravings, and, when paired with psychotherapy, help the insights from therapy take deeper root. A randomized controlled trial found that ketamine combined with relapse-prevention therapy was associated with more days of abstinence over six months. A 2025 systematic review of six trials confirmed that five of six studies reported favorable effects on abstinence, cravings, or heavy drinking days, with no serious adverse events. The research is still developing, so we describe it as promising rather than proven.
Ketamine is a tool, not a cure
Ketamine is not a standalone fix for AUD, and no responsible clinic can promise sobriety. What supervised care can offer is an experience that may ease symptoms and make the harder work of change feel more within reach. Lasting progress still comes from you, supported by therapy, community, and a plan you can sustain.
What ketamine treatment looks like at Nushama Aventura
Nushama is a bilingual (English and Spanish) psychedelic-wellness clinic serving Aventura, Hallandale Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, North Miami Beach, and the greater Miami-Dade and Broward area. AUD is one of the core conditions we work with, alongside depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Recovery-focused care sits at the center of what we do.
Our approach is built around set and setting, the idea that your mindset and surroundings shape the depth and safety of the experience. Sessions take place in calm, private, spa-like rooms at our Aventura center (2999 NE 191st St, STE 200), minutes from Biscayne Boulevard and the William Lehman Causeway.
A personalized consultation first
Care begins with a medical and psychological consultation. A clinician reviews your history with alcohol, your mental health, your medications, and your goals. AUD often travels with depression, anxiety, or trauma, so understanding the full picture helps your team design care that actually fits your life.
A supervised series, not a single visit
Ketamine care for AUD is typically delivered as a series of infusions over several weeks. Benefits tend to build with repetition and integration rather than from any single session. During each infusion you rest in a reclined chair while a low, carefully calculated dose is delivered intravenously. A member of our clinical team is with you throughout, and the effects typically ease within about an hour. Your care team personalizes the number and spacing of sessions; there is no fixed formula.
Integration: where the change gets anchored
What happens between infusions may matter as much as the infusions themselves. Integration means reflecting on the experience with a therapist or through guided practices, and translating insight into everyday choices: recognizing triggers, rebuilding routines, and reinforcing the reasons you started. Pairing ketamine with ongoing counseling or a recovery community gives the work somewhere to land.
Is IV ketamine right for you?
Supervised ketamine care may be worth discussing if you recognize yourself in a few of these:
- You’ve tried to cut back or quit drinking more than once and it hasn’t held.
- Depression, anxiety, or past trauma seem tangled up with your drinking.
- Standard medications or programs haven’t given you enough relief.
- You want medically supervised care in a supportive, private setting close to home in Aventura or greater South Florida.
Ketamine isn’t appropriate for everyone. Certain heart conditions, uncontrolled blood pressure, active psychosis, and pregnancy can make it unsuitable. Active heavy drinking also raises safety considerations that a clinician needs to evaluate. If you drink heavily every day, please don’t stop abruptly on your own. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous, and your care team can help you plan a safe path forward.
Safety and what to expect
In a supervised clinical setting, ketamine has a well-established safety profile when dosing and monitoring are handled by trained professionals. Temporary effects can include a floating or dreamlike feeling, mild perceptual changes, slight nausea, or a brief rise in blood pressure. Because your judgment and coordination are affected for a few hours, you’ll need someone to drive you home. Your team walks you through every step beforehand.
What the journey can look like
Recovery-oriented ketamine care unfolds gradually. Knowing the arc ahead of time can make it feel less daunting.
Before you begin
Your team helps you prepare, practically and emotionally. That might mean arranging transportation, clearing your calendar, and setting an intention for the work ahead. If you’re currently drinking heavily, your clinician helps you plan a safe approach first. Managing withdrawal risk always comes before starting treatment.
During the series
Treatment is delivered as a series over a few weeks. Many people notice shifts in mood, sleep, or cravings as the series progresses, though the pace is different for everyone. Your team checks in between sessions and adjusts the plan based on how you’re responding.
After the series
The weeks after your infusions are where real consolidation happens. Integration work, therapy, and your support network help turn temporary openness into durable habits. Some people benefit from occasional maintenance sessions later on. That decision is always made together with your clinician, based on how you’re doing rather than a fixed schedule.
Ketamine works best as part of a bigger plan
Infusions on their own are unlikely to carry lasting recovery. The members who do best treat ketamine as one piece of a wider effort. That often includes ongoing therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy or motivational work pair well with the openness ketamine can create), a recovery community or peer support, and attention to sleep, movement, nutrition, and the relationships that protect sobriety. Where appropriate, ketamine can also work alongside FDA-approved medications for AUD. Your clinician coordinates the full picture so everything works together.
Why setting matters for this work
AUD often carries a heavy load of shame, and shame rarely responds well to a cold clinical environment. Nushama invests in calm, private spaces because feeling safe and unjudged is part of the healing. When your nervous system settles, the reflective state ketamine can create has more room to do its work.
South Florida’s population is deeply multilingual. Many people in Aventura, Sunny Isles, and surrounding neighborhoods think and feel most clearly in Spanish. Being able to process your experience in your first language matters more than it might seem when you’re working through something this personal.
Why people choose Nushama
- Experience. We work with some of the most proficient practitioners in psychedelic medicine.
- Science. We focus on scientifically tested modalities backed by clinical trials and real-world results.
- Safety. Strong screening, thoughtful preparation, and medically monitored treatment at every step.
- Access. Scholarships and programs help extend care to communities where mental-health access has historically been limited.
- Spiritually informed. A holistic experience designed to support healing of mind, body, and spirit.
Visit Nushama Aventura
Nushama’s Aventura center is located at 2999 NE 191st St, STE 200, Aventura, FL 33180, at the corner of Biscayne Blvd and NE 191st St. The clinic is a short drive from Hallandale Beach, Golden Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, North Miami Beach, and Bal Harbour, and easily reached from I-95, the Turnpike, or the William Lehman Causeway. Our team includes medical specialists in mood, eating, and alcohol use disorders, alongside leading researchers and practitioners in ketamine and other psychedelic therapies (meet the team).
Treatments offered in Aventura: IV Ketamine Infusions · Spravato (esketamine) · NAD+ Therapy · NIAGEN (NR) Therapy · integration support.
Considering a fresh start with your relationship to alcohol?
Our bilingual team in Aventura can help you understand whether supervised ketamine care may fit your recovery. Schedule a consultation at Nushama Aventura to talk it through. No pressure, just an honest conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Can ketamine cure alcohol use disorder?
No. Ketamine is not a cure, and no clinic can promise sobriety. It is one tool that may reduce depression, anxiety, and cravings and, when paired with therapy, may make lasting change more reachable. Recovery still depends on ongoing support and your own work.
How is IV ketamine different from Spravato for drinking problems?
IV ketamine is delivered by infusion and used off-label for a range of mental-health conditions, with flexible dosing. Spravato (esketamine) is an FDA-approved nasal spray specifically for treatment-resistant depression and depression with suicidal thoughts. Neither is FDA-approved specifically for AUD; a clinician can help you weigh which approach, if any, fits your situation.
Do I need to be fully sober before starting?
Not necessarily, but your safety comes first. Because alcohol and ketamine both affect the brain and body, a clinician will assess your current drinking and may recommend steps to reduce risk before treatment. Never stop heavy daily drinking abruptly without medical guidance.
Is care available in Spanish?
Yes. Nushama’s Aventura team supports patients in both English and Spanish, so you can go through consultation, treatment, and integration in the language you’re most comfortable with.
This article is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Ketamine is not FDA-approved for the treatment of alcohol use disorder, and individual results vary. Any treatment decision should be made with a qualified clinician who has reviewed your personal medical history. If you or someone you love is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) in the U.S.
