• by Les Luchter , August 11, 2023

Psychedelic-based mental health therapy works as an employee benefit, according to the results of a year-long pilot study from offbeat soap company Dr. Bronner’s, health insurance administrator Enthea, and ketamine-assisted therapy (KAT) provider Flow Integrative.

Ketamine is an anesthetic that is now being used as a treatment for depression and other mental health maladies, as well as a pain management tool.

Enthea reports that Dr. Bronner’s employees or covered family members with post-traumatic stress disorder saw an 86% improvement in symptoms, those with major depressive disorder 67% improvement, and those with generalized anxiety disorder, 65%.

“Many of our team members have reported dramatic improvements in their lives,” confirmed David Bronner in a statement. Bronner, a grandson of the soap company’s namesake, sports the title of chief cosmic officer.

The study featured a small sample -- 29 people -- representing 7% of Dr. Bronner’s 415 health plan participants who, in a one-year period ending February 2023, chose to undergo a KAT regimen consisting of medical and psychiatric intake, preparatory sessions, sessions where they received ketamine, and therapy sessions.

One of those employees -- Liz Kost, a packaging production specialist -- blogged last fall about how she replaced  EMDR therapy which was “exhausting and expensive” with KAT. And, although KAT has a “hefty price tag, I definitely would not have been able to afford this type of treatment for myself, so the fact that Dr. Bronner’s covered 100% of the treatment for me and my family was absolutely awesome!”

“We hope to inspire other companies and organizations to also partner with Enthea and offer this benefit to their staff,” said Bronner in his statement.

Enthea tells Marketing Daily that eight other companies nationwide have now signed up for KAT employee benefits. They include Onnit Gym, Black Swan Yoga, wellness event company Daybreaker, healthcare technology company Plexis, and ingredient supplier Nuka Foods.

Enthea says it’s the first and only licensed provider of health insurance benefits to cover psychedelic-assisted therapies. The aim is for employers to add KAT as an ancillary benefit, similar to how fertility benefits and dental coverage are handled.

Future Enthea plans call for the addition of MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin (magic mushrooms)-assisted therapies.

Dr. Bronner’s, with David Bronner leading the charge, has been financially backing efforts to loosen laws related to such psychedelics as psilocybin, according to The New York Times, even putting pro-psychedelic messages on its bottles.