"Therapy on Drugs": A Conversation with Rena Beyer on Ketamine, Getting Unstuck, and the Future of Healing
Rena Beyer’s journey to clinical excellence began not in a lecture hall, but in the sterile, familiar surroundings of her childhood pediatrician’s office. For years, her family assumed she would eventually don the white coat herself, but a high school epiphany revealed a different calling: the art of deep, transformative listening. Today, as the founder of Fostering Greatness, Rena has traded the stethoscope for a specialized focus on Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) & Spravato-Assisted Psychotherapy (SAP) and trauma recovery. Her approach is rooted in a refreshing philosophy: clients are not broken puzzles in need of "fixing," but "whole and complete" individuals who already possess greatness. By integrating cutting-edge neuroplasticity with radical empathy, she helps clients navigate the heavy "cards they were dealt" to find lasting movement and momentum.
Rena Beyer, MSW, LCSW
Clinical Profile
Clinician: Rena Beyer, MSW, LCSW
Practice: Fostering Greatness
Clinical Focus: Ketamine & Spravato - assisted therapy for Trauma/PTSD, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders (Depression, Bipolar), Overwhelm/Burnout/Stress
Location / Format: In person in Cherry Hill, NJ & Virtual throughout NJ, PA, & DE
Website: https://fosteringgreatness.com/
The Discussion
The Pediatrician That Wasn't: A Shift in Gut Feeling
Matthew: Every practice really has a heartbeat that starts somewhere. It’s like the story of a professional getting into this field, drawn to the idea that mental wellness is something they can impact. For you, what was that moment where you realized, "Hey, there’s something here for me"?
Rena Beyer: When I was a kid, I was in my pediatrician's office all the time. I had severe allergies and I had to go in for allergy shots. And so, my entire family would joke, "You're going to be a pediatrician when you grow up," because I was always there and I liked being there. And so, as a kid that's very impressionable, I thought, "Okay." I never really second-guessed it and I started taking that on and I said, I'm going to be a pediatrician.
Matthew: It was the family narrative.
Rena Beyer: Exactly. But it wasn't until high school, when it was a free period and everyone was talking about what they were going to major in - that same conversation of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ That conversation is when things shifted for me - my gut reaction was, "Oh, I'm going to be a pediatrician,” because that's what I've said my whole life, but I remember feeling this feeling when I said it like, I don't want to be a pediatrician. I've been saying this, but that isn’t actually my passion. And so, as I'm listening to my friends discuss, there was one friend of mine who mentioned that she wanted to be a therapist. And then my other friends continued on sharing their dreams for themselves.
Matthew: Yeah.
Rena Beyer: And so when it got to me, I said, "I thought I was going to say pediatrician. I've always said pediatrician, but I don't think I want to do that actually. So, I don't know. I have to figure that out." And a few of my friends, they looked at me immediately and said, "You're going to be a therapist. You're amazing at talking to us and you're so in touch with things and you really are a great listener." And I reflected on that. When I got to college I took a lot of different introductory classes, all the 101's. And I landed in psychology 101 and communication 101. And I loved them both.
Matthew: And that was the pivot?
Rena Beyer: That's what I ended up majoring in - a double major in Psychology and Communication. At the time I was planning to become a psychologist. It wasn’t until a psychology class on aging, years later, when my professor brought in therapists in the field from various disciplines who spoke about their path to becoming therapists. One of the therapists, a social worker, explained her choice to become a therapist via her social work degree (MSW) and it resonated with me. The structure of the social work degree was exactly the focus and intention I had in becoming a therapist - seeing the person within their environment, not just their diagnosis or symptoms and concerns. That was when I realized I would be pursuing social work for my masters. Throughout my professional career I worked with people coping through and with trauma and traumatic experiences - I worked in therapeutic foster care, a SPEC group home, and a middle school and I eventually went into private practice. It was then I got the call from a doctor talking about ketamine therapy where everything pivoted for me.
Movement and Momentum: When Ketamine Meets Trauma Work
Rena Beyer: At the time, the majority of my caseload were clients with a trauma history working through said trauma. We had done really beautiful work, and really hard work—sometimes for months and months, a year. And I had a few clients on my caseload at the same time this doctor reached out to me that were doing really hard work and reporting how difficult it was - "I didn't want to come to session today, but I'm here because I know I need to be here, but I don't—I don't want to do this today." And so, of course, I worked with them on that, but I was like, there's got to be a better way or there's got to be a different modality that would maybe be different, easier, or some way more helpful.
Matthew: You were looking for that "more."
Rena Beyer: I was doing research into other modalities and then this doctor—I get a voicemail. I'm in session and I get a voicemail from this number I don't know. And the voicemail is, "Hey, I'm a doctor in your area. I do this thing called ketamine for mental health. I really want a trauma therapist on board to support my patients during their sessions." And there it was - it fell in my lap. So many stages of my life has been "I think I want to do this," and then this opportunity comes up or this new pathway opens up and I follow down that path. I’ve been doing ketamine therapy ever since - that was in 2017.
Matthew: Yeah, there’s something striking about your story—it’s sort of how these two elements, right, that we sometimes even see in our clients, right? That there's these sort of messages that we have that sort of predates us, right? And there's these messages for which we have no control over that really can permeate our sense of self when we're young and impressionable. And then inevitably we come against up against these very personal experiences and we feel a shift within ourselves. We feel this sort of intuitive pull and we start to hear our own voices with unique clarity in a way that we hadn't really heard before. In your story, I can hear the moments in which you really heard that voice or felt that tugging and you sort of just went with that motion—with that movement—and it really landed you in a good place.
Rena Beyer: Yeah, Yeah. It's really funny because I've had a few people in my family point out that my journey to them on the outside looking in looked really easy or simple or, you know, it flowed really well. And I find that for me, looking back on it, it's my ability or my willingness to go for it—to jump in. Things are presented and I'm like, "Yeah, I want to look into that some more, that sounds like a good thing, I think I like that," and then things just flow from there.
Matthew: Right. It’s about taking action on the intuition. It’s not just about feeling that pull or hearing our own voice more clearly, right? How many of our clients find it so difficult to make that choice to take that action to just move?
Rena Beyer: Yes. Well, movement is such a—it’s a word I use all the time, especially in ketamine therapy. We do prep sessions, right? So, we're telling people what they're getting into logistically, but also psychologically. And so, I use that word movement a lot with my clients because I tell them, "You know, you might be showing up severely depressed. You're not functioning. You're not motivated to do anything." And this ketamine journey is going to help you find that movement where it's going to feel different. You're going to have a better mood and you're going to have more motivation. So that word of movement really struck me because I'm like, "Yes, it was resonating—this is exactly what we talk about with clients is helping them find their motivation and their whimsy and their, you know, the lightness, right? That you can try one thing different - just one thing - and things shift. And it doesn't feel as daunting to do that."
Fostering the Greatness Already Within: Shifting the "Fix-It" Mindset
Matthew: Even with "therapy speak" entering the layman lexicon and people becoming much more accepting of mental health, there's still a bit of opaqueness. People still misunderstand the process. Give me a sense of how your unique lens helps clients navigate that challenge of "What is actually going on here?"
Rena Beyer: Yeah. Well, I think starting from a consult call, I do try to educate clients because they think of therapy as a thing that therapists do and, you know, just depending on what therapist you like is who you see or who takes your insurance. And I really try to educate them that there's different styles of therapy. The personality of your therapist can change it, but also their style or what kind of approach they're taking to it and what you're doing—you know, what you're working on and what is their specialization and their training. And then the other aspect I try to educate clients on is, at least in my perspective of therapy, I try to tell them that you're not coming to me so that I can fix you.
Matthew: Right.
Rena Beyer: And you might feel that you are and that's okay. We can start there. But my approach to my practice and my therapeutic approach is I really do believe that we all have greatness inside of us. We all have these cards we're dealt and some of them are harder or harsher than others or have been really heavy to hold on to, but they make us who we are. We learn a lot from them and we embody pieces of them, although sometimes we might use them to our detriment or in an unhealthy way. And so that's what I try to get people to realize is, in our work together, we're going to talk about where you've been, where you're trying to go, what's tripping you up, what are these cards that you were dealt—can we let some of them go, or are some of them you're assuming they're bad, but they're actually great? We just need to tweak them and use them a little bit differently.
Matthew: When you were speaking, I kind of got this vision of like... how sometimes when clients find themselves in the very worst of times, it's almost like they're wandering away from themselves, you know? And there's this bit of a blind spot where they think that there's these stone-like cards, and that things are immovable. They come in with a little bit of skepticism, like, "If I could just get something out of this, that would be great."
Rena Beyer: Exactly. That mindset shift for me and helping clients kind of join me there also changes the therapy itself—you know, the expectations they're coming with really does shift from "I'm here so you can fix me, tell me what's wrong with me, let's pathologize everything." I still love coping skills—emotional management's my bread and butter—but if that was all it took, then a self-help book that thousands of therapists have written and will continue to write would be enough. There's a reason why it's not just "You're broken, do this, and you'll be fixed."
Softening the Language: The Power of the Internal Label
Matthew: Every therapist has to confront this experience of going beyond the theory to understanding how change really happens. I typically call these "aha moments"—suddenly something happens in the room and you realize, "Oh, this is really how this work is gonna go." What does that look like in your practice?
Rena Beyer: For me, there's a few. I think the first one is always that shift. A client is in a session and their wording changes. It's not "Fix me, I'm broken" anymore. It’s, "I have this thing..." and they aren't saying, "I do this thing and it's the worst thing ever and it makes me a bad person." Instead, it's, "I'm noticing this pattern and, you know, here's where it's not helpful, but here's where it's kind of helpful." They're starting to be more gentle to themselves. They're starting to explore things with a curious mind versus that black-white thinking. I talk a lot about black-white thinking in my practice. You need to be more gentle. There's more nuance to all of us as humans. We're very multifaceted.
Matthew: You’re talking about a newfound grace.
Rena Beyer: Yes. My favorite, though, is when they say, "The other day I was at home and such-and-such was going on and I thought to myself: What would Rena say?" I love that because it tells me that they're trying to be more gentle, but they're using my voice first before they can have their own. They’re realizing, "Wait, there's a different way to approach myself." I talk to clients all the time about how we do ourselves a disservice if we talk about ourselves in these negative ways. I’m teaching parents this too: Don’t label your kid as "crazy" or "shy." They take it on. "I am the shy one." They’ll never put themselves out there because they are labeled.
Matthew: Language shapes the container.
Rena Beyer: It does! I tell this story about myself and math all the time. Since third grade, I told myself, "I suck at math." I got one D on a report card and I believed it. It manifested in my decisions—I didn’t try as hard because why bother? It didn't shift until junior year of college. I had to take a quantitative statistics class for psychology. I was like, "Oh my god, it's going to be the hardest class ever - a lot of math." I purposefully took fewer classes that semester, I took "easier" classes, I went to every office hour for that Quant. Psych class. I did everything in my power to be able to pass - I really thought I was going to struggle badly. Not to mention everyone saying how hard the class was - this was the messaging on campus within the major. And it was a breeze! I did great! It all clicked. I realized: I don't suck at math. Maybe it comes a little harder for me, or maybe I need to learn things a little differently, but I don't suck. That experience was so eye-opening. This idea that I had taken on, how it had impacted me. That class experience shifted my view so much.
The Rebirth Phase: Navigating the Post-Breakthrough Identity
Matthew: You mentioned that ketamine therapy can accelerate this process drastically.
Rena Beyer: I always say ketamine therapy is "therapy on drugs" because it literally is. It is the difference between having sessions once a week for six months versus sessions twice a week for three or four weeks and having the same change, but obviously way quicker. I see clients move from being severely depressed or having suicidal ideation to, three weeks later, saying, "Okay, I feel good and I've started working out, and maybe I'm dating again, or maybe I want to go back to school." I think of it as a rebirth phase.
Matthew: That’s a massive shift in a short window. It’s almost like the Gottman approach of starting gentle, but applying it to the relationship with the self. But once you get unstuck, the work isn't over—the identity is suddenly very different than it was when they were in the hole.
Rena Beyer: Clients often come to ketamine therapy because they feel "stuck" in the traditional therapy process. They say, "I cognitively am learning, I understand how I tick, but nothing is changing." We open that up, we get to dive deeper, we get them more functional, and then the true work begins. Because, they have all these unknowns that then pop up. They might feel shame: "I wasted x amount of years when I was depressed when I could have been feeling and functioning in this way." There is a newfound grace for their younger selves who used those old coping mechanisms…they learn to reconnect with hobbies they already enjoy and realize that those "missing pieces" of their life now feel achievable. The door opens to the “what now - what life do I want to create for myself.”
Opening the Doors: Neuroplasticity and the Future of Psychedelics
Matthew: The landscape is changing so fast. How are you looking at the future of the field, especially with AI and new substances?
Rena Beyer: AI is a big one. Initially, I was very skeptical. But as clients started bringing it into the room—not just for basic tasks, but talking about how they're using it therapeutically—that became a really important conversation. We have conversations about how to use it responsibly, recognizing its limitations.
Matthew: And on the psychedelic front?
Rena Beyer: I’m very hopeful. At this point, it seems like psilocybin is closer to fruition in New Jersey than MDMA might be. I got trained in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy back in 2021, and I’ve joined local organizations that are working on this at the legislative level. It’s exciting to see research coming to three different hospitals in North, Central, and South Jersey to hopefully get us to a place where we are able to provide psilocybin-assisted therapy in NJ.
Matthew: It’s a pivot away from traditional psychopharmacology, which is often about "blocking" or blunting receptors. This new direction is about opening.
Rena Beyer: It really is. It’s about being curious and exploring. I work in that Internal Family Systems (IFS) paradigm where we are a unit of different parts. Ketamine, and eventually psilocybin, allows us to get to that middle ground with less overwhelming emotion—though the emotion is still there. It allows people to see their humanness through a kinder lens.
The Many Hats of Longevity: Scheduling the Self First
Matthew: This is demanding work. How do you maintain your own stamina and prevent that common burnout?
Rena Beyer: There’s a few things. One is in ketamine therapy specifically—the rapid progress is very satisfying. I don’t hear, "I didn't want to come today," as much. The therapy feels more doable for clients - and there is an ease in that. But another thing that was eye-opening was sitting with clients in the quiet during their medicine journey at times. It reinforced that it’s not my job to fix or rescue. My job is to hold space for change. That was so freeing. Seeing clients rapidly feel like themselves again - and being a part of that process - it is so rewarding.
Matthew: You also mentioned a specific technique for leaving the work at the office—the "wearing hats" idea.
Rena Beyer: Yes! When I come into work, my "therapist hat" is on. When I clock out, I take it off. It’s not a physical thing, but an internal shift. For me, I find myself doing the most "processing" work while I'm writing my session notes. I'm exploring where we went and where we could go. Once those notes are done, the work stays there.
Matthew: And how do you protect your actual time?
Rena Beyer: A few years ago, it hit home: you can’t pour from an empty cup. Of course I knew this - and educated clients on such - but a few years ago I felt it - the need for that boundary. I stopped filling client slots wherever they fit. Now, I have a plan: When am I waking up? When am I eating breakfast? When am I working out? When is lunch? Clients fill in the spaces between those needs. If someone asks for my lunch hour, I remind myself to say no. I want to be doing this in my 60s, 70s, maybe even 80s! I’m a better therapist if I’ve eaten, used the restroom, and hydrated - and if I am going to be doing this into my 80’s, I need to take care of my health and exercise! Mental health and physical health are also so interconnected.
The Wildcard: Finding Perspective in the Caribbean Slow-Down
Matthew: If you had to give a 20-minute talk with zero preparation on a topic completely unrelated to mental health, what would it be?
Rena Beyer: International travel. Once a year - ideally - I need to leave my environment. Not just to another state, but to a different country, a different culture. It resets my soul. Getting out of your own lived experience gives you perspective. I try to tell clients that we live in a "bubble of America." If a client feels bad about wanting to nap, I’m like, "Well, go to Spain—the whole country shuts down for that!"
Matthew: Is there one trip that stands out?
Rena Beyer: A cruise through the Caribbean islands. Now, I am very Type A—very neurotic in that way. And on a cruise, they tell you: "If you aren't back on the ship at this time, we are leaving you." I was on an excursion through the cruise ship, and we didn't leave on time, and we got stuck in traffic on this tiny island. I was freaking out in the front of this van. I was certain we were screwed.
Matthew: (Laughs) I can imagine the internal monologue.
Rena Beyer: The driver could sense my anxiety. He didn't tell me I was being ridiculous. He just turned, patted my knee, and said, "I got you. It’s fine. We’re going to get there. Everything’s going to be fine." His demeanor was so warm and lovely. He genuinely embodied the idea that it’s okay. In New York, it’s go-go-go. But that experience of human warmth and a slower pace—that’s why you have to get out of your own bubble.
Closing Reflection
Rena Beyer’s approach is a testament to the power of balancing clinical precision with deep, human gentleness. By moving away from the "fix-it" model and toward a paradigm of neuroplasticity and internal "greatness," she offers her clients something far more sustainable than a temporary cure: a new way to relate to themselves. Whether she is navigating the rapid breakthroughs of ketamine therapy, advocating for research at the legislative level, or finding a slower, "Caribbean" pace of life, Rena’s work reminds us that healing is not about becoming someone new, but about finally having the grace to meet the person who was there all along. Thank you, Rena, for sharing your journey with our community.
