The Uncertainty Principle in KAP
- Meredith Futernick-Gerak, LPC, ACS, C-BSP, C-PAT
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
One of the core principles I return to again and again in my work, both clinically and professionally, is the Uncertainty Principle / No Assumptions Model in Brainspotting. This model reminds us that we don’t ever fully know exactly what or how a nervous system needs to process.
In Brainspotting, we practice releasing assumptions about where a session should go, what a client should process, or how healing is supposed to unfold. We trust that the brain-body system already holds an innate intelligence and that our role is to create the conditions for that intelligence to emerge. We trust that the brain and body will process what it is meant to, at the pace that it is meant to without being pushed toward meaning or resolution too quickly.
Research on visual processing, memory, and self-projection suggests that when attention is held without forcing outcomes the brain is able to reorganize more flexibly. Eye movements, imagery, and embodied awareness allow implicit material to surface in its own sequence**.
In KAP, this stance becomes even more relevant. Medicine work often softens defenses before meaning is available. Trying to rush interpretation can collapse the process instead of supporting it.
Applying the No Assumptions Model to KAP Practice-Building
What’s less discussed is how this same uncertainty principle shows up when clinicians step into KAP themselves. Many therapists expect that once they complete training, the next steps will be obvious: how to offer the work, how to talk about it, how to structure sessions, and how to integrate it ethically into an existing practice.
Instead, what often emerges is a disorienting middle space:
Too much information, not enough organization
Excitement paired with hesitation
A pull toward expansion alongside fears about sustainability
Questions about identity, scope, and responsibility
Just like with clients, practices don’t always reveal themselves on a linear path.
Trying to force a KAP practice into a borrowed business model can create the same kind of resistance we see when clients are pushed toward insight too quickly.
The system tightens, doubt increases, and momentum stalls.
When we apply the same stance we use in Brainspotting, practice decisions begin to emerge more organically:
Attracting clients that are actually a fit
What dosing models feel sustainable
Whether groups, intensives, or psycholytic work make sense
How documentation and treatment planning need to adapt
Uncertainty as a Regulating Force
The Uncertainty Principle reminds us that we don’t have to fully understand the process in order to trust it, and that staying present to what’s unfolding can feel deeply grounding and reassuring.
For clinicians who find themselves in an in-between space; the same relational, brain-body-informed skills apply. Tracking process, pacing decisions, and staying connected to what’s emerging is practice-building work.
Many of us tend to separate these worlds: “therapy skills” over here, “business decisions” over there, "self-care" somewhere out in the mountains. In reality the way we tolerate uncertainty, build containers, and respond to what’s unfolding is exactly what shapes a KAP practice that feels sustainable and aligned.
This is the lens I try to bring into everything that I teach, including an upcoming specialty workshop focused on integrating Brainspotting with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). While the training is clinically grounded, its deeper focus is on developing the capacity to notice patterns, regulate the nervous system, and build structures that can actually hold complex work over time.
And if what you’re really grappling with right now is how to translate all of this into your practice (how to shape offerings, pacing, and containers that feel like yours) I’m offering short connection calls over the next month. They’re simply a place to reflect, orient, and explore what support would feel most helpful in this season.
Find a time to connect [here]!
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This post is informed by the Brainspotting Uncertainty Principle / No Assumptions Model as outlined in my Brainspotting Companion for Practitioners & Clients Workbook.
** Some fascinating research about this stuff:
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