A Conversation with Joey Banks, MD

Science, Spirit, and the Medical Journey

Meet Dr. Joey - Part 1

1. Your background spans remote Alaskan villages, Indian Health Service, hospice wards, reproductive health clinics, and now psychedelic medicine. What threads connect all of those experiences for you?

For me the thread is simple, even if it took years to name. Every one of those places taught me the same humbling lesson: we don’t know everything about every culture, and healing means very different things to different people. I’ve sat with patients, and with whole communities, whose idea of getting well looked nothing like what I learned in medical training  and they weren’t wrong. Medicine keeps changing. Leeches 

Generational trauma is real; I’ve watched it move through families. And I’ve seen that psychedelics and the experiences that rhyme with them, like sweats, dancing, traditional healers, herbs, and chanting  can crack the mind open to new ways of healing. So the thread is humility, and staying open to the many shapes healing can take.

2. You’ve been practicing in Missoula for over thirteen years. What keeps you here? What does this community offer that keeps you engaged?

Nature, everywhere, every day. I lived in Alaska for eleven years, and I’ll be honest  I never loved the dark, and I am still not a snow person (ask anyone who knows me). But here it’s right outside the door, accessible daily, and it keeps pulling me back outside even when I’m grumbling about the cold. That daily dose of the natural world keeps me here and keeps me steady. And the open minded community!

3. The word ‘journey’ holds real personal meaning for you, it’s even part of your maiden name, Journeycake. How has your own life journey shaped the kind of medicine you practice?

‘Journey’ isn’t a marketing word for me  it’s practically in my blood. My maiden name is Journeycake. I believe everyone’s medical life is exactly that: a journey, not a fixed label. Cancer can mean everything for a few years and then quietly step out of your story. Depression can move in during a season of trauma or stress and still not be your core.

We over-label in Western medicine. I open an EMR and see seventy-five diagnoses on one person; I can tell you when your last ear infection was, even if it was twenty years ago. What I actually want to know is where you want to go from here. Tell me the story. Let’s figure out the next step on the path together.

4. What led you to pursue certification in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies through CIIS? Was there a particular experience or turning point that pointed you in that direction?

Honestly? A trauma of my own led me to wonder whether psychedelics might help  and that question wouldn’t let go. So I went and got the training, so I could offer this within a legal framework and with real guidance around set, setting, and integration.

A big part of what drove me was access. Not everyone can fly off to a luxury retreat in Costa Rica — so how do we make this safe and reachable right here at home? I think about it the same way I think about abortion, death with dignity, and gender-affirming care. People deserve good options close to home.

5. Your bio describes your approach as one that integrates ‘science and spirit.’ What does that mean day to day, practically, in how you work with a patient?

Day to day, it’s both halves in the room at once. We keep it safe and we keep up with the research and the data  that’s the science, and I take it seriously. Then we add the spirit: the integration, the meditation and body scans and gratitude before and after a session, and real attention to your own goals  joy, connection, energy, love, peace. I never pictured myself leading those integration moments, and they’ve become some of the most rewarding parts of my work.

6. As the physician overseeing ketamine assisted therapy/Spravato at Inner Journey, what does your role actually look like? What does a patient experience with you from intake through a dosing session?

My first job is to help you figure out whether this is even right for you. We look at the practical stuff first: does your schedule actually allow it, as well as the bigger stuff: what are your other options, how does the idea sit with you, and how do we set expectations, just like we would for any medical treatment? I also check whether there’s any medical reason we should choose a different path instead of KAP or Spravato.

Safety first, patient-centered always. That’s the arc, from intake all the way through a dosing session.