PSYCHOSPIRITUAL SUPPORT

via Support for Extraordinary Experience®- an exploratory and integration service for the entire range of non-ordinary, mystical, high strangeness, psychedelic/plant medicine-related, or any other potentially Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs).

Have You Experienced Something Extraordinary?

“What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible” --Theodore Roethke

Have you had a potentially spiritual, mystical, or ecstatic experience? Something that sparked feelings of transcendence, unity or connectedness? Something beyond the ordinary that’s expanded your reality, and possibly caused you to question your sanity, the meaning of life, or your purpose?

Have you become aware of a heightened intuitive, empathic, or possible extra-sensory (psi/clair…) capacity and don’t know how to feel, or what do with it? Maybe you’ve had a near-death experience, a precognitive experience, or an encounter with something otherwise unexplainable. Perhaps you have or are experiencing a *spiritual emergence / spiritual emergency, awakening, or similar transitional crisis and find yourself struggling or needing to reconcile internal conflicts around the binaries of belief and non-belief, spirituality and religion, truth vs falsehood, reality vs subterfuge, or good vs evil.

The term *spiritual emergence refers to the normal life-enhancing aspect of human development which seeks meaning and connection beyond our personal identity. This leads to a greater capacity for wisdom, compassion, and respect for all life as well as a deeper sense of personal security and inner peace. This growth can be challenging, even tumultuous, at times turning into a crisis known as spiritual emergency.

You may be feeling lost, confused, alone in the proverbial wilderness, or even shocked by something you’ve encountered or are going through. Perhaps a sense of disorientation is setting in and you could use support and guidance, but worry you will be ridiculed, judged or labeled if you share your experience(s) with others. Alternatively, perhaps you’ve already been an intrepid seeker of non-ordinary experiences, altered states of consciousness, and alternative healing methods and need support, or guided processing.

Or…perhaps you’re seeking help preparing for and integrating a ketamine infusion or other psychedelic/sacred plant medicine (**entheogen) ceremonial journey and what its brought up for you. Psychedelic substances have the ability to uncover our wholeness by removing the veil of our constructed, separate self we’ve been conditioned to mistake for the entirety of who we are. Used respectfully, intentionally and appropriately, they can quiet this adaptive self through their action on the default mode network, enhancing interconnectivity among diverse areas of the brain. We can then more easily experience our psyche in its wholeness, and the truth of our unity with life and the cosmos.

(**Though still classified as illegal in most of the U.S., outside of Ketamine, use of plant medicines/psychedelics are on the rise in the new psychedelic paradigm, with research at the world’s most prestigious institutions demonstrating much promise for all manner of mental health conditions. By many accounts, legalization of many of these substances for therapeutic and psychiatric use is near. MDMA and Psilocybin is next up, apparently. But it’s complicated. The legal status of racemic (generic) ketamine is complex and involves multiple regulatory agencies. With respect to the DEA, ketamine is in Schedule III. With respect to the FDA, ketamine is approved for anesthesia, but not currently FDA-approved for any psychiatric or psychological condition; however, it can be used legally as an “off-label” treatment when certain criteria are met. To further muddy the waters, one enantiomer of ketamine (called “esketamine”) received FDA approval in 2019 for the treatment of refractory depression.

Even if you’ve engaged with spiritual practices in the past and might be aligned with a particular religious or spiritual outlook, a truly non-ordinary experience—good, bad, or otherwise—can shake your sense of reality at its foundations. (It did mine!). And you’re far from alone. But you may feel there’s a low chance of finding a qualified mental health professional who truly “gets it,” and can help you explore and integrate your experience with a truly open mind.

Our world is changing, however, and humans (including at least some of us in the helping professions) are becoming more attuned to the possibilities of what exists beyond our five sense perception. In 2004 survey by the National Opinion Research Center (U of Chicago) reported that 35.7% of US adults has had at least one religious or spiritual experience “that changed their life.” And numerous research studies since 2009 reveal approximately 30-50% of Americans have had a ‘mystical experience’ that contain some of the following types of elements:

*Transient

*Extraordinary

*Ineffability, unity, harmony, awe, reverence, euphoria

*Loosening of ego structure

*Alterations in time and space

*A sense of oneness with the Divine and everything in existence

According to ACISTE’s first survey of 60 ‘experiencers’ of Spiritually Transformative Experiences, 50% dealt with depression, 10% suffered from substance abuse, 6.7% had attempted suicide as a direct or indirect consequence of their STE(s).

So if you are experiencing a spiritual crisis, potential awakening, or trying to make sense of something that’s occurred outside the realm of conventional explanation, I’m here to provide validation, guidance, and insight along your journey.

Our entire Culture Is arguably In Need Of (psycho)Spiritual SUPPORT

“There are no miracles that violate the laws of nature, only events that violate our limited knowledge of the laws of nature.”―St. Augustine

There’s a compelling view that we’re collectively experiencing an awakening; a shift, or accelerated “leveling up” of consciousness upon the earth. For this to happen, perhaps the formerly hidden, “shadow” aspects of society (as well as our own individual shadow aspects) have to be exposed to the light of day, and integrated. During the unprecedented global crises we face taking the form of climate change, political/social unrest, an assault on truth, widespread health threats, etc, it’s clear that we need to reassess our values and belief systems on a collective level.

Those of us in accord with a spiritually progressive perspective (as well as those experiencers of significant childhood trauma, interestingly) appear to be exponentially more likely to have a non-ordinary or potentially Spiritually Transformative Experience (STE). Coined by Dr. Yvonne Kason in 1994, an S.T.E. refers to “any non-ordinary event or experience that profoundly impacts an individual’s perception of themselves and the world—by altering and expanding a person’s sense of reality and identity, and augmenting their sensitivities.” Ultimately, any name given to these experiences is inadequate. Inasmuch as they can be described at all, they’re usually said to be ineffable, sublime, beyond words and description, even beyond thought. On the whole S.T.E.s in any form have the potential to dramatically reshape our perception, values, and existential foundations (see list below for examples).

In working through my own life-altering Dark Night of The Soul/Awakening experience, which involved a period of intense confusion and suffering, surrender, prayer, meditation, and a profound consciousness shift/psychic opening followed by some apparently Divinely-granted insights and gifts, I gained an even deeper perspective on various aspects of the spiritual journey and S.T.E.s—something I’ve been interested since a young age (though I didn’t have names for such things then). Therefore, as a therapist, I can offer not only a perspective based on decades of study, exploration, and experience working with those undergoing STE’s, but the first-hand spiritual experience and authentic validation you might seek in understanding your experience, assigning meaning, and integrating it into your life.

Support For Extraordinary Experience® (S.E.E.) Can Provide clarity and New Vision

“The greatest blessings come by way of madness, provided that madness is given by Divine gift.”―Socrates

To be clear, I am not interested in labeling, diagnosing, or imposing any interpretation of your experience for you. Nor do I claim authority in understanding it better than you can. What I can provide is knowledgeable psychospiritual support, exploration, and integration assistance drawing on my decades of interest, research, and insights from 20+ years in the field, as well as my personal spiritual evolution to help you navigate your experience while providing a larger framework and sense of normalcy.

If you’re relatively unfamiliar with how to understand or process your S.T.E., we can begin with a consultation that clarifies your needs, and provides a basic framework for understanding your experience. From there we can move into a slightly more exploratory process, to help you develop new coping skills, perspective, and a strengths-based adjustment with psychospiritually-oriented yet practical counseling. If you require an even deeper form of therapy to reduce the impact of severe stress associated with your experience, I offer a trauma-informed, transpersonally-oriented application of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy to help the parts of you carrying pre-existing fears, worries, extreme beliefs and emotions, traumas and attachment ruptures so that Support for Extraordinary Experience® can be more effective in the context of your spiritual integration process.

In the event you feel you’re having experiences such as receiving (non-punitive/persecutorial) guidance or messages from ‘beyond the veil,’ or having (non-punitive/persecutorial) voices or visions, I offer and intuitively-guided transpersonal offering through a service called Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission. In this, I invite and invoke in the highest and holiest emissaries of the Divine/I AM Presence operating within the Christ Consciousness spectrum, facilitating a 100% spirit-led foray into spiritual healing, mediumistic and psychopompic exploration, neo-shamanistic compassionate detachment (of unwanted entities, energetic attachments), allowing for benevolent after death contacts (ADCs) with crossed over loved pones, ancestors, and often concluding with a channeled communication as to what was felt or experienced in the session.

Whatever your psychospiritual support and integration needs might be, I am here as a fellow experiencer (who happens to also be a licensed therapist) to help you construct a coherent narrative of your awakening journey and/or the non-ordinary event or experience that’s taking place in your life.

“It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society” —J Krishnamurti

In my view, many mental health symptoms are often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and mistreated by our conventional western mainstream medical and psychiatric system. Such symptoms require a mind-body holistic viewpoint that fully incorporates the spiritual dimension of life to be accurately understood. I view my job as an opportunity to provide space for those I work with to feel safe, secure, and validated, so they can explore to the fullest every dimension of their spiritual journey.

Whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re all swimming in a sea of possibilities of things we can’t fully understand, conceive of, or conceptualize. As Edison put it:

“We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.”

And “What we know is a drop, what we don’t, the ocean,” said Newton.

In processing and integrating your Spiritually Transformative Experience, with guidance and support, you will be poised to gain an expanded sense of perception, identity, meaning, purpose. You’ll enrich your life in ways you probably could not have imagined before, while opening to the opportunity of connecting to a broader community of like-minded seekers and experiencers you may not have even known were out there.

Though you may have been conditioned to fear or believe otherwise, what you have experienced is real and meaningful. I can help you make sense of it.

Perhaps you have had an extraordinary experience, but you’re not sure if you need psychospiritual support…

So I’ve had a strange/unusual/non-ordinary, maybe even potentially transformative experience, but why do I need to explore it?

While you may have had a potentially Spiritually Transformative Experience, the experience alone has not and will not magically heal you, turn you into a perfectly whole, awakened, or enlightened spiritual master. If only! Such experiences are gifts, yes, but they are also catalysts; callings. They are, as the Buddhists said, fingers pointing to the moon. The process of integration requires your fullest attention, time, patience, reflection, commitment to healing pre-existing wounds, and often the guidance of someone with professional insight, objectivity, wisdom and personal experience.

In seeking to integrate our experience with our larger evolving identity, we may be subject to any one of myriad forms of spiritual bypassing, i.e. the tendency to unconsciously seek spiritual shortcuts in our desire to transcend, falling into the trap of “spiritualizing” pre-existing emotional, psychological, or relational difficulties. When unrecognized, this false path inhibits the integration process, creating a ripple effect of consequences we’re wise to avoid. Therefore, in order to fully process a spiritually transformative experience, or resolve a spiritual crisis, it’s helpful to attend to all parts of us, and all aspects of our humanity—including those aspects that may be working against our highest and best good. Engaging some form of transpersonal therapy or psychospiritual counseling is one way to do this.

Will you label, categorize, medicate, or hospitalize me?

Spiritual healing and integration work is typically undervalued in the western medical community, and I’m not interested in any framework that discounts or categorically pathologizes spiritual or other non-ordinary experiences. As mentioned, I am here to accept and validate your S.T.E.— provided of course that is what I feel you are authentically experiencing. And I can help you discern the difference and identify the overlap between the mental health symptoms and pure spiritual experience, should they exists in your case. Ultimately, I aim to provide a safe space where we can explore and create meaning to help you achieve your fullest potential, as well as connect you with any other support you many need at any given time.

Are you going to make me chant, buy crystals, or move to Sedona, or Mt. Shasta?

No way! I will not require that you do, believe, or adopt any practice that does not feel right, or like a genuine organic outgrowth of what you’re learning about your experience and what it means for you. I myself align with no one exclusive spiritual belief, philosophy or organization other than a relentless search for gnosis—personally experience/perceived Truth. And I seek for nothing, spiritually speaking, beyond remaining connected to the Great I Am Presence/Christ Consciousness. What you discover, engage with and align with or don’t along the way of your journey is up to you. As long it is not destructive or oppressive to self or other, I support it.

While this service is to help you explore what some might characterize as “out there,” I am a seasoned licensed psychotherapist who has every interest in keeping your experience grounded in substance, integrity, sovereignty and authenticity.

Find Clarity About Your Spiritually Transformative Experience

To find out more about my services or learn more about how I can help, please contact me via my site or call 615-430-2778 today.

List Of Most Common Extraordinary Experiences:

There are many types and names of experiences that share common features and act as catalysts for transformation, Some examples are as follows:

Spiritual Emergency/Emergence (Grof,1980)
Out-of-Body Experiences (OBE) (Tyrell, 1943)
Near-Death Experience (NDE) (Moody, 1975)- [Defining characteristics of an NDE: Ineffable–beyond words, going out of body, auditory awareness, strong feeling of peace, unusual inner sounds, dark tunnel/white light, meeting spirits, life review, life barrier, abrupt return to body, conviction of the reality of the experience, transformation impact, new view of death, independent corroboration]
Kundalini Arousal/Awakening (Krishna, 1972) / Physio-Kundalini Syndrome (Bentov, 1977) [Kundalini, meaning “bound,” is considered the evolutionary body-based energy-force of Divine feminine power within, said to lay dormant at the base of the spine since birth, and primarily understood in mystical or spiritual terms but explainable by science, neuroscience and modern energy psychology]
Metaphysical/Shamanic Calling/Initiatory Crisis
Pre-Birth Memories/Past-Life Recall, Nearing Death Awareness (NDA)
After-Death Communications (ADC) (Guggenheim, 1997)
Communication with Spirits or Spirit Guides/Automatic Writing/Inspired Creativity
Spontaneous Healing Experiences/Remission from Serious Illness
Psychic Openings/Expressions (Precognition/premonition, extra sensory perceptions, psychometry, the “clairs,” psychokinesis (PK)/telekinesis, bi-location, stigmata, somnambulism, glossolalia, trance channeling/mediumship, etc. The effects of many of these capacities has been studied (PK in particular) for years (The Rhine Research Lab, Windbridge Institute, for example) in highly controlled laboratory experiments. The depictions of PK seen in popular films is fiction, but mind-matter interaction is a very real and demonstrable phenomenon.
Episodes of Unitive/Cosmic Consciousness (Bucke, 1901) /Peak Experience (Maslow, 1964) /Exceptional Human Experiences (EHE) (White, 1993)
Spiritual Rebirth/Religious Conversion Experiences
Other possibly Mystical/Super-Normal/Parapsychological or Synchronistic Experiences (SE’s), Illuminations, Episodes of Unverifiable Personal Gnosis (UPG) or Hierophanies (breakthroughs of the sacred or ‘supernatural’ into the world) (Eliade, 1957)
Close Encounter, NHI (Non-Human Intelligence) Contact/Visitation/Abduction/MILAB or other “Experiencer” Phenomena/Trans-dimensional Experiences and Associated Anomalous Trauma
Facilitated Mystical Experience (Me, 2023) —My Multidimensional Divine Light Transmission offering.