Balancing Spiritual Awakening – Panel
Saturday, June 7, 2025 – 3:30 PM EDT
UKIs There Transformative Meaning in Madness?. This qualitative inquiry aimed to explore the validity of conceptualising altered states through a lens of psychopathology by inquiring into the ways in which eight people diagnosed with ‘psychosis’ hermeneutically liberated themselves from their diagnosis. Results included themes of facilitation of the healing process (rather than suppression through shame and medication), awakening to the transpersonal Self and becoming Self-led, engaging with a community who provided peer support, and using the experience to foster a life purpose in supporting others going through a challenging transformation.
A pattern emerged from the data regarding the autobiographical context of co-researchers, myself, and the trajectory of our experiences, which points to what support may be needed. I will conclude the presentation with developments that are happening as a result of this research in relation to offering peer-led alternatives for supporting people in distress.
Katie Mottram is a leading mental health advocate, author, and project founder with over 25 years of experience. Frustrated by conventional mental health models, she has dedicated her career to integrating holistic and transpersonal approaches into mainstream care. Her work bridges the gap between Western mental health paradigms and spirituality, championing the view that mental distress can serve as a natural catalyst for transformation.
In 2017, Katie founded the global Emerging Proud campaign, inspired by her own lived experience of suicidality and personal transformation. This initiative amplifies stories of individuals reframing crises as opportunities for growth. As a co-founder of The ELEPHANT Collective CIC, she hosts a community platform that explores non-ordinary states of consciousness and transformative experiences, addressing isolation and fostering connection. A founding director of the International Spiritual Emergence Network (ISEN) and a board member of the Soteria Network, Katie has long been a vocal advocate for reimagining extreme states and mental health crises as opportunities for personal evolution.
In 2024, she completed heuristic research titled Is There Meaning in Madness?, which aims to integrate transpersonal perspectives into clinical settings, reduce pathologization, and promote a more human-centered approach to healing. Katie also co-produced the docu-series A Call to Awakening with Sameer Patel, and they are currently working on a feature-length documentary, The Elephant, reflecting their belief in the transformative potential of anomalous experiences. As an associate consultant for IMROC, Katie contributes to lived-experience-led training initiatives that foster understanding and drive systemic change.
USAPsychiatric Misdiagnosis: When Spiritual Experiences Are Pathologized. The impact of having an anomalous spiritual experience misdiagnosed by the Western medical model of psychiatry will be explored as elucidated in this presenter’s doctoral research. The voices of psychiatric survivors will be honored by utilizing their direct quotes and by highlighting the earned expertise and explanatory models into their personal understanding of their subjective anomalous experiences and how they diverge from the pathological labels ascribed to them.
Colleen DeJoseph, PhD is a psychiatric survivor turned Transpersonal psychologist. She received her doctoral degree from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University in Palo Alto, California. Colleen has dedicated the last 13 years of her life to researching anomalous spiritual phenomena. She is passionate about not only raising awareness around the benefits and validity of subjective spiritual experiences, and the importance of honoring and revering them, but also of the dire need within the medical model to reconceptualize these experiences and the subsequent handling of them so that the grave injustices and traumas that have occurred for herself and countless others finally comes to an end.
CanadaKundalini Awakening: A Global Phenomenon. Kundalini awakening is a transformative spiritual experience which can be observed across cultures and traditions, though it is often described by different names. This phenomenon is at the heart of many mystical, religious, and spiritual paths, revealing the universality of the journey toward transcendence and Self-Realization.
In this presentation, I will explore the shared essence of Kundalini awakening as reflected in Sufism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Yoga, Zen, and other traditions from around the globe. Drawing on key teachings, texts, practices, and anecdotes, I will highlight the profound similarities in how diverse cultures understand and experience spiritual awakening. By examining these parallels, the presentation aims to foster a deeper appreciation of our collective spiritual heritage and the ways in which the awakening process unites humanity beyond cultural and religious boundaries.
Brent Spirit serves as a spiritual teacher and psychotherapist. He is the host of The Spiritual Awakening Show and the founder of KundaliniAwareness.org. He offers support for those going through Kundalini Shakti awakening and spiritual emergence. Since childhood, he has been in a mystical and mysterious spiritual awakening process involving expansive states of awareness, non-duality and no-self realizations, Kundalini Shakti awakening, emotional healing, and more. Today, he heeds his call to raise awareness about Spiritually Transformative Experiences, start conversations with others about far out topics, and accompany fellow travelers on the path.
