In this episode of Waking Up Bipolar, Chris Cole speaks with Katie Mottram— author, speaker and producer, but most importantly, a peer experiencer. Having worked in the mental health system for 15 years, she experienced a spiritual awakening in 2012 which completely changed her view of “mental illness.”
She is the author of Mend the Gap: A Transformative Journey from Deep Despair to Spiritual Awakening, and her personal story is featured in the 2016 publication by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Spirituality and Narrative in Psychiatric Practice: Stories of Mind and Soul.
Katie was one of the Founding Directors of the International Spiritual Emergence Network, providing a collaborative platform for the global networks that exist to support people going through the spiritual emergence process. (www.spiritualemergencenetwork.org)
Katie’s latest projects are the anti-stigma campaign in support of those experiencing spiritual phenomena, #EmergingProud: www.emergingproud.com and the Emerging Kind; a project training Peers to hold ‘Safe Space’ support groups for those going through a difficult spiritual emergence process.
As you’ll hear in our conversation, Katie Mottram is someone who has seen the current biomedical paradigm of mental health from all angles and is filled with passion to empower others, as we all move toward a more compassionate approach to crisis and transformation. It is with great pride and honor that I present to you the incomparable Katie Mottram. Thanks so much for joining us!
Support Katie’s crowdfunding campaign here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-emerging-kind
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Learn more about Chris and his work at colecoaching.com.
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Reframing Mental distress as a potential catalyst for positive change 
Gentlefolk: In the interview, Kattie talks about research at the end of year one. I am hoping that the research project will include the use of research ethics which requires that the participants sign off in the beginning with informed consent to be studied. ACISTE told me that they did a pilot project before they started the training and I am waiting for their research report. (I was in the USA cohort and we were never asked to sign an informed consent document.)
It is important, in my opinion, not to conflate “peer support” with “peer support group” as we train. The research on peer support is different than the research on peer support groups. The field of groups around spiritual emergence is known as “we-spaces” “circling” and “presensing”. There was a We-space Summit in 2017. Also, Bonnie Burstow at University of Tronoto is doing institutional ethnography around spiritual emergence. She would probably be willing to help you with the research.
Deep Bow to the Work! Aleta Shepler USA Cohort 2017
Sent from my Verizon HTC Smartphone
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Thank you for your comments Aleta. For your information the tEK research is purely a UK based initiative that has been planned under the supervision of Dr Charlie Heriot- Maitland, Clinical Researcher, whose studies are of course run through an ethics committee. This study is separate from ACISTE’s work.
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