Most people will know Paris from his 2012 renowned book ‘Rethinking Madness’, in which he called for the need for a paradigm shift in how ‘mental illness’ is perceived. My first interview with Paris was in 2017, where he spoke about how trauma acts as a catalyst for awakening to the non-dual interconnectedness of life, and how the bio-medical paradigm prevents a healing trajectory (see the link below to the original post).

It is now 12 years since Paris published Rethinking Madness, and we are still calling for the same changes. But has any progress been made? I will be talking with Paris again very soon to hear his thoughts about the current state of the system, his meta perspective on what it all means, an update on what he’s up to now, and his dreams for the future.

Here’s a little reminder of Paris’s story:

Dr Paris Williams has traversed a very winding road in his life—going from the lows of a broken childhood to the highs of becoming an international hang gliding champion in his younger years (winning a World Champion title and numerous National Champion titles). But then in his late 20s, the wounds from his past, along with the deep wounds within human society and of the Earth that were all too apparent from his vantage point in the sky, converged to send him spinning into the vortex of a profound spiritual/existential crisis.

As he navigated through this crisis, he found solace and strength in the natural world as well as in a number of the world’s wisdom traditions, and found himself drawn into the path of “Wounded Healer.” He has since gone on to conduct research on psychosis and radical personal transformation, published the widely acclaimed book, Rethinking Madness, and received his PhD and license as a clinical psychologist, specializing in humanistic, existential, transpersonal, somatic and ecological approaches.He has worked in numerous settings supporting people struggling with challenging and extreme experiences – these include meditation centers, a residential facility, a medical hospital, a community mental health clinic, a substance dependency program, multi-disciplinary teams, and in numerous private practice settings.

Paris is currently residing in the U.S., working as an integrative psychology practitioner in private practice, providing support to individuals and families, providing supervision to other health professionals, and running various psychotherapy trainings and workshops. You can find more about his work at rethinkingmadness.com and pariswilliamsphd.com

To recap on our first conversation, here’s the original interview: