How to Effectively Support Someone in a Spiritual Emergency
Understand, recognize, and skillfully support psycho-spiritual crises—without pathologizing them.
Applies to Level 1 Certification
This course is part of the Level 1 Spiritual Emergence Coach® Certification. You can take this course individually or as part of the complete certification bundle. Upon completion, this course will count toward your Level 1 certification requirements.
About This Course
Spiritual Emergency is a profound transformational crisis in which intense psycho-spiritual experiences overwhelm a person’s usual capacity to function. It may arise through meditation, yoga, prayer, intensive retreats, near-death experiences, trauma, grief, fasting, psychedelic experiences, plant medicines, collective upheaval, or strong intuitive and psychic openings. Because these experiences can resemble psychosis, mania, or other psychiatric conditions, they are often misunderstood and treated only through a conventional biomedical lens.
This course is designed to help you understand that difference more clearly. It offers a grounded, research-informed framework for recognizing when a person may be moving through a spiritual crisis rather than a primary mental disorder, and for responding in a way that is supportive, discerning, and humane. Rather than automatically pathologizing these experiences, the course helps you see how they can be approached with greater nuance, safety, and compassion and that the outcome of appropriate care is human flourishing.
You will gain a deeper understanding of why spiritual emergency is so often misread, how conventional responses can sometimes worsen the situation, and what kinds of support are more likely to help. The course also highlights the transformative potential of these crises. When well supported, spiritual emergency can lead to greater inner peace, deeper compassion, clearer purpose, and a renewed desire to contribute meaningfully to the world.
This course is for people who want to support spiritual transformation without reducing it to pathology alone. It offers a more complete framework for understanding these experiences and helping others move through them with greater clarity, care, and respect for their deeper meaning.
Who This Is For
For professionals
For clinicians, counselors, coaches, and mental health professionals including pastoral and school counselors, ministers and priests seeking better assessment and support skills for spiritual emergence and crisis.
For people with lived experience
For individuals, loved ones, and carers seeking clear guidance and practical tools to better understand and navigate the awakening process.
Meet Our Certified Coaches
Learning Objectives
Recognize spiritual emergency in its many forms
Identify at least 12 ways a psycho-spiritual crisis may present
Describe 9 common catalysts of spiritual emergency
Improve your ability to recognize spiritual awakening phenomena
Distinguish patterns, trajectories, and contexts of spiritual emergency from those of specific psychiatric diagnoses
Avoid common errors that can lead to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment
Develop a more effective and appropriate care plan
Describe best practices for supporting someone in spiritual emergency
Know when collaboration is needed and how to build an appropriate care team
Support transformative outcomes rather than focusing only on symptom suppression
Explain the positive long-term possibilities when spiritual emergency is understood and managed well
Better accompany someone through crisis toward integration, stability, and well-being
What You'll Get
Ongoing LIVE online meetups with experts
Every other Sunday:
1:30–3:00 pm ET (New York)
10:30 am–12:00 pm PT (Los Angeles)
6:30–8:00 pm in UK/Ireland 7:30–9:00 pm in EU
Bonus support materials
Unique videos and interviews. Articles and worksheets for self-reflection. References to peer-reviewed research and key books for further study.
Certificate of completion
All participants who complete the course will receive a certificate of course completion from IMHU.
Syllabus
Defining the Territory of Spiritual Awakening
Distinguishing between Spiritual Awakening (Emergence) and Spiritual Emergency (a crisis marked by disorientation and dysfunction)- Exploration of the origins of these terms and the establishment of the Spiritual Emergence Network
- A detailed examination of 13 specific categories of experience that may happen in awakening and/or spiritual emergency
- Exploring changes in personal identification: the ego and ego dissolution
Recognizing Spiritual Emergency
- Comparing the biomedical model and its language to the model which includes the language of spiritual awakening with a trauma-informed approach that acknowledges subtle phenomena like chakras and kundalini
- The difficulties in discerning between mental illnesses and spiritual emergency
- Stories of individuals to understand how different support systems for those in spiritual emergency lead to varied outcomes
- The characteristics of a positive outcomes, e.g. increased peace and self-acceptance
Successful Models of Care
- An in-depth look at the components of successful, supportive interventions
- A reflection on several effective approaches in Europe and the USA
- The components of relationships that improve outcomes
- How to care for yourself as the caretaker
A Multicultural Approach to Awakening
- Normalizing the process of awakening; recognizing its universality
- Viewing the ways different cultures throughout time have recognized and empowered those in the process of awakening.
- The vital role of intuition in awakening
- The need for a guide. What to look for in a guide and/or teacher.
Catalysts of Spiritual Emergency in Today’s World
- What east Indian sages predicted for this era of human evolution
- Highly Sensitive People and the gift of absorption
- The role of various stressors, psychedelics, and plant medicines
- Inspiring signs of progress in collective awakening
Your Instructors
Emma Bragdom, PhD
Dr. Emma Bragdon is a pioneer in body–mind–spirit wellness with 50 years of experience in integrative approaches to mental health, healing, and human development. She has written seven books, co-produced two documentary films, and has taught experiential learning for adults since 1985. Emma volunteered with the Spiritual Emergence Network (SEN) for seven years, editing their journal and coordinating conferences at Esalen Institute with founders Stanislav and Christina Grof. Her PhD dissertation, "How to Support Someone in Spiritual Emergency," launched a lifelong specialization in this field. From 2001–2012, she conducted field research at Spiritist Community Centers and Psychiatric Hospitals in Brazil, studying their 120-year-old model of integrative care. Since 2012, she has served as "ambassador" to non-Brazilians for the Spiritist Psychiatric Hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, facilitating seminars for health professionals worldwide.
Lorna Busch, PhD
Lorna Busch, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, clinical supervisor, and certified Spiritual Emergence Coach®. Based in Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes region of New York, she offers holistic and spiritually informed mental health care, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, psychedelic integration, and support for people navigating the end-of-life transition in collaboration with hospice, palliative care, and oncology professionals. She practices within interdisciplinary wellness collaboratives (Amazing Mind Body Soul Center and Synergy Social Wellness) alongside alternative and functional health practitioners and is also trained in Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT). Following her 2024 educational journey with IMHU to Brazil, Lorna continues to explore ways of bridging science and spirituality while helping people access healing, meaning, and connection with the Higher Self.
About Continuing Education Credits
For licensed health professionals seeking CE credits for license renewal
CE Provider Information
CE credits are provided by Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA). SCA is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists, social workers, MFC, professional counselors, and nurses.
Level 1 Certification Courses
Explore all courses in the Level 1 certification pathway. Complete all required courses to earn your Spiritual Emergence Coach certification.
Define Spiritual Emergence & Emergency
Understand the fundamental concepts and terminology of spiritual awakening experiences and how to distinguish between spiritual emergence and emergency.
Stories of Awakening: Spiritual Alchemy
Learn from real-world examples and case studies of spiritual awakening experiences to recognize patterns and understand diverse manifestations of spiritual emergence.
How to Effectively Support Someone in a Spiritual Emergency
Master the essential skills and strategies for supporting individuals through intense spiritual experiences with live webinars, peer learning, and expert guidance.
Practicum: Learn Skills for Effective Management of a Spiritual Crisis
Our LIVE on-location 2-day intensive workshop provides hands-on experience with supervised practice, role-playing, and real-world scenario training.