Ariadne Patsiopoulos, MA, RCC, CCC

Ariadne Patsiopoulos, MA, RCC, CCC

Registered Clinical Counsellor

She/Her/Hers...

Two spontaneous experiences during transitional phases in my life radically changed me. They forced me to question and grow in ways I never thought possible; I now understand they were incidents of spiritual emergence. My deepest hope is to support others who are on a similar journey.

The first occurred as a 19-year-old university student away from home. I experienced a sudden shift out of a space of existential angst and into a material world that pulsed with aliveness, synchronicity and symbolic meaning. I felt I had tapped into a loving, awe-inspiring and mysterious universe. The kind of guidance and support I really needed at the time to help me understand my experiences was unfortunately not available, and I was hospitalized. When I returned to day-to-day life, it was with new eyes and a strong knowing that my inward journey had been transformative. What was most challenging was trying to reconcile the messaging thrust upon me by the science of the day that my brain was broken and my experiences invalid with what I knew to be true – that my experiences had been misinterpreted and mislabelled.

In my mid-20s, I discovered the concept of spiritual emergency via a recommended book, which proved to be a godsend. It validated my inner knowing and somehow gave me permission to begin to explore the spiritual dimensions of my life. It also provided me with a much-needed framework to begin to understand this pivotal experience and another in my early 40s, an unexpected intense flow of energy felt throughout my body for several weeks. From my now-vantage point, I have come to understand how common and potentially transformative so-called non-ordinary experiences can be – however challenging in the moment. I also learned that we are not designed to “go it alone,” thanks to the fellow travellers who have served as mentors and therapeutic communities I have discovered along the way.

Now, over 30 years after my teen breakdown/breakthrough, my training with Dr. Emma Bragdon has brought me full circle and able to own my own experience. I am delighted to co-facilitate integration circles as one way of co-creating supportive spaces for people to safely share and explore their experiences. Drawing both from my professional background in counselling psychology and post-secondary instruction – and, most importantly, my personal experience – one of my life purposes is to contribute to raising awareness about spiritual emergence phenomena to the general public and practitioners alike via group work, research and writing.