Start Anytime: Review Indefinitely

10.5 CEs available

IMHU's flagship course! Increasing numbers are spontaneously awakening to expanded states and need support to make sense of it. This includes integration for experiences with psychedelics and plant medicines. 5 online webinars with expert + online LIVE meetups every other week for discussion. Helpful for yourself and supporting others. 10.5 CEs for healthcare professionals (nurses, psychologists, psychotherapists).
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FEE

If paying additional fee for CEs--please also submit application for CEs below.


5  ONLINE  Webinars 

How to Effectively Support Someone in  Spiritual Emergency


Open to All!-10.5 Continuing Ed Credits Available

(Also is Part One of Certification as a “Spiritual Emergence Coach®”)


  TIME: Start ANYTIME

Watch 5 Recorded Webinars and View Supportive Bonus Material at YOUR Pace

PLUS: ONGOING Online LIVE meetups 

for students with facilitator for sharing/Q&A

Every Other Sunday in 2024-2025:  starting December 15, 2024, and ongoing  

1:30-3pm ET (in New York City)

10:30am-12pm, PT in Los Angeles

6:30-8pm in UK/Ireland

7:30-9pm in EU

( AU/India/Asia students: contact us for special times at [email protected])



Facilitator: Emma Bragdon, PhD

A renowned author of two classic books on Spiritual Emergency (see below), a seasoned facilitator with 40+ years experience, and a pioneer in this field.  She is honored to be one of 4 teachers in the Grof Legacy Training® in Latin America.

Dr. Bragdon seasons her presentations with humor, cartoons, and personal stories. You will feel enriched by the information and more hopeful about the positive changes we can make in ourselves and in our mental healthcare to optimize wellbeing.


Stories of Those Who Resolved Spiritual Emergency

A very easy and fascinating read depicting the many catalysts of psycho-spiritual crisis including sex, psychedelics, stress, spiritual practices, psychic openings, and profound inspiration.

First book on Spiritual Emergency (1988)

Original Title: Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergencyy

This book established Dr. Bragdon as a pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence and emergency. This most recent edition is used in graduate schools, and other programs that see the need to help those now in the process of awakening.

Pricing options

If you want to get 10.5 CEs add $75 to course fee and fill out application..

Bundle: This Course and the Practicum

Save money by bundling AND qualify to become a Spiritual Emergence Coach®

If you purchase both courses together you can get a discount. The Practicum is given several times a year, live on location.

Course Description

This course includes 5 pre-recorded online webinars you can view at your convenience, supportive materials (unique vids/articles/worksheets), as well as ONGOING live, scheduled online meetups with Emma Bragdon, PhD for Q&A, personal sharing, and discussion.  All Welcome.  

Teachings are designed for healthcare professionals (CEs available)  but the general public is welcome to join. You will understand and learn from an expert about the basics of how to manage psycho-spiritual, transformative crises within yourself, and with ones you care for.   Healthcare professionals will be able to incorporate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to clients or patients integrating spiritually transformative experiences. 

Health care providers will learn about the theory that distinguishes spiritual emergency (a psycho-spiritual crisis) from distinct mental illnesses and thus expand their ability to make accurate diagnoses and successful treatment plans.   Methods for working with people in spiritual emergency (treatment) will be covered, articulating best practices for optimal outcomes.  Course includes references to recent research in peer-reviewed journals to provide evidence base for course content as well as books for further exploration. Continuing Education credit is available for healthcare providers who successfully complete a quiz at the end of the home-study portion (see details below).

Participants may wish to follow this course with a live, on location 2-day workshop, called the Spiritual Emergence Coach Practicum.  It builds practical skills in optimal methods for successfully assisting a person to a positive outcome of spiritual emergency.  Completion of the Practicum qualifies a participant to become certified as a “Spiritual Emergence Coach®”.  


Spiritual Emergency

Spiritual Emergency is a profound and often dramatic transformational crisis.  The person is overwhelmed by psycho-spiritual experiences, including a Dark Night of the Soul, and can no longer function well at work or within family and relationships. The spiritual experiences may be caused by spiritual practices like yoga and meditation, or other factors like near–death experience, fasting, trauma, grief, recreational drugs,  spiritual plant medicines, psychedelic-assisted therapy,  the global crisis, or even one’s natural gifts of intuition, etc. The symptoms of this crisis are often confused with symptoms of mental illness and, in this case, the individual will likely be treated with anti-psychotic drugs via bio-medically trained practitioners. Unfortunately, over time this bio-medical protocol can harm the person in spiritual crisis, so a different kind of treatment is advised. The positive potential of the crisis (when well managed): a person who has more peace, empathy and clarity, is motivated by more wisdom and compassion, and wants to make a positive contribution to the world.  Our Certified Spiritual Emergence Coaches®  are trained to offer support to others in this crisis.


At the end of the program participants will be better able to:

  • List 12 different ways a psycho-spiritual crisis may manifest
  • Describe 9 catalysts of spiritual emergency
  • Compare ways to recognize a spiritual emergency vis a vis distinct mental disorders
  • Design a plan for best care for someone in spiritual emergency
  • Explain the positive, transformative outcomes of spiritual emergency that are possible when the crisis is managed appropriately



Additional Bonuses
  1. Online Community During the course you will also be able to interact with Dr. Bragdon as well as fellow students via comment boxes within the written materials given each week and in the LIVE meetups every other week. The online meetups allow us to  interact, see and hear each other as well as network.  Students can also join ongoing LIVE meetups indefinitely throughout the year after registration.
  2. Ongoing dialogue about articles, video interviews and various media clips   Comment boxes in each of the 5 modules containing a webinar encourage ongoing dialogue about each week’s topic.  These can be accessed at your convenience.  You choose your level of involvement.
  3. Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery and sharing process after the course is over. Together we continue the discussion to expand our understanding, interact with  fellow graduates of  the course, and get access to additional resources to take our exploration deeper. We share  experiences, projects and growth  in this broad international community.  Emma Bragdon continues dialogue with us here as well.
  4. Get acquainted with Certified Spiritual Emergence Coaches® who participate in the Facebook dialogue and are available in the Directory.  They will speak your language!
  5. CE credit available for licensed psychologists, MFC, and nurses.


How to Effectively Support Someone in Spiritual EmergencyIncludes:

A Pioneering Approach to Mental Health Care and
a Pathway to Optimal Well Being from Brazil

There is a spiritual group in Brazil that supports personal spiritual evolution in a contemporary way—and has a history dating back to Paris in the 1850s. This group now has approximately 13,000 community centers offering complementary therapies for free (in Brazil), as well as 50 psychiatric hospitals offering the full range of modern treatments for those who are emotionally disturbed in addition to Spiritist treatments. What’s unusual in the hospitals is that psychiatrists collaborate with medical intuitives for both diagnosis and treatment—and enhance the effectiveness of both.  IMHU now offers an exciting new course on Spiritist Therapies and the Spiritist paradigm of care--offered by Spiritist psychiatrists, MDs and Spiritist mediums with perspectives of a US based psychiatrist.  We also conduct an annual 7-day Seminar on location in Brazil for healthcare providers who want to learn more and experience this innovative model of care.




Facilitator:

Emma Bragdon, PhD, (Transpersonal Psychology) is an expert in the field of Spiritual Emergence and Emergency.  She’s been immersed in it as a pioneer,  researcher, psychotherapist, teacher and published author since 1984.  She is the author of seven books and co-producer of two documentary films, and the Founder/Director of Integrative Mental Health University, IMHU.org.  Dr. Bragdon is most well known for the seminal books she originally published on Spiritual Emergency in 1987, and 1990, and recently updated.  Her most recent books about Spiritism in Brazil have also gained rave reviews.  She was a volunteer for the  Spiritual Emergency Network in the USA from 1984-1991 and Editor of it’s newsletter and Journal. She was licensed as a psychotherapist in 1988 and has expanded that practice by serving also as a spiritual guide and group facilitator.  She spent 6 months of every year from 2001-2012 in Brazil researching the positive potential of Spiritist Community Centers and Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals. Spiritists have cultivated a way to identify and work with Spiritual Emergency in extraordinary ways!   EmmaBragdon.com



Audience:

Everyone Welcome!   People with lived experience, their families, psychotherapists, others caring for people in spiritual emergency…and those exploring a more integrative approach to optimal mental health. 

Format:

Online webinars and LIVE meetups with Dr. Bragdon on  user-friendly platforms compatible with all devices.  Included are bonus supportive videos, worksheets for self-reflection, some articles and suggested reading for further exploration. 

Certificate of Course Completion: 

 Those who complete this course receive a certificate of course completion.

Time: PACE YOURSELF

Webinars and bonus materials can be seen at your convenience.  Online meetups are at a specific time and are not recorded.

Certification:

Students  can be considered for certification as a Spiritual Emergence Coach® after they complete this  online webinar series (Phase One)  and the associated Practicum course (Phase Two).  The Practicum is offered live in the UK  and USA–sometimes other places when we  periodically accommodate invitations–throughout each year. Those who complete the two courses and satisfy our requirements listed in the application (due at the Practicum) can be listed on the IMHU website Directory as a Spiritual Emergence Coach® (SEC). This listing facilitates networking among providers, advances awareness of spiritual emergence phenomena throughout the world, and is a vehicle to announce your contact information for those looking for support for their journies. Students qualify for Certification after completion of both courses, proven proficiency in the skills we teach, acceptance of the policies  we stand for, and a final personal interview to determine timing for activation as a coach.


Fee: 
  $495.usd   includes 5 webinars, bonus materials, and unlimited  LIVE Q & A sessions with students + Dr. Bragdon for sharing and networking.
Scholarships: 
Some partial scholarships  are available for those with financial constraints. (click HERE)
Continuing Ed Credit Fee:

10.5 hours of continuing education credits is available for psychologists, MFTs, social workers, and nurses in the USA.  Participants must do 2 LIVE online meetups to gain 10.5 CEs.  Scroll down the page for more details.

You Are Protected By IMHU’s Money-Back Guarantee:  If you are not satisfied with the content of the course in the first 15 days we will refund your payment, on request. [email protected]



FAQ

Q: What is a virtual or online course?
A: It’s a great way to engage live teachings and each other from the comfort of your home! All you need is either a stable internet connection to see the video webinars or a phone line. You can easily use the link we provide via internet to connect to the webinar materials and to zoom.us at no charge, and thus we can offer these materials free  to use from anywhere in the world.

We use zoom.us for our LIVE online meetups.  This makes it just like an in-person event, where you can ask questions, participate in groups, and deepen your exploration of the course themes.  The meetup format at zoom will allow us to see and hear each other.  

Please note that dialing into zoom.us with phone numbers we provide may be a regular toll call; your telephone service provider will charge you according to your existing long-distance calling plan. We provide international numbers so you can often avoid long distance charges. Other options include calling cards and discount long-distance carriers.

"I have never participated before in an online course. The packaging, presentation, inclusion, and Facebook postings created a wonderful, safe cocoon to participate. The wealth of organization and ease of learning materials and support made this fun as well."  – an online student

Q: Can I get benefit from the course if I miss the live meetups?
A: Absolutely! You can view the recordings of all webinars from the online course materials, so you never need to worry about missing  webinars. You can also engage the full community and instructor on our private community website via the comment boxes associated with the course.  Live ZOOM meetups are not recorded so as to protect privacy of students who are participating--and are not required to attend unless you are getting CE credits.  In this case 2 LIVE meeetups are required to attend.

Q: Are there scholarships available for this Training?
A: Yes, we always make a certain percentage of spaces available for partial scholarships, giving preference to those in developing countries, students, or those doing important but underpaid work to which they can apply the training material immediately. If you would like to apply for a scholarship please fill out our online application form, by clicking on ScholarshipApp.

Q: What is your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with IMHU and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee so that you can sample the course risk-free. The deadline to receive a full refund is 1 week after you register. To request a refund, please email us at [email protected] and submit your request. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we’ll send you an email confirming your refund. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there is something we can assist you with, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)

Q: How can I reach Customer Support?
A: Please submit a request  and we’ll get right back to you. [email protected]

Q: How long can I have access to the materials?

A: No limit.

Testimonials

from past students

“FIVE STARS! I learned so much from this course, so much so that it was a catalyst for my own personal transformation and growth. It also came at the perfect time and has helped me through some traumatic experiences and helped me to stay strong for and help others going through spiritual emergency. I loved every minute of this and cannot wait to share the vital knowledge I have gained. Everyone should take this course! Thank you so much, Emma Bragdon!!! ”

Bryn Square

“FIVE STARS! It is very healing to have your own personal experiences named and identified, and then to be able to take that information into a self practice and then out into our communities and begin to help others. Thank you to Emma for all of your teaching and work that you have done to bring these healing tools to the world.”

Tessa Cooke

““Five Stars! “I really enjoyed this webinar series. It rounded out my knowledge of Spiritual Emergency. I took extensive notes…If you are wondering about the intersection of severe mental distress and spiritual awakening–this is a wonderful place to get a deep understanding.” ”

Phil Borges, Co-producer of Crazywise film

“FIVE STARS! “This course provided a much-needed orientation to a disorienting experience, both personally and professionally. The material was presented in a very professional, normalizing manner that served to set a tone that inspires me in talking to other professionals about these matters as if this was just a matter-of-fact discussion – very useful!” ”

Dan Metevier, PsyD.

“FIVE STARS! “(I had) the opportunity to widen my scope of knowledge about the differences between Spiritual Emergence and Emergency and to increase my understanding of alternative treatment/helping models in other cultures…The lecture materials are stellar and I enjoyed the resources that followed each lesson. Emma is a fantastic teacher.” ”

Linda Ruthen, MSW

“”

“FIVE STARS! “We so need what Dr. Bragdon has to teach us. I recommend her courses highly and without reservation.” ”

David Anick, MD (psychiatrist)

“”

“FIVE STARS! “Emma is a leading voice and figure in the realm of spiritual emergence. I feel honored and blessed to be part of Emma’s courses.” ”

Kyle Buller, MA (Counseling Psychology)

“FIVE STARS “I enthusiastically recommend attending Dr. Bragdon’s workshop, “Effective Help for Someone in Spiritual Emergency”. Her many years as a psychotherapist, healer, scholar and presenter shine through as she presents her life’s work, creating many rewarding opportunities for expansive professional and personal enrichment.” ”

Ted Esser, PhD. Director of Spiritual Emergence Network in USA

10.5 CEs Available for Those Who Register for Them

All Students Receive Certificate of Completion

Learn more about CEs at https://courses.imhu.org/courses/ce-credit. Fee is $75. for CEs and can be added to course fee at registration. If you are purchasing CEs for this course please fill out the application on THIS PAGE (https://imhu.org/application-for-ces-sca/) and send to [email protected].

Information on Continuing Ed Credit for Healthcare Professionals

$75 USD Fee for 10.5 Units. Students must complete course materials online and participate in 2 LIVE discussion groups to receive CEs. Register at https://courses.imhu.org/courses/ce-credit or pay at time of registration of course.

  • CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

  • The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by sponsors of CE who are approved by the American Psychological Association.

  • LCSW, LPCC, LEP and LMFTs, and other professionals from outside of California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept credits from programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.

  • SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes. Nurses outside of California must confirm acceptance with their licensing boards.

  • For questions about your certificate or the content, logistics, or other support issues regarding this course, please contact [COSPONSOR] at [EMAIL}. For questions about whether APA CE is valid for you, contact your licensing board directly. For general questions about APA CE, contact SCA at [email protected].

  • Health and Wellness Coaches can apply for CE credits for this course directly through NBC-HWC. They wish to review on a case-by-case basis before allowing CE credits.

  • The APA does not allow partial credit to be earned for a course; we cannot provide a participant who missed a live session (or was more than 15 minutes late or left early from any live session) with fewer CE hours for our 10.5-hour class. This applies to all participants seeking credit. Otherwise, the participant forfeits all of their CE hours.

MORE REVIEWS FROM PRIOR STUDENTS

5 star rating

After having a Spiritual Emergency and NOT feeling Supported at all - it is very encouraging to be able to assist with guidance to others who are experiencing negative outcomes that can be stigmatizing people with mental Illness designation for a LIFETIME

Debra Anderson

Emma has a heart and a mission to chip away at the “Written In STONE’ “ nature of our broken mental health systems.

Emma has a heart and a mission to chip away at the “Written In STONE’ “ nature of our broken mental health systems.

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5 star rating

Excellent course!

Dida Kutz

This course was scholarly and a revelation, and greatly needed in my life for both personal and societal reasons

This course was scholarly and a revelation, and greatly needed in my life for both personal and societal reasons

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5 star rating

Brilliant, Informative, and Transformative Course!

Shoshannah Bryn Jones Square

I learned so much from this course, so much so that it was a catalyst for my own personal transformation and growth. It also came at the perfect time and has helped me through some traumatic experiences and helped me to stay strong for and help ot...

Read More

I learned so much from this course, so much so that it was a catalyst for my own personal transformation and growth. It also came at the perfect time and has helped me through some traumatic experiences and helped me to stay strong for and help others going through spiritual emergency. I loved every minute of this and cannot wait to share the vital knowledge I have gained. Everyone should take this course! Thank you so much, Emma Bragdon!!!

Read Less
5 star rating

A breath of fresh air!

Tessa Cooke

It is very healing to have your own personal experiences named and identified, and then to be able to take that information into a self practice and then out into our communities and begin to help others. Thank you to Emma for all of your teaching...

Read More

It is very healing to have your own personal experiences named and identified, and then to be able to take that information into a self practice and then out into our communities and begin to help others. Thank you to Emma for all of your teaching and work that you have done to bring these healing tools to the world.

Read Less
5 star rating

Just what I’ve been needing and didn’t know it existed!

jan ferris

I am finding this course one of the best I’ve ever taken. The material is clearly, and well presented, in a interesting and entertaining way. I find it very easy to digest and speaks to me on the level of my own personal experiences and in my wo...

Read More

I am finding this course one of the best I’ve ever taken. The material is clearly, and well presented, in a interesting and entertaining way. I find it very easy to digest and speaks to me on the level of my own personal experiences and in my work with many of my psychotherapy clients. Thank you for pulling this all together in this easy to digest and fun way. I’m delighted.

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5 star rating

Informative and necessary

Linda Scherer

This course is loaded with useful information and a necessary training to work effectively with people through mental health crisis at this time. It has been life changing for me.

This course is loaded with useful information and a necessary training to work effectively with people through mental health crisis at this time. It has been life changing for me.

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