About me
Katie Mottram has spent over 25 years working in the mental health field. Over time, she became increasingly frustrated about the limits of conventional psychiatric approaches and began exploring the rich intersection of trauma, spirituality, and human transformation. As a founding director of the International Spiritual Emergence Network, she has long advocated for a different way of understanding psycho-emotional crises and extreme states, not simply as symptoms to be managed, but as experiences that can hold the potential for growth and transformation when met with the right support. Inspired by her own journey through suicidality and profound personal change, Katie founded the Emerging Proud campaign in 2017 to give a voice to those who had found meaning, growth, and awakening through personal crises.
Her 2024 heuristic research, Is There Meaning in Madness?, explores how transpersonal approaches could be integrated into mainstream mental health care, challenging pathologising frameworks and calling for more holistic ways of supporting healing and recovery. Katie currently works as a consultant with the UK charity Imroc and is a member of the Community Research Team for a study exploring the Soteria approach as an alternative to psychiatric inpatient treatment. When she's not immersed in conversations about mental health, spirituality, and social change, you'll usually find her on a yoga mat, wandering in nature, or being manipulated by her rescue dog.
