Path of the Wounded Healer: A Training Program Overview

1. Welcome to the Path: A Journey of Recovery and Re-education

Welcome. If you are here, it is because you know that the conventional approaches to mental health, trauma, and addiction are not merely incomplete—they are fundamentally broken. You sense that the systems designed to help are often morally compromised, offering treatments that pathologize normal human responses to suffering while failing to address the deeper wounds of the spirit. This path is built on the wisdom that can only be earned by navigating the depths of one’s own suffering and emerging with a map for others to follow.

This program is a re-education for those seeking a more authentic way—a path of profound transformation for themselves and for those they are called to guide. It is an act of advocacy against a system addicted to and dependent upon its own denial. It is the Path of the Wounded Healer.

“Our work offers the participant and member is a transformational experience that creates Healers. This is why it is imperative to honor the Healing Path. This corrupt system has polluted good citizens by giving them the opposite of what they ultimately need.”

This journey begins with a fundamental shift in perspective—a new map for understanding the very nature of our struggles and our innate, biological capacity to heal. Through the application of memory reconsolidation Mindfulness Meditation, achieving Neuroregulation through Neurofeedback Training and Principles of Conditioning, and Psychedelic Care people can find the Healer from within and/or recover who they have lost upon the way.

2. Our Guiding Philosophy: A New Map for Healing

The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) is built on a radical and transformative understanding of addiction, trauma, and the dissociative healing process. We ultimately have to reject outdated, quantitative models that pathologize survival over civil rights and civil liberties because the outdatedness speaks to true psychological pathology. Instead, we ground our work in the qualitative, embodied wisdom of lived experience—a framework that honors the body’s intelligence and reclaims healing as an innate human birthright.

2.1. The Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM)

At the core of our philosophy is the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM). This model provides the foundational lens through which we understand and work with human suffering, revealing truths that conventional systems ignore.

• Addiction is Trauma-Related Dissociation: This principle reframes addiction not as a moral failing or brain disease, but as an intelligent, adaptive survival strategy rooted in unresolved trauma.
• Trauma, Dissociation, and Addiction Are One Process: This teaches us to stop treating these as separate issues and instead see them as a single, transdiagnostic spectrum of human experience, like the different phases of water.
• The Unconscious is the Physical Body: This core tenet recognizes that our body is the very place where our lived experiences, memories, and an innate, powerful intelligence for healing are stored.

This model is not just a theory; it is the necessary lens to see why the conventional therapist role is flawed and why a new class of Healers is emerging as a moral and skillful counterresponse.

2.2. The Healer vs. The Therapist

Our program is designed to create Healers, a role that comes from a different lineage than that of a conventional Therapist. While both may seek to alleviate suffering, their source of authority, approach, and relationship to established systems are fundamentally different.

The Healer	The Therapist
Source of Authority	Source of Authority
Derives authority from direct lived experience, a personal journey of recovery, and the moral courage to challenge what is unjust.	Derives authority from academic training, state licensure, and adherence to professional ethical codes and established protocols.
Approach to Healing	Approach to Healing
A collaborative, innate journey (“the work”) where the Healer acts as a guide and goes with and does it for, helping others access their own inner wisdom.	A professional service (“your therapy”) applied to a client, often focused on treating symptoms within a system driven by professional motives and financial survival.
Relationship to Systems	Relationship to Systems
Stands separate and equal from and is empowered to challenge and advocate against unjust systems, laws, and professional gatekeeping.	Is often bound by the rules of medical, legal, and insurance systems—systems that are frequently expressions of the very pathology they claim to treat.

This guiding philosophy directly informs the structure, goals, and moral imperative of the Path of the Wounded Healer training program.

3. What is the Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH)?

The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) is an experiential training program designed to operationalize the Addiction as Dissociation Model. It is not a passive, academic exercise; it is an active journey of self-discovery and skill-building. We call it a “posttraumatic growth gym and spa”—a place where you learn to work with your own inner landscape to build the strength, resilience, and wisdom necessary to guide others.

3.1. Program Mission & Key Goals

Our mission is to re-educate a new generation of Healers who can stand as a moral and skillful counterresponse to an industry that pathologizes what is normal and is addicted to its own denial.

Participants who complete this journey will achieve several key goals:

• Learn to Navigate Healing States: You will learn to safely activate and work with the dissociative states that are essential for healing, a practice we call “Mindful Dissociation,” giving you direct access to the body’s innate wisdom.
• Master the Tools of Memory Reconsolidation: You will be educated on the science and practice of Memory Reconsololation (MR), the algorithm of healing that allows for the permanent resolution of the traumatic memories that fuel addictive behaviors.
• Embody the Healer: You will integrate this knowledge through your own lived experience, preparing you to guide others from a place of authenticity, non-judgment, and profound moral strength.

3.2. Who This Program Is For

This path is designed for a diverse group of individuals who are called to a deeper form of service and personal growth.

• Clinicians & Medical Professionals (Therapists, Doctors, Nurses): For professionals seeking to move beyond the limitations of the medical model and integrate a more holistic, effective, and dissociation-informed framework into their practice.
• Coaches & Advocates (Life, Recovery, Spiritual, Social Justice): For guides who work outside traditional systems and want to deepen their skills in trauma resolution and support clients in achieving profound, lasting change.
• Seekers & Teachers (Spiritual, Religious, Philosophical): For those who guide others on paths of meaning and purpose, this program offers a psychological and somatic framework for navigating the spiritual journey and healing existential wounds.
• Anyone on a Healing Journey (General public, Recovery Community, Parents, Self-Help sponsors): For any individual committed to their own recovery who wishes to turn their personal experience into a source of wisdom and strength for others.

This comprehensive program is structured as a progressive journey, with each phase building upon the last.

4. The Journey: Program Structure & Curriculum

The Path of the Wounded Healer is not a single course but a phased-model journey of transformation. The educational curriculum is carefully scaffolded to build your knowledge, skills, and experiential wisdom in a grounded and integrated way.

4.1. A Phased Approach to Transformation

Our program is organized into four distinct phases that parallel the Consensus Model for trauma treatment, providing a familiar structure for clinicians while deepening the work for all participants.

1. PWH 1: Regulation (Corresponds to Stabilization): This foundational phase focuses on building the essential skills of self-awareness and nervous system regulation.
2. PWH 2: Memory Reconsolidation (Corresponds to Memory Resolution): This is the active phase of the journey, where you will learn to work directly with unprocessed traumatic memories to resolve their emotional charge.
3. PWH 3: Maintenance (Corresponds to Posttraumatic Growth): This phase focuses on integrating the healing that has occurred and building the skills needed for long-term resilience.
4. PWH 4: Professional Enhancement (Corresponds to Professional Transformation): An advanced phase for graduates who wish to master the art of teaching this path and leading others with confidence.

4.2. Core Skills You Will Learn

Throughout this journey, you will be trained in powerful techniques and frameworks that are central to our model.

• Meeting Area Screening and Assessment (MASA): A foundational and humane technique for mapping a person’s inner world of parts to gain “unconscious informed consent.” This framework is designed for universal use by all professions, parents, paraprofessionals, and self-help communities.
• Mindful Dissociation: The core practice of intentionally and safely using dissociative states of consciousness to access adaptive information and facilitate the body’s natural healing processes.
• Imaginal Exposure & Memory Recoding: Powerful techniques used to safely activate the emotional content of traumatic memories and update or “recode” them with new, adaptive information, leading to resolution.
• Psychedelic Care and Integration: A comprehensive framework for understanding and integrating experiences with spiritual medicines. This is necessary because institutional medicine, due to its own “unidentified addictions” and “quantitative bias,” is unprepared to handle the spiritual truths these medicines reveal.
• Neuroregulation with qEEG analysis: As a part of our program, participants can explore qEEG analysis as a way of supporting their healing practice.
• Enhanced Bracketing Techniques: Developed out of his doctoral work, Dr. Adam offers this advanced psychological skill of transversing memory systems for implicit wisdom.

This path requires dedication and a willingness to prepare yourself for the journey ahead.

5. Beginning Your Journey: Prerequisites & Application

Entry into the Path of the Wounded Healer is a deliberate and thoughtful process. We require all prospective participants to engage with our foundational material beforehand to ensure they are aligned with our philosophy and ready for this transformative experiential work.

5.1. How to Apply (For Professionals)

Please follow these steps to begin the application process:

1. Complete Prerequisite Reading: All applicants must read the “Addiction as Dissociation Model” dissertation and the “PWH Manual” to ensure a solid understanding of our core principles.
2. Attend Mindful Meditation Class +: This preparatory class is a required component to help you build the foundational skills for the program.
3. Attend Tea Time with Dr. Adam (Free/Donation-Based): Dr. Adam’s public access and informational offering for those who are looking to get to know our process.
4. Submit Your Application & Essay: A formal application must be submitted, which includes an essay or poem that outlines your personal “wounded healer’s story.” This is a critical part of our process, as we value the wisdom of lived experience.
5. Initial Interview: After reviewing your application, we conduct a final interview to discuss your journey, answer your questions, and ensure that the PWH program is the right fit for you at this time.

5.2. How to Apply (For Citizens)

Please follow these steps to begin the application process to join our Psychedelic Care and Integration, Posttraumatic Growth Gym and Spa, Support Classes, Events, WHI School:

1. Complete Prerequisite Reading: Complete our Orientation. We encourage people to read the “Addiction as Dissociation Model“ dissertation, blogs, and our webpage.
2. Attend Tea Time with Dr. Adam (Free/Donation-Based): Dr. Adam’s public access and informational offering for those who are looking to get to know our process.
3. Submit Your Application: HERE
4. Initial Interview: After reviewing your application, we conduct a final interview (MASA) to discuss your journey, answer your questions, and ensure that the PWH program is the right fit for you at this time.

6. The Path Awaits…

The Path of the Wounded Healer is more than a training program—it is a moral imperative. It is a recovery reckoning and a reclaiming of ancient wisdom for a modern world that has lost its way. By walking this path, you learn to see your own wounds not as a source of shame, but as the very source of your strength and wisdom. This is an invitation to stop being a part of the problem and to join a movement of Healers who serve as the necessary check and balance to a pathological industry. This is a journey to become the solution. The path awaits.

For more on our work and cause, consider following or signing up for newsletter or our work at woundedhealersinstitute.org or donating to our cause: HERE.

References

O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.