Michael Smith, Ph.D.

Michael Smith, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist, and shamanic facilitator. He is a Member of the American Psychological Association, and its Division 39 (Psychoanalysis). Educated at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Theological Seminary, he holds doctorates in psychology, theology and medical anthropological studies, and a Certificate in Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago (Certificate Program).

At the University of Chicago he worked with the acclaimed medical anthropologist Sudhir Kakar, and the French philosopher of myth and hermeneutics, Paul Ricoeur. He did his doctorates in theology and psychology under Robert L. Moore, Ph.D., and has recently authored a forthcoming book in the Paulist Press series edited by Robert Moore on 'Jung & Contemporary Spirituality'. Michael has authored the volume entitled "Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue: Retrieving Soul / Retrieving the Sacred", scheduled for release in the Summer, 1997. He is also author the award winning book, "Psychotherapy and the Sacred: Religious Experience and Religious Resources in Psychotherapy (Chicago: CSSR, Press, 1995). For more than two decades he has been studying shamanism cross-culturally, as well as developing his own shamanic practice in interface with a Jungian oriented psychotherapy. He was worked with a number of Native American healers and teachers including Ai Gvhdi Waya, from who he learned her method of Soul Recovery and Extraction. He is a Fellow of the Center for Theology, Ethics, and the Human Sciences at the Chicago Theological Seminary and conducts workshops, lectures and retreats throughout North America. Most recently has begun co-leading workshops with Ed 'Eagleman' McGaa, a Lakota teacher and writer, in which both men explore Jungian psychology and Lakota spirituality as offering models for a Natural way in healing the soul.

Michael is founder and co-editor of the "Shamanic Applications Review", an international quarterly featuring articles which explore the practical applications of shamanic methods and understandings with modern Western health care systems. He is co-director of Haelan Counseling Center, a large multi-disciplinary mental health clinic where spiritual, psychological, and medical resources are interfaced in the treatment of a wide variety of disorders. He consults with a world wide clientele from Haelan Center, and from his Nub Lake Retreat. and specializes in Shamanic Soul Retrieval & Extraction Work, Shamanic--Jungian psychotherapy, and Guidance in psycho-spiritual emergencies involving altered states of consciousness (see list of services for fuller descriptions).

Michael can be reached in the following ways: 

Phone at Haelan Center: 616-683-8972

Fax: 616-683-0449

Email: ShamanicAR@aol.com

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