with Matt Licata
A Sanctuary of Soulwork, Safety & Friendship in Uncertain Times
An Invitation at the Threshold
Dear friends,
You may be arriving here during a moment of transition.
The Spirituality & Healing Group has just completed a seasonal winter cycle, and over the coming weeks this work will be re-emerging in a new form — The Mystery School for Embodied Spirituality & Healing, beginning in February.
What is changing is the container. What remains is the heart of the work.
This work has always been devoted to creating a living field of presence — a space where the nervous system can soften, the heart can open, and the unlived life within us can be met with compassion, curiosity, and care. That commitment continues, even as the outer form evolves.
If you feel drawn here now, I invite you to stay close. Listen. Sense. Let your timing reveal itself.
More details about the upcoming Mystery School will be shared soon. Until then, you’re welcome to explore this space, receive what’s here, and trust what stirs.
With warmth,Matt
In Each Live Session, We’ll…
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Settle into presence together through simple meditations and guided practices that soothe the nervous system, tend the heart, and open us to the Mystery of Being.
- Explore teachings and reflections drawn from psychology, neuroscience, and the contemplative traditions — always held in a trauma-sensitive, soul-centered way.
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Enter the shared field of community, with time to listen, share, and be seen. Here you can bring your questions and experience, knowing you’ll be met in warmth, care, and non-judgment.
“Matt’s understanding of the subtleties and nuances of the healing journey, and how meditation and psychological work fit together were a key for me which unlocked the door to a part of myself that I had forgotten about. The way he held my experience and contained it with such love and kindness allowed me to end the war with myself and to begin to perceive even my most challenging emotions and sensitivities as allies and just how he’s right when he says that the path really is everywhere. Spending time with him was a real fork in the road in my life, a true turning point that opened up a whole new way of being for me.“
–J.R., London
Themes We’ll Explore Together
Throughout our time together, we’ll move through a series of themes that touch the heart of healing and transformation. These explorations weave psychology and spirituality in a trauma-sensitive, soulful way — opening the nervous system to rest, the heart to deepen, and the spirit to remember its place of belonging.
THEME 1: Initiation and the Living Path of the Soul
Discovering That the Path is Everywhere
Each of us carries wounds — from early relationships, moments of betrayal, or experiences of loss and disconnection. These experiences shape how safe we feel in the world, how deeply we can connect, and whether we trust that we truly belong.
While painful, these moments can also serve as thresholds. They invite us into deeper layers of soul, showing us that the very places we feel most broken can become gateways into wholeness. This is the essence of initiation — not something abstract, but something lived in the body, the heart, and our everyday relationships.
We don’t have to be professional “healers” to walk this path. Simply by being human, sensitive, and alive, we are called to bring presence, care, and compassion into our world. And though the journey often feels solitary, we are never truly alone. Friends, fellow travelers, and unseen helpers accompany us along the way.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
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How our wounds can serve as initiations into deeper layers of soul and spirit.
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Why our sensitivities and struggles are not obstacles to the path, but the very path itself.
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What a contemporary, emotionally-sensitive approach to wholeness and aliveness looks like.
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How even our most difficult experiences can open into deeper connection — with ourselves, with others, and with the living Mystery.
THEME 1: Initiation and the Living Path of the Soul
Discovering That the Path is Everywhere
Each of us carries wounds — from early relationships, moments of betrayal, or experiences of loss and disconnection. These experiences shape how safe we feel in the world, how deeply we can connect, and whether we trust that we truly belong.
While painful, these moments can also serve as thresholds. They invite us into deeper layers of soul, showing us that the very places we feel most broken can become gateways into wholeness. This is the essence of initiation — not something abstract, but something lived in the body, the heart, and our everyday relationships.
We don’t have to be professional “healers” to walk this path. Simply by being human, sensitive, and alive, we are called to bring presence, care, and compassion into our world. And though the journey often feels solitary, we are never truly alone. Friends, fellow travelers, and unseen helpers accompany us along the way.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
-
How our wounds can serve as initiations into deeper layers of soul and spirit.
-
Why our sensitivities and struggles are not obstacles to the path, but the very path itself.
-
What a contemporary, emotionally-sensitive approach to wholeness and aliveness looks like.
-
How even our most difficult experiences can open into deeper connection — with ourselves, with others, and with the living Mystery.
THEME 2: Trauma and the Sacred
Healing as a Spiritual Path
All of us carry experiences that were too much to fully process at the time they occurred. These unresolved impressions live in the body and nervous system, shaping how safe we feel, how open we can be with others, and even how we experience the sacred.
Trauma is not only a psychological event — it is also a spiritual one. The places where we feel most fragmented often hold the seeds of deepest connection. When given the right conditions of safety, warmth, and presence, what was once split off can return to the flow of life.
In this theme, we’ll explore trauma not as an obstacle to the spiritual path, but as one of its gateways. As we come to understand how trauma lives in the body, psyche, and nervous system, we also discover how its healing is inseparable from the journey of the soul.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
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The nature of trauma and how unmetabolized experience shapes how we see ourselves and the world.
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How trauma organizes in the body and nervous system — and how it can be gently unwound.
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Why the felt sense of safety is the ultimate medicine and the ground of self-discovery.
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The mysterious link between trauma and the sacred — and how our deepest wounds can become pathways into spiritual life.
THEME 2: Trauma and the Sacred
Healing as a Spiritual Path
All of us carry experiences that were too much to fully process at the time they occurred. These unresolved impressions live in the body and nervous system, shaping how safe we feel, how open we can be with others, and even how we experience the sacred.
Trauma is not only a psychological event — it is also a spiritual one. The places where we feel most fragmented often hold the seeds of deepest connection. When given the right conditions of safety, warmth, and presence, what was once split off can return to the flow of life.
In this theme, we’ll explore trauma not as an obstacle to the spiritual path, but as one of its gateways. As we come to understand how trauma lives in the body, psyche, and nervous system, we also discover how its healing is inseparable from the journey of the soul.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
-
The nature of trauma and how unmetabolized experience shapes how we see ourselves and the world.
-
How trauma organizes in the body and nervous system — and how it can be gently unwound.
-
Why the felt sense of safety is the ultimate medicine and the ground of self-discovery.
-
The mysterious link between trauma and the sacred — and how our deepest wounds can become pathways into spiritual life.
THEME 3: Meditation, Inner Work, and the Holding Environment
Discovering a Spirituality of Your Own
There are many forms of meditation, inquiry, therapy, and inner practice. What matters most is discovering a path that feels alive and true for you — one that honors your own body, heart, nervous system, and soul.
The psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott spoke of the “holding environment” — a relational field of empathy, attunement, and warmth. When we experience this, either with others or within ourselves, we find the safety to rest, to play, to feel fully, and to risk showing up as who we are.
From this ground, healing becomes possible. We can explore the joys and sorrows of being human, stay connected to our vulnerability, and discover that all true transformation is deeply relational — with self, with others, and with the Mystery.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
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How daily self-attunement and compassion practices create the foundation for lasting healing.
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Ways to weave together insights and practices from meditation and psychotherapeutic traditions into your own “toolkit.”
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How to gently rewire old patterns of working with pain and challenge, opening to new pathways of resilience and soul.
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How to walk a path of healing with heart — without turning your life into an endless self-improvement project.
THEME 3: Meditation, Inner Work, and the Holding Environment
Discovering a Spirituality of Your Own
There are many forms of meditation, inquiry, therapy, and inner practice. What matters most is discovering a path that feels alive and true for you — one that honors your own body, heart, nervous system, and soul.
The psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott spoke of the “holding environment” — a relational field of empathy, attunement, and warmth. When we experience this, either with others or within ourselves, we find the safety to rest, to play, to feel fully, and to risk showing up as who we are.
From this ground, healing becomes possible. We can explore the joys and sorrows of being human, stay connected to our vulnerability, and discover that all true transformation is deeply relational — with self, with others, and with the Mystery.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
-
How daily self-attunement and compassion practices create the foundation for lasting healing.
-
Ways to weave together insights and practices from meditation and psychotherapeutic traditions into your own “toolkit.”
-
How to gently rewire old patterns of working with pain and challenge, opening to new pathways of resilience and soul.
-
How to walk a path of healing with heart — without turning your life into an endless self-improvement project.
THEME 4: Providing a Home for the Lost Orphans of Psyche and Soma
Holding the Pieces of Soul with Presence and Compassion
Much of our deepest wounding happens before we even have words. These experiences can’t be healed by simply changing our thoughts or “thinking positively.” Trauma lives in the body and nervous system, in places beyond the reach of reason.
When pain, fear, or shame overwhelm us, the raw energy of those moments is stored away — like hidden orphans of our inner world. These parts of us don’t want analysis or clever insights. They want presence. They want to know they are not alone.
Healing begins when we learn to turn toward these inner children with care, patience, and love. What they most long for is not to be fixed, but to be held — to feel safe enough to rejoin the flow of life, to breathe and play again.
Together, we’ll explore how to create this sanctuary within, discovering that what feels broken can become a source of tenderness, integration, and unexpected magic.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
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How to establish a caring relationship with the inner parts of ourselves that have been forgotten or exiled.
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The true nature of “inner child work” — why it matters, and how it is often misunderstood.
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The life-giving practice of giving voice to the voiceless and making sense of our story in a new, more cohesive way.
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Why lasting transformation is not primarily about insight, but about love — and what it means to embody that love in our daily lives.
THEME 4: Providing a Home for the Lost Orphans of Psyche and Soma
Holding the Pieces of Soul with Presence and Compassion
Much of our deepest wounding happens before we even have words. These experiences can’t be healed by simply changing our thoughts or “thinking positively.” Trauma lives in the body and nervous system, in places beyond the reach of reason.
When pain, fear, or shame overwhelm us, the raw energy of those moments is stored away — like hidden orphans of our inner world. These parts of us don’t want analysis or clever insights. They want presence. They want to know they are not alone.
Healing begins when we learn to turn toward these inner children with care, patience, and love. What they most long for is not to be fixed, but to be held — to feel safe enough to rejoin the flow of life, to breathe and play again.
Together, we’ll explore how to create this sanctuary within, discovering that what feels broken can become a source of tenderness, integration, and unexpected magic.
In this theme, we’ll explore:
-
How to establish a caring relationship with the inner parts of ourselves that have been forgotten or exiled.
-
The true nature of “inner child work” — why it matters, and how it is often misunderstood.
-
The life-giving practice of giving voice to the voiceless and making sense of our story in a new, more cohesive way.
-
Why lasting transformation is not primarily about insight, but about love — and what it means to embody that love in our daily lives.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever been with a teacher or therapist who saw me so transparently and so lovingly. At first it was uncomfortable, scary, and I wasn’t sure if this was for me. But the kindness that came from Matt and his insight and presence into my wounding and vulnerability melted something within me. It was like years of conditioning came crashing down and I felt real love for myself and compassion for the little girl that was raging alive inside me. There is a way that I finally felt safe, to unravel and fall apart and be fully empowered, with him there next to me. After all the healing I had “thought” that I had done, Matt helped me to see that there were always deeper realms of the body and heart to excavate and open to the light. Also, just how human and real and authentic he is meant so much to me. He wasn’t “trying” to be someone he wasn’t, honest about his own biases and brokenness, and that just made it so much more natural for me to open.”
– J.P., New York
Here’s What You’ll Receive
1) Eight live interactive sessions with Matt and the Community
From November through January, we’ll meet for eight 90-minute sessions in a kind-hearted, supportive space. These gatherings are designed to offer a safe, empathic environment to explore the mysteries of healing and spiritual transformation together.
Can’t attend live? No problem — many cannot. You’ll be able to fully participate through recordings and practices at your own rhythm.
2) Lifetime Access to Recordings
Each session will be recorded. You’ll receive both video and downloadable audio so you can revisit the teachings and practices anytime, for as long as you wish.
3) Optional Readings, Reflections, and Practices
Each month you’ll be invited into readings, journaling prompts, and guided exercises to deepen your connection with the material. These are optional — there to support your process between live sessions.
Please note that participation in these readings and exercises is optional.
4) Private Member Portal
All course materials — videos, audios, and exercises — will be housed in a private portal that you can easily access on desktop, tablet, or mobile.
5) Private Member’s-Only Facebook Group (Optional)
You’ll also be invited into a private Facebook group where you can connect with fellow travelers from around the world. Participation is optional — you won’t miss any of Matt’s teachings or meditations if you choose not to join.
Additional Gifts for Your Journey
To support you on this journey, I’ve included a set of additional resources — audio and video webinars, along with a short eBook — all designed to deepen your experience. These gifts are meant to accompany you beyond our live sessions, offering inspiration and practices you can return to again and again.
BONUS #1
Audio Webinar
Somatic Wisdom, Trauma, and the Healing of the Human Nervous System
Embodied Healing in the Here-and-Now
Modern healing approaches often overlook the intelligence of the body and nervous system. In this audio webinar, Matt explores how unresolved experience lives in the body, how safety and embodiment create the ground for transformation, and why nervous system healing is inseparable from the spiritual path.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the link between trauma and the sacred — along with practical ways to bring presence and compassion into your own healing journey.
BONUS #2
The Practice of Embodied Attunement
Illuminating the Unlived Life
Video Webinar
Each of us has parts of our experience we’ve had to push aside in order to cope — feelings or longings that once felt too overwhelming to face. In this bonus webinar, Matt explores how the practice of embodied attunement helps us welcome these lost pieces of ourselves back home.
Through presence, compassion, and body-based awareness, we learn to feel and integrate what was once exiled. This allows us to live with greater meaning, wholeness, and joy — and to touch more deeply into the richness of our own soul.
BONUS #3
Trauma and the Sacred Wound
Liberating the Lost Orphans of Psyche and Soma
eBook
Our deepest sensitivities and vulnerabilities are often bound up with the sacred. In this short eBook, Matt explores the profound — and sometimes hidden — connection between trauma and the holy, and how our wounds can become openings into meaning, love, and transformation.
While only an introduction to this vast territory, the eBook offers a way to begin exploring how trauma and spirituality intertwine, and how tending to our pain can also reveal a path into the mystery of the soul.
BONUS #4
An Integral Spirituality:
Vulnerability, Nonduality, and Illuminating the Unlived Shadow
Video Webinar
True spiritual transformation cannot be separated from our unresolved wounds. Trauma, attachment insecurity, and shadow material all live in the body and nervous system, shaping how we show up in the world.
In this webinar, Matt explores how spirituality and psychology weave together — and why meeting our vulnerability, grief, and rage with compassion is essential for an authentic spiritual life. You’ll discover what an embodied, integral spirituality looks like: one that honors both our radiant depths and our tender human wounds.
Who is this group for?
The soul was never meant to unfold alone.
This space is for those who long to walk the healing path in good company — to rest, reflect, and rediscover what it means to be held in presence.
It may be for you if you are:
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Feeling called to (re)commit to your healing or spiritual path during a season of change, renewal, or questioning.
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Longing for a warm-hearted, empathic community where your inner experience is met with care and respect.
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Craving deeper psychological and spiritual work, but finding it difficult to access in ways that feel safe and resonant.
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Yearning for a spirituality that is embodied, emotionally attuned, and sensitive to your lived experience.
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Navigating grief, transition, trauma, or spiritual disorientation — and needing a place to rest your nervous system and gather your breath.
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Drawn to a relational approach that honors both shadow and light, personal story and transpersonal mystery.
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A therapist, healer, or guide who needs a place to refill your own well alongside friends and fellow travelers.
This is a space for deep feeling and deep rest. For intimacy, insight, and the slow, beautiful unfolding of the self. For remembering — together — what it means to be human, and to be held while becoming whole.
What You’ll Receive as a Member
Matt Licata’s
Spirituality & Healing
Inner Work Group and Community
As a member you’ll receive…
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Eight live interactive sessions with Matt Licata and a supportive community
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Monthly readings, inquiry, and writing invitations (optional) to deepen the work between gatherings
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Lifetime access to all course videos, audios, and bonus materials for ongoing reflection
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A private member portal with easy access to everything in one place
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An optional private Facebook group where you can connect with fellow travelers around the world
Plus you’ll receive these bonuses:
BONUS #1: Somatic Wisdom, Trauma, and the Healing of the Human Nervous System (audio webinar)
BONUS #2: The Practice of Embodied Attunement (video)
BONUS #3: Trauma and the Sacred Wound (eBook)
BONUS #4: An Integral Spirituality: Vulnerability, Nonduality, and Illuminating the Unlived Shadow (video)
Total Quarterly Value: $697+
MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN
12 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF:
$197
INTRODUCTORY OFFER
$97
(for a limited time only)
or checkout with PayPal here:
or checkout with PayPal here
Our Promise and 100% Guarantee
Thank you for taking the time to read about my 2025 group and community.
My sincere intention is that you will benefit from our time together. You may ask for a full refund after the first live call session from your purchase date. Simply email us at support@mattlicataphd.com to request your refund.
If this is something that resonates with you at this time in your life, I’d love to have you join us!
-Matt Licata
Meet Your Teacher
Matt Licata, Ph.D.
Matt Licata is a psychotherapist, author, and spiritual mentor who has spent the last 35 years exploring the fertile meeting place of psychology, spirituality, and contemplative practice. With training in the psychology of religion, his work weaves together depth psychology, relational neuroscience, trauma studies, and meditative traditions.
He is the author of A Healing Space: Befriending Yourself in Difficult Times (Sounds True, 2020) and The Path is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You (Wandering Yogi Press, 2017). His next book, Living in the Mandala: Trusting Your Inner Guidance in Times of Uncertainty, will be published in 2026.
Matt is known for his unique blend of poetic and clinical sensibilities, bringing together the rigor of depth psychology with the compassion of contemplative practice. Through his teaching, writing, and community offerings, he invites others into a living experience of soul, presence, and embodied healing.
Matt’s Featured Books:
Praise for Matt’s book, A Healing Space
“A Healing Space is a brilliant weave of Jungian and Eastern contemplative wisdom. In this powerful new offering, Matt Licata guides us to a place of sacred refuge, where we can meet even our greatest moments of confusion and suffering with compassion and grace.”
– Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Compassion
“Matt Licata pinpoints a space within us where healing, awakening, and a vibrant reckoning of who we actually are can be realized. The wisdom hidden deep within our darkest experiences comes from not turning away from these, but by directly tending to them with gentleness, love, and compassion. This book depicts a way of genuine freedom.”
– Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness
“In A Healing Space, Matt Licata serves as a compassionate and insightful guide to the transformative task we all must face: how to forge our pain and sorrow into remedies of Spirit that can illuminate our way. With the soft clarity of a magnifying glass, Matt brings into view the many things that inhabit our nature, though they are seldom easily seen. Stay in conversation with this book and you will be a better friend to yourself, those you travel with, and to life itself”
– Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Soul and Drinking from the River of Light
“Weaving the wisdom of reflective practices, the insights from Carl Jung and the alchemists, and the relational truths of attachment research and psychotherapy practice, Matt Licata offers us a beautiful tapestry of truths to transform trauma into healing and strength. Adversity can constrain us, but with this wonderful book, we can find the perspectives and courage to embrace the reality of life’s innate uncertainty to guide us on a journey of growth and discovery—moving from post-traumatic imprisonment to liberation.”
– Dan Siegel, MD, clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine, director of Mindsight Institute, and author of Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence and Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
“If you are looking for a book to be a companion to you during this extraordinary time, it’s this one. A Healing Space is a robust guidebook into the inner territory of yourself, assisting you in the exploration of deep and rich personal and life questions that lead, always, to wondrous realizations and growth. What a treasure to find in these times of great change.”
– Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Intimate Conversations with the Divine
“Tender, profound, and deeply useful, this book is gem. Remarkably, Matt Licata weaves together self-compassion, depth psychology, and radical acceptance into a beautiful, passionate, soaring exploration of all that it means to be human.”
– Rick Hanson, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness
“A Healing Space is a beautiful, insightful, and moving contemplation of the journey of healing we all undertake as human beings. It illuminates how self-compassion—holding our own pain with love—transforms our experience in a profound way so that we can learn the lessons life offers us moment by moment.”
– Kristin Neff, PhD, associate professor, University of Texas, and author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
“This inspiring book invites us to trust the intelligence of whatever is unfolding in our lives, especially when it hurts, and to meet it in a deeply compassionate way. Matt Licata is a cartographer of the human heart. He knows the ineffable space where healing occurs and offers us a map for getting there, right up to the threshold. The rest is alchemy. We have been waiting for a long time for a book like this.”
– Christopher Germer, PhD, clinical psychologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, author of The Mindful Path ot Self-Compassion
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the sessions live or pre-recorded?
All sessions will be held live, on three Thursdays each month, at 9am U.S. Pacific Time (5pm in London for most of the year). Video and audio recordings of each live session will be available in the membership site within 48 hours.
What are the days and times of the live sessions?
Most months, we will meet on the first, second, and fourth Thursdays, at 9am U.S. Pacific Time/5pm London Time.
To see what time this will be in your time zone, please reference this time zone converter tool.
***Please note that it is likely that we’ll need to make a change to the schedule a few times during the year to account for illness, travel, etc. We’ll update you as far in advance as possible about this.
You will receive automated reminder emails one hour before each live event with the Zoom link and passcode to join.
What materials are required for this course?
Each month, Matt will assign readings to complete and reflect upon. Although not required, the reading list for the course are Matt’s two books. It is recommended that you engage with the readings, but not mandatory.
The Path is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You
How can I get technical support?
We are here to support you along the way with any questions you may have about the course, accesssing content, joining the live calls, etc.
*For support please email: support@mattlicataphd.com
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Does Matt’s Spirituality & Healing community involve or provide individual or group psychotherapy?
No. While we’ll discuss issues related to psychology, health, and well-being in a general way, the community is educational in nature and created for a general audience. Matt will not provide any assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of psychological issues and any individual conversations with Matt will be educational, motivational, and non-clinical in nature.
© 2025 Matt Licata, PhD. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy & Legal Disclaimer