Matt Licata

Matt Licata, PhD, is a psychotherapist, author, independent scholar and spiritual friend. He describes his work as an embodied, contemplative, trauma-sensitive approach to psychological growth, emotional healing and spiritual transformation, and says he has spent 35 years immersed in its study and practice. He teaches courses online in embodied spirituality, depth psychology and listening to the soul, somatic and relational psychotherapies, contemplative neuroscience, and the clinical application of mindfulness and meditative awareness.

His work draws on developmental, psychoanalytic and relational psychologies alongside contemplative and mindfulness-based approaches. He has trained in both psychological and spiritual methods in North America, India and Nepal. Emotional maturity, awareness of shadow, and sensitivity to the body and relationships are central to how he works. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology and religion. His doctoral dissertation explored how spiritual beliefs and practices can serve a defensive function, helping people avoid unresolved emotional and developmental wounding.

For nearly 25 years Matt helped create spiritually based, psychologically and emotionally informed learning programs, working closely with leading psychologists, psychotherapists, researchers and healers. He was Director of Sounds True's Division of Professional Studies, which organized training for mental health professionals. His spiritual background spans Vajrayana Buddhism, Sufism, Daoism and contemplative Christianity, though he is not currently involved with any one tradition and remains interfaith in practice and view.

He is the author of A Healing Space: Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times (Sounds True, 2020) and The Path is Everywhere:…