The Parapsychological Association will host the online symposium Counseling and the Exceptional Experiencer on May 20, 2023. 

This symposium focuses on the exceptional experiencer (ExEr) in counseling and psychotherapy. Presenters must be either ExErs or mental health practitioners (MHPs), though attendance is welcome by any and all. Practitioners will speak about their professional experiences (e.g., case studies) and/or research regarding the topic. Furthermore, ExErs will speak about their personal stories of their time in counseling or in other types of mental health support. Thus, attendees will hear from both professionals and those with lived experiences to be a part of a well-rounded dialogue on a topic that extends beyond parapsychology and into other domains such as mental health, well-being, and access to appropriate care.

Submissions for oral presentations are now being accepted for consideration by Program Chair, Dr. Erika A. Pratte. 

Submission Deadline: March 15, 2023, at 23:59 Pacific Time.

Submission Requirements

Submitters will be asked to include the following information:

• Contact and biographical information for all presenters involved in the session being proposed
• Presentation title (maximum of 100 characters)
• Presentation summary or abstract - Up to 1200 words
• For mental health professionals only: CV and learning objectives of the presentation

There are two submission forms: One for ExErs and the second for MHPs.

Evaluation

Presentation summaries on personal experiences should include the key aspects of their talk, including what type(s) of ExE brought them to counseling, how long they were in counseling, what they found helpful and what they didn’t during service. Case studies by practitioners must include this data about their clients. 

Research presentations should present original data and include objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Abstracts will be evaluated on the data included in the submission. All proposals will undergo peer review and their acceptance will be determined using the following questions:

• Will the presentation address an important and novel question?
• Is it relevant to the field of clinical parapsychology?
• Does the study design permit the question to be answered?
• Are the endpoints of the study clearly defined?
• Is there an appropriate use of statistics?
• Are the methods described in sufficient detail?
• Do the data support the conclusions?

Status Notification

Notification of your proposal status will be sent by April 5, 2023.

Submission form for exceptional experiencers

Submission form for mental health professionals

If you have any questions, please contact Erika, the Program Chair, at eapratte@gmail.com