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About Will

Will HallI am a mental diversity counselor and consultant with a private therapy practice based in Portland Oregon, and hold a Masters Degree in Process Work. I have done teaching and consulting work on mental health, trauma, domestic violence, conflict resolution and organizational development in more than 8 countries, and have been widely featured in the media for my advocacy efforts to reform mental health care. My work and learning arose from my own experiences of madness and recovery, and today I am passionate about new visions of mind and the possibilities of what it means to be human.

I hold a Diploma and Masters Degree in Process Work from the Process Work Institute, and my study over the years has included Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, the Integral Counseling program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and certification in NADA protocol auricular acupuncture at Lincoln Recovery in New York City. I have focused especially on trauma, oppression, and working with extreme states of consciousness that get diagnosed as psychosis. I also have extensive background in community organizing and organizational development.

As my experience has grown in working with alternative mental health, trauma, and medication empowerment, I have been invited to present and teach groups in a variety of settings. I have consulted and presented for more than 50 organizations in over 8 countries, including the Federal Office on Violence Against Women, the Alaska Peer Mental Health Consortium, Alaska Governor’s Council on Disabilities, International Network Towards Alternatives for Recovery, New York University Gallatin School, Hearing Voices Congress, International Association of Process Oriented Psychology, New Avenues for Youth, University of Massachusetts Nursing School, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Mental Disability Rights International, Recovery Learning Community, Multnomah County Department of Community Justice, and Empowerment Initiatives.

I have been widely interviewed and featured in the media, including New York Times, Radio New Zealand, National Public Radio, Newsweek magazine, Forbes magazine online, in the book Agnes’s Jacket: A Psychologists Search for the Meanings In Madness, and in Best Practices in Mental Health: An International Journal. I have written extensively on mental health, social justice, and environmental issues, including The Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Medications, Turning Wheel: Journal of Engaged Buddhism, Adbusters, the Sierra Club anthology Call To Action:Peace, Justice, and Ecology, Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness, and a chapter in Way Out Of Madness: Dealing with Your Family After You’ve Been Diagnosed with a Psychiatric Disorder. My radio show Madness Radio: Voices And Visions from Outside Mental Health is heard on the Pacifica Network and was profiled in the UK Guardian newspaper.

More About My Background:

I grew up in an artistic family that cultivated my creativity and imagination; I was a magician and performer as a kid, and enthralled by games and books. In school I became an outsider, pulled between my love of learning and my differences from other students. Growing up in a family haunted by war and trauma, my sensitivity turned towards self-preservation, as I tried to make sense of the racial, class, and gender confIicts that surrounded me in the South. My father is a Korean War veteran and psychiatric survivor, and my mother is of Choctaw Indian descent and was orphaned as a girl. This challenging context ignited a lifelong personal search to embrace both the vastness of my imaginary worlds and the urgency of social justice and healing.

As a teenager I became a community organizer in the peace, ecology, and anti-racism movements, but the traumas of my childhood and longtime struggles with emotional distress landed me in a psychiatric hospital at age 26. After a difficult year in San Francisco’s public mental health system, I slowly learned to live with and care for my madness through human connection, holistic health, and spiritual practice. I have founded and worked with several community organizations to promote mental health alternatives and help others. Today I teach what I have learned and use my experience to help guide others to their own discoveries of healing, and lead trainings and consult with organizations. My exploration led me to study Process Work and earn a Diploma in this Jungian and systems based approach to human experience. I am actively involved in creating a new vision of mental health based on understanding the meaningfulness of what gets labeled as psychosis and madness. I am passionate about mental diversity and welcoming different states of consciousness as vital parts of the human community.

A longtime meditator and yoga practitioner, I love books, bicycling, and camping, and am an avid runner and contact improvisation dancer. I am deeply moved by the mystery, suffering, and potentials of what it is to be a human on planet earth, and strive for a way everyone, no matter where our minds take us, can find a way home.

Organizations I work with include: