Kate Hawke offers a combination of long-standing leadership in trauma work, deep psychedelic literacy, and end-of-life experience to her work at the intersection of death, dying, and expanded states of consciousness. She has been a recognized leader in the trauma field since the 1990s, when she became the first Certified Trauma Specialist in the Southwest, decades before PTSD and “trauma-informed” entered everyday language. This depth allows her to engage altered states not primarily as solutions or peak experiences, but as portals into meaning-making, questions of identity, mortality awareness, grief, reconciliation, and legacy—territory that is brought into sharp relief at life’s thresholds.
With more than 55 years of experience in the world of intentional psychedelics—over 50 of them influenced by lifelong friend Rick Doblin—Kate brings both a long historical view and a rich, trust-based network of relationships across research, policy, and practice. Having spent decades moving between visible leadership and quieter, community-rooted work beyond the spotlight, she brings the perspective of a respected psychedelic elder, shaped by continuity and lived experience rather than the rush of the current “psychedelic renaissance.” As legal models continue to evolve in her home state of New Mexico and beyond, she is actively committed to helping ethical, high-quality psychedelic experiences become accessible within well-designed support systems.
Kate also brings long-standing engagement with Indigenous communities, ceremonial traditions, and cross-cultural contexts, paired with a clear-eyed awareness of power, appropriation, and institutional risk. She serves as a natural bridge between science and spirituality, policy and practice, innovation and restraint. Across all of her work, she emphasizes discernment and humility—the more we know, the more we know we don’t know—and the integration of insight into daily life, keeping engagement with expanded states of consciousness grounded in wisdom rather than hype, and guided by maturity rather than passing trends.
Beyond My
Professional Life:
If you would like to read some strange-but-true stories, you will find them here.
The Book of Kismet is a rough draft that has been put online to get feedback from interested friends. If you are interested, and especially if you will give friendly feedback, please enjoy!
Fast forward to the 2020’s: the question has evolved. We know enough about “what it takes” to get results. I’ve been seeing miracles for decades: people lighting up, lives coming together, relationships mending, dreams coming true.
We can always improve, and I can’t think of anything more fun than research and development of new technologies. But for practical purposes, for tipping the balance of love and fear in this time of crisis, the greatest challenge I see is: what does it take to deliver these results on a meaningful scale?
I love doing one-to-one sessions. It keeps the work grounded and real. Beautiful. Sacred. I learn from everyone I work with. What an honor to witness life opening and transforming so deeply.
But in these times of crisis—”dangerous opportunity”– we have to ask, how can we make enough of a difference? The needs for healing are still here and growing, the pace of change shows no sign of slowing down. That which is unsustainable will not be sustained. Utopia or oblivion, or both in a world even more polarized between the haves and have-nots?
When we’re given this window of opportunity, how can we not do our best?
At my age, my grandparents had moved from the Midwest into Florida retirement communities.
For me, it’s ReFIREment time.
How about you?