Dr. Pat Gay

Pat had been a clinical psychologist for over 30 years and an artist for life. But, since grad school—when her dissertation committee could not wrap their heads around her initial proposal to study creativity as an altered state of consciousness—she had never managed to merge the two. So when she approached me about creating a site (a "portal,” as she says) that could bring those two worlds together, she knew it was a big ask. I did, too. But I also knew it made perfect sense. As the chefs say, “If it grows together, it goes together.”

Out of sheer practicality, the site’s primary focus had to be Pat's psychotherapy practice. But her latest multimedia project The People Are the Mystics presented the perfect opportunity to bridge the gap that her dissertation committee couldn’t. The details may vary, but the focus of her practice and that of her art are essentially the same: to help us remember our own power, magic and infinity.

Results: Within hours of its launch, this site was already sparking conversations that had long been silenced, just waiting for this moment, for this portal to open.