Background

Alex De Foe

PhD

Skype:

ADF_234

Developmental and integral: transpersonal coaching

psychology and counselling

Alex has 15+yrs of experience studying the human mind and lifespan development. He applies his knowledge in consultation, teaching, and coaching. This page contains an extended bio and professional CV.

Dr Alexander De Foe, PhD, MCouns, is a psychology scholar, teacher, and practitioner involved in the study of altered states of consciousness (ASC) as they present at the clinical axis. He earned a doctorate in experimental psychology and masters degree in counselling at Monash University, in 2016 and 2010 respectively. As an early career researcher, he has published over two dozen refereed papers/studies encompassing topics of transpersonal / unity states of consciousness, psychedelic psychotherapy, and determinants of perceptual integration (in feature detection models).

Alex is well-regarded as an academic specialising in theories of consciousness and perception, with strengths in both empirical and theoretical approaches to mind. He has supervised students as principal advisor at PhD, masters, honours, and undergraduate level. Having a strong understanding of foundational academic (critical thinking) and clinical (person-centred care) skills, he has taught within postgraduate and undergraduate streams in classical psychology, transpersonal counselling, and integral psychotherapy degrees.

Career highlights:

Involved in multiple high-level research projects – 10+ yrs in parapsychology/transpersonal psychology and holistic approaches to mind, spanning principal investigator, degree manager, and clinical advisor roles
5+ yrs experience as a lecturer and coordinator in Developmental and Cognitive Psychology at HE level (250-500 student cohorts)
Have taught over 25 subjects/units at VE, undergraduate, and postgraduate level in psychology, counselling, psychotherapy, and foundational academic development
Developed multiple introspective-based tools for psychology students including the application of H5P and research sampling software
Taught into a range of university degrees: Master of Counselling, Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Bachelor of Holistic Counselling, Diploma of Transpersonal Psychology and others
Has won numerous awards for research in parapsychology and transcendent mind to examine the psychical development hypothesis – including the prestigious PARE (Parapsychological Association Research Endowment)
Developed the first HE personality course to give a balanced Eastern/Western pedagogy on ego development within a religious and cross-cultural scope

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Research interests

As a cognitive scientist with fundamental philosophy training in ontology/metaphysics my general worldview is that mind is embodied with specific determinants. Such a worldview is housed in numerous explorations:

Affective neuroscience: Jungian archetypes and free energy minimisation (Fristonian principles and the evolutionary mechanisms of Solms, Panksepp etc.)
Developmental neuroanthropology: Mind/brain body/self dynamism such as that in dynamical systems theory and phenomenological grounded explorations
Liminal worlds: Micro-phenomenology exploration of mind spaces and places including via the induction of altered and transformative states of consciousness as well as spiritually-restorative encounters with Mind

Student mentorship

Enquire about becoming a student with Alex:

PG training in transpersonal psychology
UG mentorship in writing from a phenomenal field perspective
PhD scholarship in experimental or cognitive psychology
Research consulting/tutoring

More detail

Peak / threshold / pivotal states of human consciousness

Prior projects / Updates

Research collaboration between the Australian Centre for Consciousness Studies (ACCS), Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research (AIPR), and Australian Parapsychological Research Association (APRA): Our team was awarded a BIAL Foundation Grant to study psychical phenomena with the application of transcranial magnetic stimulation v shamanic drumming
Alex works on feature detection and signal recognition studies as part of a multi institutional team in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Group with colleagues across RMIT University and Federation University
Conscentropy Consciousness and Psychedelics Lab: Founded in 2020, our papers bring a qualitative approach to psychedelic therapies, belief modification, and consciousness states with strong collaborations formed between our laboratory group and some of the eminent scholars in the field of psychedelic therapy and free energy minimisation
Alex is a Member of the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC), an international group which studies altered states of consciousness that present in various spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity
My PhD project in 2016 proposed new ways to think about embodied space and out-of-body states (OBEs), positing a Veridical Mind model of Cartesian interaction which was supported in a sequence of empirical studies funded by the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research (AU), Parapsychological Association (US), and Society for Psychical Research (UK) (Parapsychological Association Research Endowment, Survival Fund Large Grant, Cardigan Fund Small Grant)

My approach

My approach can generally be defined as evolutionary and developmental in scope – considering the evolution of mind/brain across contexts and within people’s lifespan trajectories. Applying emotionally focused (relational field), phenomenological qualia structure, as well as principles drawn from embodied social neuroscience and free energy minimisation models.

I tend to encourage students to develop well-rounded research skills rather than specialising in only one area – these may range from sequential/concurrent mixed methods, narrative research, intuitive inquiry, grounded theory, as well as quantitative methods such as structural equation modelling.

Cultivating soul-centred action

Altered state work across religious and philosophical traditions.

Tools to find your spiritual edge.

Developmental approaches – Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow, Michael Washburn – transitional / pivotal / threshold life experiences

Navigating levels of reality

Shamanic-symbolic embodied narrative

Design and tools for student engagement

Consulting and coaching

Enquire about personal, professional, or corporate coaching/consulting:

Individual
Small groups
Custom