Welcome to my corner of the web, where personal growth meets societal change.
Hi! I’m Dr. Maddie, a researcher and guide passionate about helping individuals heal, learn, and connect with the world around them.
My work sits at the intersection of academia, healing, and exploration, providing a unique perspective and approach. I bridge the gap between inner transformation and outer impact, empowering people to turn pain into power and create a happier life, and a more compassionate world.
From Pain to Power – Personally and Collectively
My journey began with deep wounds that shaped how I saw myself and what I believed was possible for my life. Beneath those struggles, however, was a quiet but persistent call to break free – to understand pain rather than be defined by it, and to reach for something more whole, more authentic, and more aligned with the life I dared to dream could be possible for myself.
That call led me to pursue a PhD on vigilantism in American identity, a study that opened the door to understanding how pain, power, and transformation circulate through people, stories, and systems. What began as academic research soon became something far more personal. I realised that the patterns I was studying – oppression and agency, harm and resistance, breakdown and transformation – were not only societal forces, but deeply human ones, shaping my own life and the lives of those around me.
That intersection – where the personal meets the political, and healing meets insight – became the foundation of my work here.
A Practice Rooted in Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage
From that research grew a wider practice: helping others recognise and work with the same patterns, both within themselves and in the world they move through: we can change our own lives, and the world around us.
Because hurt people hurt people, but healing people help others heal too.
My path has never been linear. Along the way, I’ve been a film and television scholar, a tour guide in Paris, a university lecturer, a law-firm worker, and a lifelong seeker of healing, meaning, and wholeness. I’ve studied criminology, cultural history, and systems theory alongside energy healing, somatic practice, and embodied coaching. Each thread informs how I now approach life and learning – analytically and intuitively, critically and compassionately.
All of that comes together here, across three primary platforms.
The Three Platforms
- The Mirror With Maddie: Exploring patterns and systems of pain reflected in the world around us, across history, society, and culture…and how to dismantle them through conscious social action.
- The Pain-Passing Framework: Healing patterns and systems of pain from the inside out, taking healing from the individual to the collective with integrated healing practices designed to foster self-actualisation and global solidarity.
- Maddie’s Walking Tours: The joy and wonder of the exploration of self and other through travel.
Each platform stands on its own, yet all are united by one core idea: our individual transformation and our collective evolution are innately connected.
Healing happens from the inside out – it starts with you, and grows in connection with others.
An Invitation
This is a space for those who sense that change begins within, but doesn’t end there.
For those drawn to understanding how pain becomes power, how self-awareness fuels transformation, and how every story – including your own – can become a force for good.
Whether you’re here to heal, to learn, to question, or to wander, you’re in the right place… because together we are stronger.
Voices of Transformation
“I had the pleasure to work with Maddie on Redirected Aggression and to say it made an impact is an understatement. Understanding that how I react to others impacts how they react to other people too was ground breaking for me in a work environment. I also took the learning into my home, observing and helping break pain-passing cycles for my family too. As a beaver scout leader, I devised some games to show the children how anger transfers and how to stop it from happening. I’m looking forward to improving more as a person, a dad and a scout leader by continuing to work with Maddie.” – James B, UK
Ready to Transform Your Life and the World?
Healing yourself is the first step to healing the world.
Join our community on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube today! Together we are stronger.
© 2013-2026 Dr Madeleine Smith