women clutch each other for comfort; another fellow gets up and kneels like a puppy at Katie's side as she strokes his long hair.

Despite such New Age trappings (and the sappy folk music on the P.A. system), Katie's approach, with elements that recall Zen meditation, Socratic inquiry and Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step program, offers a pragmatic and simple way of getting people to take responsibility for their own problems. Says Katie: "It's a way to cut through everything. It puts responsibility back on the person looking for their answers, not the world's answers."

A former real estate broker and the mother of three, Katie developed the Work 14 years ago, after suffering from depression, alcoholism and eating disorders. While lying on the floor of a halfway-house attic, she suddenly achieved a sense of "clarity," realizing her troubles stemmed from relating "outward" to the world. She began holding informal sessions at her Mojave Desert home, and word spread of her teachings. Supported by donations and sales of audiotapes and videos from her base in Manhattan Beach, Calif., Katie travels the globe as host to workshops for corporate managers and bring her message to everyone from prison inmates to abused children. "I just know that people want to be free," she says. "And if I have something they believe will help them, then I give it in the same way I got it."