About the Practice of Dr. G. Fredric Mau

I am generally successful with my clients, and usually we’re together for just a few weeks. Of course no one can guarantee human behavior, but there seem to be a few key reasons why things tend to turn out well. I understand that emotion is the power of change, and I am not afraid to go with you to deal with significant emotions. I also understand that the stories we tell ourselves shape our emotions.

One of my favorite stories about what I do is the wilderness guide – I’ve been through a lot of wildernesses, my own and wildernesses that belong to other people. I know how to start a fire in the rain. I can pitch a tent. I’ve gained solid skills through the experience of many treks through the wilderness. The wilderness we’re about to go through is your wilderness, and I don’t know what we’ll encounter. I don’t know the path through. I do know that I have great skills for the wilderness, that I can come along beside you, and that we can find our way through. The path we find has to be your path, because this is your wilderness. And I know that, sometimes, your path will surprise both of us.

So I am not claiming to be the expert with the magic fix for your life, but I know I have a lot of skills to help you. I understand the power of emotion and personal stories, and most importantly, I know how to help you create real, deep, lasting emotional changes.

I also know that our professional relationship is critical. Many studies of successful master therapists – whether they are Counselors, Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, of whatever theoretical orientation, from Psychoanalysts to Behaviorists – demonstrate that it is the therapeutic relationship itself which provides the model and power for healing. That’s the main reason I offer a free consultation. Yes, it is important for you to have your questions answered, and for us to explore an approach that will work for you. But mostly we have to discover whether we can go through your wilderness together. It is about mutual rapport, respect, and trust.

As you continue to read below, you will see a lot about my training, background, expertise and approach to therapy. I will just say right now that I combine three approaches. I am a narrative therapist, that is, I understand the power of the stories you tell yourself (and the power of the tales of others woven into your story). I use relaxation or hypnotic processes, because people are open to emotional change when relaxed (it is a matter of brain physiology). I am solution-focused brief therapist, which means I focus on where you are going, not so much where you’ve been, and we work for a set number of weeks (usually three to nine). This saves you money, of course, but more importantly it focuses our work and makes us more successful (this is not the sort of place where we sit around and talk about things for six months while nothing happens – neither of us should have the patience for that). Many approaches to therapy work well, but if you want to try something different from the standard cognitive behavioral or eclectic approaches that are pretty common, come by. Let’s see if we’re ready to head through your wilderness and rewrite your story together.

-Dr. G. Fredric Mau