My contact information is at the top of each page on this web site. If you
are experiencing an emergency, or a time-urgent matter, then page me at (925)
397-7777. When you hear the beep, beep, beep, then key in your phone number (including
area code) that you can be reached, and then push the # sign.
A courtesy free 20-minute telephone consultation is available for new clients
to answer any questions about my practice, approaches and background. I look forward
to hearing from you to explore how I can help you help yourself.
My private practice works by appointment. My hours are usually from
about 9 AM to about 9 PM during the normal Monday through Friday workweek. Sometimes
clients are seen on weekend days given genuine emergencies or, in very unusual
situations, if no other time can be found.
Psychologist Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. provides a warm introduction and welcome
to his professional website that offers a treasure trove of his highly practical
articles and a remarkable set of annotated resource links.
Psychologist Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. discusses common experiences of attuning
to intution and notices the remarkable power that lies latent and often untapped
inside.
Psychologist Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. uses the metaphor "What's in your backpack?"
from the 2009 film "Up In the Air" to explore the meaning of life ...
The extraordinarily ordinary realm of this present moment or Presence is evoked
by psychologist Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. in an incredibly simple and profound
experience the viewer has an opportunity to inhabit. Viewers can tap into time
orientation by noticing what percentage of time do they show up in the past, present
and future. Once a calibration is made by experiencing the present moment (a taste
or free sample of enlightenment or illumination), the percentages tend to dramatically
change, as you will see.
Psychologist Will Joel Friedman, Ph.D. explores the realm of presence, and especially
witnessing the mind from outside the mind to see what it is up to now. The natural
and learnable abilities to inhabit the present moment (presence) and therein see
the mind from outside it (witnessing) are seen as the most impactful ones anyone
could develop to experience a happy, satisfying, fulfilling and contributive life.
The metaphor of a fish cannot see itself in water, just as the mind cannot see
itself, is offered. To see the water the fish must get out of the water, just
as getting out of the mind is essential to see the mind. Possibilities galore
ensue.
"Your articles are really
fantastic! I've never seen a therapist's website with such substance and thought!
I especially liked the article about Awareness and Presence. You've got a lot
of really fascinating ideas and information on your site. Thank you for creating
such a comprehensive site with such useful information! I truly appreciate it,
and I'm sure others do as well." —Cimeron
Morrissey, San Mateo, CA
"Dr.
Will Friedman is a voice of clarity and compassion. His strong, confident presence
and his insightful perceptions are tremendous assets that cut through to the heart
of our life issues. He is informative, skillful and knowledgeable and is a consummate
professional. His pacing is calming and reassuring. As a fellow professional,
I would not hesitate to refer friends, colleagues and clients to Will. I found
his website very easy to navigate with many useful, pragmatic resources. His holistic
and comprehensive approach is deep, practical, transformative and compassionate."
—Michael S. Gelbart, LCSW, San Leandro, CA
Working
with Dr. Friedman will definitely boost your emotional, social, and transpersonal
intelligence. I would also recommend viewing his most informative and well designed
website. I appreciated the ease of navigating his website, the quality of the
articles and the relevancy and usefulness of the innumerable links. Keep up this
important work Dr. Will!! —Marc Berke,
Ph.D., MFT, Danville, CA
Exciting
News! The Annotated Resource Links have been completely restructured
into a larger number of alphabetized categories, with accessible pull down menus
displaying the specific resource subcategory you are interested in.
As a seasoned clinician with experience
working with adults, couples, families, adolescents and older children since 1976,
my aim is to understand your challenges and collaborate in setting an achievable
vision in the present. Licensed as a psychologist in California since 1987, my
major focus is Presence-centered therapy.
I perceive people
as multi-faceted bio-psycho-social-spiritual Beings ever adapting and evolving
in the only time that exists—this invaluable present moment. The mind, body
and world are all undivided expressions of all-encompassing, seamless, non-separate
Consciousness.
My practice stands on three key elements. First
is inhabiting this present moment and watching the mind from outside it to see
what it is up to now. Presence and witnessing help empower you to first see and
then "buy out" of the mind's unworkable patterns.
Secondly,
inquiry approaches (such as deconstructing beliefs and false identities) coupled
with mind-body approaches (like EMDR, sensory awareness/focusing and taking in
the good) greatly help desensitize root emotional charges associated with incomplete
traumas and the survival decisions made that tend to drive unworkable emotional
and behavioral patterns.
Third and core to this work is installing,
building and developing strong internal resources that are immediately useable
along with highly adaptive tools to better thrive in the world. Developing an
enhanced capacity to hold, bear and tolerate strong emotions along with effective
coping skills to powerfully assist this capacity are central to robust transformation.
My
vision for our work is for clients to unlearn their learned limitations, have
an emotionally satisfying and completing experience, and have the many positive,
life-affirming outcomes of our work be sustaining. May this transformative work
open you up to a full creative expression of who you truly are. Free the ego,
and you are free. Pause without thinking; simply look and see for yourself.
Presence-centered therapy is a conscious attuning to the richness
of this present moment (sometimes called mindfulness or wakefulness) along with
witnessing, that is, observing what the mind is up to now by looking from outside
of it.
Presence is all embracing, generously welcoming
everything and everyone. Heartfelt gratitude and natural generosity beaming unconditional
Love may well be the clearest indicators of aware Presence.
When
you bring a purity of pro-life intention coupled with a whole-bodied attention,
this naturally expresses itself in a rich, resonant and welcoming Presence, like
a timeless infinite embrace of the entire world moment by moment.
George Demont Otis Lagunitas
If you would like to hear
more, please scroll down to the next HEAR button.
I do not do techniques in my Presence-Centered Therapy practice.
The following approaches are drawn upon to help facilitate clients in their process
of health, healing and wholeness.
Types of Clients:
Adults
Adolescents
Older children
(age 9 and older)
Couples
Families
Therapeutic Approaches
Inquiry
Approaches for deconstructing of core beliefs, false identities, unworkable behavior
patterns, roles and stories (To deconstruct the ego-mind's claim to personal authority
and authorship, and find it to be false)
Focusing
/ Sensory awareness and experiencing
Mind-Body
Approaches, including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and
bilateral stimulation for clarification and processing of feeling/mood/emotional
states, dreams, and building strong internal resources and increased capacities
for strong emotional states
Taking
in the Good (Mind-body visualization and deepening)
Cognitive
Therapy, including reframing, practical distinctions and skill-building
I have not taken any form
of health insurance since 2001 given my serious concerns with confidentiality,
professional judgment, and self-responsibility. My commitment is to have nothing
and no one between my clients and myself in regard to professional services offered
and our therapeutic relationship. At the same time I regularly offer my clients
receipts or superbills to submit to their insurance carriers to receive all the
reimbursement their plan allows.
My vision is
for the people I see to receive more than they ever bargained for in our work
and walk out of every session with one or more immediately useable tools, skills,
abilities, distinctions, experiences or revelations that can make a noticeable,
practical and sustainable difference in addressing their challenges, enhancing
their quality of living, and helping realize and embody who they truly are—a
True Self or transparent, authentic, liberated self.
Business
Consulting: Key personnel management, behavioral/competency interview assessments,
targeted input/interventions, skill-building/strategy designing, conflict resolution,
business romances, effective communication, building workable structures, functional
leadership and team building
All
forms of anxiety, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, performance anxiety (e.g., test-taking,
public speaking, athletes, actors and musicians) agoraphobia and extreme unrealistic
fears or phobias
All forms
of experiencing significant stress that often expresses as lowered immune
functioning, poor self-care, sleep disturbances, lack of energy and interest,
an inability to concentrate or make decisions as well as in physical maladies
(including hypertension, stomach issues, stress-related headaches, skin disturbances,
and elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol), including work-related stress,
financial stress and relationship/family stress
All
forms of relationship issues, including marital/couple challenges, mediation
for divorcing couples, parent-adolescent issues, blended families, co-parenting
and unworkable family dynamics (sibling rivalry, ineffective and mixed messages
in communication, limit-setting and consequences)
Mediation
for Bands with Problems in Group Dynamics
Depression,
including learned helplessness, lack of assertiveness, lack of knowing how to
set appropriate limits/boundaries, bullying/teasing and suppressed anger
Children
and Adolescents oppositional-defiant behavior, enuresis (bed-wetting) and
conduct issues
Adult "Failure To Launch",
including lack of interest and/or inability to hold gainful employment, not taking
adult responsibilities, isolating/withdrawing behavior patterns, and not developing
friendships/relationships
Anger
management, including the learning of appropriate ways to express anger
and going to its root in powerlessness and helplessness
Death,
loss, grief and bereavement, including practicing healthy feeling processing
leading to slowly facing and coming to terms with realities and a sense of deepening
acceptance and authentic completion over a wide variety of losses, such as a loved
one facing a chronic disease, being in the process of dying, death of a loved
one, loss of health, painful regrets, betrayal, abandonment, financial failures,
loss of home / job / business, bankruptcy and victimization by crime / scams /
fraud
Pre-marital counseling,
including the identification of key individual/couple issues and dynamics, gaining
highly practical tools, strategies and skills to resolve difficulties and enhance
effective communication, develop workable agreements to avoid arguments about
money and major decisions, and go to the root of core challenges and resolve them.
[As uncommon as these services are requested, engaging in pre-marital counseling
is most likely the very best investment you can make in your marriage and one
of the best choices you can make for a happy, satisfying and fulfilling life]
Self-defeating behavior,
including passive-aggressive behavior patterns and anti-life habit control issues
(e.g., smoking cessation)
All
forms of incomplete traumas, especially the re-enacting of unworkable survival
decisions
All forms of co-dependency,
inability or not knowing how to assertively stand up for oneself and set good
limits
All forms of unworkable
perfectionism that gets in the way of work productivity and flowing/satisfying
relationships
Chronic, disabling
diseases for the patient and their family members, including Lyme's disease,
HIV+, cancer, heart disease, COPD, MS, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), lupus, Type
1 and Type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), elevated cortisol (stress
hormone) levels, and chronic pain including complex regional pain syndrome or
CRPS (used to be called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or RSD). It is important
to work in close conjunction and collaboration with your doctor(s).
Crisis
intervention, including spiritual crisis, recent trauma and loss/bereavement
Addictive/self-medicating behavior
patterns, including alcohol, street drugs, prescription medications, workaholism,
gambling, internet, relationship co-dependency and obsessive-compulsive behavior
Infertility issues for
couples
Dissociative challenges,
including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
Gender
identity issues, including working with transgender people and people considering
this decision
Psychological
testing and assessments, including ego functioning, fitness for duty, peace
officer re-evaluations, conservatorship, career aptitude, domestic and international
adoptions
Check it out
