Read what Newman's Clients Say About Social Therapy

• Working with Fred in his social therapy group helped me grow up in some basic ways:  I learned that there are other people in the world and that life is not all about me. As part of that shocking discovery, I’ve come to take myself less seriously.

• I learned from Fred to offer my emotions to people and to let them create something new with what had once been so private (and painful). I've learned to focus on the group’s collective creative process– putting that first -- rather than to fixate on my emotional crisis. That has been a big piece of my development in social therapy.

• Social therapy has taught me to create beautiful connections with others -- something I now do everywhere. It's very powerful.

• Fred had a philosophical approach to helping people in therapy. He took nothing for granted:  "What do you mean when you say you have a headache?" "Who says that you have to be angry?" I found questions like these to be inspiring, because they suggested that someone could perform differently.

• Fred taught people to be as giving and decent as we can be – to consider at any given moment? To me, being giving means not getting into your immediate reaction, or focusing on who's right or wrong, or proving a point. Instead, it means considering: What can I say and do that will help us go forward, advance this situation and move on in the world? How can I be kind -- mindful of what that other person might need or want? It's a way of being in the world  -- taking responsibility for our impact on others; recognizing our shared humanity. That's the cure. That's what Fred and social therapy is all about.
  

• I think that there are many compassionate people in the world and that Fred Newman is among them. But Dr. Newman’s unique gift is his ability to build therapeutic relationships with people who are very different from him.

• As a gay woman who spent many years in the lesbian separatist community, going to a straight man for therapy was a leap of faith. He worked tirelessly, respectfully and with sensitivity to create an environment where I could develop.

• There is no greater gift that a therapist can give than to help you create your life. I will always feel deeply grateful.

• After years not getting help in other therapies, I’ve got a tremendous amount of help in social therapy. Fred refused to treat me as a wounded or especially fragile person, in need of “special” help, or as someone you couldn’t say hard things to. I lived up to his expectations by being less wounded and crazy. Fred made demands on me to take responsibility for the life and the growth of the group-- to see myself not as a victim and more as a solid member of my group, my community and the human race. He helped me gain a better perspective of who I was in the world.

• Oftentimes in therapy you don’t know who your therapist is or what they think about things. Fred wasn't into boundaries. He was very honest with me. He wasn’t afraid to let me know his opinions about things, his values and his political work. He gave me a part of his life – so I could be part of it. In many ways I felt like-minded, and I was able to trust him. As I trusted him, I was able to trust the group more. I knew that he “had my back."•Initially the group was in the way of my relationship with Fred. I tuned people out. Through many years of work, I came to see what Fred called the “development of the group” and I became an active member in creating its development. This work has helped me in every aspect of my life. I’m a social therapy success story – emotionally involved and capable – an active part of every moment of my life – with my children, in my family and with my patients.