Our Practice

  • Love is the most powerful force of all. Love heals our wounds and, through us, love heals the world.

    Dr. Michael McGee

About Dr. Michael McGee

Michael McGee, MD, believes everyone deserves mental healthcare with a human connection. He provides compassionate clinical care and spiritual support to people from all walks of life. He has three different board certifications in General Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. McGee treats a wide range of psychiatric conditions and offers spiritual counseling and meditation teaching as part of his psychotherapy work.

With more than 30 years of experience in psychiatry, Dr. McGee specializes in integrating psychiatric treatment with spiritually informed interventions and practices. He is the creator of Awakening Therapy, a contemplative-relational approach to psychiatric treatment, and The WellMind Method, a practice that teaches people how to use love to heal wounds caused by trauma and neglect.

Dr. McGee graduated from Stanford University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree with distinction in biology. He then graduated in 1985 from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his residency training in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Michael McGee, MD, believes everyone deserves mental healthcare with a human connection. He provides compassionate clinical care and spiritual support to people from all walks of life. He has three different board certifications in General Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. McGee treats a wide range of psychiatric conditions and offers spiritual counseling and meditation teaching as part of his psychotherapy work.

Michael McGee headshot

With more than 30 years of experience in psychiatry, Dr. McGee specializes in integrating psychiatric treatment with spiritually informed interventions and practices. He is the creator of Awakening Therapy, a contemplative-relational approach to psychiatric treatment, and The WellMind Method, a practice that teaches people how to use love to heal wounds caused by trauma and neglect.

Dr. McGee graduated from Stanford University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree with distinction in biology. He then graduated in 1985 from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his residency training in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

He currently serves as the chair of the resource committee for the Northern California branch of the American Psychiatric Association, working to support his fellow psychiatrists, reduce burnout, and improve their clinical performance and overall wellness. He is also involved in efforts to eliminate homelessness in San Luis Obispo as a member of the mayor’s task force.

He has received several honors and awards throughout his career, including being named “Top Doctor” twice by New Hampshire Magazine and receiving the Distinguished Life Fellow award of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. McGee has published and presented extensively on the topics of spirituality and recovery from addiction.

Dr. McGee strives to practice what he teaches, balancing his professional life with time spent with loved ones, spiritual practice, volunteer work, and outdoor activities. He is passionate about nutrition and overall wellness strategies that best support the whole person.

Awards

2009 Top Doctor Award
2013 Top Doctor Award

About Awakening Therapy

Dr. McGee has developed a contemplative and relational approach to healing and recovery called Awakening Therapy. This method of healing, growth, and transformation is based on cultivating loving awareness and living a life of love. The compassion, wisdom and clarity resulting from the cultivation of loving awareness helps people to see the causes of their suffering and what needs to be done to reduce that suffering and live a more loving life.

Awakening also refers to the spiritual realization that each of us is a small but sacred part of a greater reality. People who have had awakening experiences often feel oneness, wholeness, gratitude, peace, and reverence. Awakening can foster healing from addiction and trauma, as well as other psychiatric illnesses, like depression and anxiety. While people cannot will an awakening, Dr. McGee guides and supports people in practices that cultivate their awakening.

The 3 A’s of Awakening:

Attending

Paying careful attention to this eternal and every-changing moment combined with deep inquiry, both internally and externally, into the conditions that give rise to our experience, the experiences of others, our actions, and the consequences of our actions. We attend by asking, moment by moment, “What is this?” With this practice we cultivate awareness and deepen our understanding of who we are, of our conditioning, of others, and of the nature of Reality.

Appreciating

Appreciation naturally arises from the enhanced awareness developed by attending. Appreciation refers both to a deep understanding of ourselves, others, and the nature of things and a deep understanding of the sacred nature of all things. The appreciation that arises from attending triggers a falling away of toxic judgments of ourselves and others as judgment is replaced with discernment, compassion, and forgiveness. We can foster appreciative attending by reminding ourselves that we, others and this moment are all sacred. Through the practice of appreciative attending, or what some called loving awareness, reverence and wisdom arise.

Acting with love

The reverence and wisdom that are generated by appreciative attending inspire and enable us to skillfully love—to act to benefit ourselves, others, and all of life. We put this into practice by repeatedly asking, “What would love do?”

A large body of evidence exists from both spiritual traditions and psychology literature confirming the effectiveness of “The 3 A’s of Awakening” for both healing and realizing a life of love.

These practices, however, are not necessarily all that is needed to heal from a love wound. If you have suffered severe trauma or neglect, or have a mental illness, you will need to pair your practice of the 3 A’s with good treatment.

Are you ready to practice “The 3 A’s of Awakening”?