Michael E. Mahon, Psy.D., was born in the steel milling town of Granite City Il in 1964. The family relocated to St. Louis when he was 11 years old. Mike has committed his entire life to providing mental health services in various forms. This goes all the way back to his work at St. Anthony's Medical Center at 16 years old, originally in the x-ray department. At the tender age of 21 Mike transferred to the then booming behavioral health department and worked at Hyland Center, a substance abuse/behavioral health treatment center. It was here that Mike learned "how to be in the room" with someone and convey a sense of unconditional positive regard and a safe emotional holding environment. At Hyland Center, Mike worked in both locked and unlocked behavioral health environments while attending St. Louis University and later Webster University (for graduate school). Eventually working as a counselor at Hyland Center and later in private practice. Early in his private practice, Mike began teaching and has taught at Missouri Baptist University, Webster University (where he directed the program for counseling at the graduate level), Missouri Lutheran School of Nursing, Southern New Hampshire University and now at Washington University in St. Louis. In his career Mike has been a psychotherapist, professor, consultant, public speaker, radio show/podcast host and now author. But his most important role has always been that of husband and devoted father. Mike currently lives in Jefferson County, Missouri with his wife and two dogs. He has two grown children who have growing families of their own.

Every semester for 40 years I had active classroom teaching responsibilities. I taught courses from junior high social studies to graduate counseling courses. Teaching was my job and my passion. During those years, I also built a consulting practice for school districts and businesses. I have given speeches internationally and have been a podcast host for over 700 episodes. My main focus was on private practice in mental health counseling. After 40 years of teaching and 35 of running both individual and group practices, I have decided to write a book about what mental health counseling is and how it is done. I have coauthored this book with Dr. Michael Mahon, with whom I worked for over 20 years. Together, we do a podcast called Psych With Mike and Brett.