NSB Logo Dr. Gabor Maté Dr. Gabor Maté

Dr. Gabor Maté

Speaker Featured

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Expert on the Mind-Body Connection, NYT bestselling author of The Myth of Normal

Dr Gabor Mate is the ‘Go To’ Advisor on human development through the lens of science and compassion. A renowned speaker, and bestselling author of The Myth of Normal, Dr. Gabor Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including stress, childhood development, addiction and trauma. In 2023, his new book The Myth of Normal, continues as a bestseller. It was featured as a Strombo Book Club pick on Apple, and he has a live interview with Prince Harry about his experiences shared in SPARE, the fastest bestselling nonfiction book of all time. 

Keynote Speeches

The Myth of Normal | Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture

Co-written with his son Daniel, The Myth of Normal examines how Western countries with advanced healthcare systems are experiencing an increase in chronic illnesses and overall poor health. 

With over four years of clinical experience, Dr. Maté has recognized the flawed understanding of “normal”, which disregards the impact of trauma, stress, and pressures of modern living on our physical and mental well-being.

This presentation untangles common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between individual health problems and the overall decline of society, and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing.

Addiction

As a renowned addiction expert, Dr. Maté advocates for a compassionate approac towards addiction, whether it is within ourselves or others. Dr. Maté believes that the root of addiction is not to be attributed to genetic factors, but rather, in the early childhood environment. 

In his latest best-selling book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Maté draws on cutting-edge science and real-life stories to demonstrate that all addictions stem from trauma and emotional loss.

Mind/Body Health

Emotional stress is a significant underlying cause for a variety of physical illnesses ranging from cancer to autoimmune conditions. The systems in the brain and body that manage emotions are intricately linked with the immune system, the nervous system, and the hormonal apparatus.

Dr. Maté’s extensive knowledge of the connection between the mind and body is documented in his book When the Body Says No, which has been published in multiple languages across 5 continents. 

Childhood Development & Parenting

In Hold On to Your Kids, a co-authored collaboration with developmental psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld, Maté explains that the key factor for promoting healthy growth in children is their relationships with nurturing adults. 

Hold On to Your Kids provides insight on the environmental factors that are essential for positive child development, and how these factors are progressively at risk in today’s society. Additionally, it offers guidance to parents and teachers on how to maintain their influential role amidst the various challenges presented by modern culture. 

AD(H)D

Dr. Maté presents a new perspective on ADD in his book Scattered Minds, providing hope for adults coping with this condition and parents s seeking to support their children.

Compassionate Inquiry

Dr. Maté has developed a psychotherapeutic approach method in which he terms, Compassionate Inquiry, which reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. 

Dr. Maté models the process of Compassion Inquiry through an experiential, participatory workshop of guidance and training. Key takeaways in this session:

  • How to cultivate presence, being with what is
  • To bring attention to body signals in clients and yourself
  • To enhance your perception of what is not being revealed overtly
  • To enable clients to access emotional states through body awareness
  • How to create and maintain a safe sacred space between client and therapist
  • How to facilitate the expression of what has remained unexpressed
  • How to keep a client engaged in present moment experience
  • The importance of patience, respect and choice in the therapeutic process
  • How to uncover early traumatic events of childhood and unconscious feeling states through compassionate inquiry
  • To decode the unconscious beliefs that contribute to personal suffering in self and others
Hello Again | Parent/Adult-Child Relationships

Dr. Maté and his eldest son Daniel join forces to delve into a topic that has received little attention: the relationship between parents and their adult children. 

Through talks, workshops, and a forthcoming book and podcast with the same title, “Hello Again,” the Matés shed light on this often overlooked aspect of family relationships.

Audience reviews:

  • His simple, clear way of presenting his material was absolutely captivating, and the audience quickly forgot the absence of any showy PowerPoint slides or other visual aids… In his understated manner, Dr. Maté proceeded to outline a message so vital that people here are still talking about it.

    - Center for Advanced Research and Education
  • There is no way you can fully appreciate how much we valued your participation in this event… The feedback has been over the top positive and we just simply can’t thank you enough.

    - Pivot Legal Society
  • Dr. Maté's talk was one of the best I have ever seen. Everybody was delighted! I'd like to thank you very much for making this possible.

    - Universidade de Brasília

Speaker Biography

Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr. Gabor Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.

In 2023, his new book The Myth of Normal, continues as a bestseller. It was featured as a Strombo Book Club pick on Apple, and he has a live interview with Prince Harry about his experiences shared in SPARE, the fastest bestselling nonfiction book of all time. 

With over 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience and extensive knowledge of the latest findings of leading-edge research, Dr. Maté is a sought-after speaker and teacher, regularly addressing health professionals, educators, and lay audiences throughout North America. 

As an author, Dr. Maté has written additional bestselling books including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder, and co-authored Hold on to Your Kids. His works have been published internationally in twenty languages. Dr. Maté is the co-founder of Compassion for Addiction, a non-profit that focusses on addiction, has been an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, and an advisor of Drugs over Dinner.

For twelve years Dr. Maté worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with patients challenged by hard-core drug addiction, mental illness and HIV, including at Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site. Dr. Maté has received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction; an Honorary Degree (Law) from the University of Northern British Columbia; an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University; and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Mothers Against Teen Violence. 

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