A unique, results driven approach
Utilizing a unique combination of cutting edge neuroscientific theories and adaptive personal engagement, Dr Grant Brenner’s creative and highly personalized approach allows his patients to realize who they really are and create transformative and undeniable positive change, within themselves and the relationships around them.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy comes in many forms. Key factors are the therapeutic relationship, the directiveness of the approach, and what the conversation is about. For psychoanalytic approaches, the work is more open-ended and organic. Self-awareness is transformative and we are capable of changing through insight. Structured approaches, the most well-known being cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), focuses on identifying and fixing the problematic mental habits which are contributing to suffering. Dr Brenner’s foundations are in both areas, and he takes an adaptive approach that is dynamically responsive to each person’s needs over the course of treatment.
Professional Performance Optimization
More often than most are able to admit, obstacles to professional development are hidden within psychological blind spots. Many times, we play out unconscious destructive repetitions in the workplace, just as we do in other contexts. By identifying areas of strength and challenge, issues like personality, communication style, unconscious bias, poor self-esteem, and failure to fully wield one’s full potential are addressed in a compassionate and targeted way to bring out the best. Frank and fair appraisal, dialogue, in partnership with testing and adopting updated practices adds up to work advancement, increased satisfaction, and ultimately, a greater sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Personal Development
All can be going well, and then for reasons unknown, we run into trouble. We can get stuck, at a loss for how to move forward, or even encounter self-defeating behaviors which catch us off guard. This can be deeply unsettling, anxiety-provoking, and confusing. Things we believed we’d resolved can return with great force. There is no substitute for working with a clear-headed expert well-versed in all the twists and turns of the human psyche, to quickly identify core issues and address them with a variety of tools ranging from active thought-partnering to solve problems, addressing core personality and self-care issues, and employing creative, highly interactive approaches to catalyze change and open up the floodgates for new, constructive experiences.
Relationship Counseling
Human relationships, while much simpler than they appear when we are caught up in distress and conflict, are straightforward to navigate when armed with a few basic tools. Understanding partners’ individual contributions, including ways of relating as well as past history, allows us to see how people match up and also where they clash. Concrete communication tools can create safe spaces for new dialogue, allowing for mutual respect and recognition, and paving the way for greater relationship satisfaction. Couples can work together on relationship issues, and individuals can develop skills and insights to enable them to be agents of positive change.
Depressive Disorder Therapy
Depressive conditions can range from mild to moderate to severe, and call for different, dynamic, and adaptive approaches in order to effectively treat. In addition to medication management for more severe treatment, newer biological therapies show promise where medication may be insufficient. Psychotherapy plays an important role to address underlying issues, when depression is not purely biological in origin but is also arising from psychological issues and external stressors. The treatment of depressive disorders requires a comprehensive and nuanced approach, making sure that accompanying issues such as developmental adversity, co-occurring problems like anxiety and character traits, and other contributing factors are taken into consideration to ensure effective care.
Organizational Consultation
Organizations are complex and multilayered, creating challenges for teams, leaders and external partners when processes are hindered by problematic and hard-to-discern dynamics. How people get along, work together, how we functiona and dysfunction, makes the difference between success and failure. Mission drift, organizational trauma, poorly defined roles and responsibilities, organizational transition, trauma, growth and recovery, mitigating burnout and bolstering resilience on an evolving playing field—these factors are hard to see “from the inside”, running destructively in the background. As a consultant trained in organizational dynamics, founder and former CEO, Board member and Advisor to several organizations, individual therapist and coach working with people in the for- and not-for-profit world, disaster mental health leader and direct responder, and keen student of organizational process and human nature—I am in a position to make sense of and frame difficult problems in creative and useful ways to help you both understand and transcend barriers to growth, development and success.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
TMS is a safe and effective treatment for Major Depression, and other conditions, using a focused magnetic field to target key areas of the brain which are either too active or too inactive. By stimulating these “cortical windows” on the surface of the brain, areas far away from the treatment area can be activated leading to improvement in, or resolution of, clinical symptoms and restoration of function. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is an FDA-cleared treatment for Major Depressive Disorder, available since 2008.
The magnetic field used in TMS is strong enough to change brain activity, but does not result in side effects felt in the rest of the body because 1) TMS does not extend below the collar bone and 2) TMS does not introduce any chemicals into the body, instead acting directly on impacted brain regions. In this regard, TMS can be a useful alternative to additional medication.
How effective is TMS for Major Depressive Disorder? Eighty-three percent of patients see a clinically-significant improvement in symptoms, and up to 62 percent experience a full remission. By contrast, among people who have tried 3 or more medications have only a 7 percent chance of a good response with additional medication trials.
TMS offers an evidence-based, safe and effective alternative to ongoing medication management. People who receive TMS remain on medication, but may reduce the overall number of medication, reducing dosing or prevent the addition of more medication. Learn more about how TMS works at Neurostar TMS Therapy’s website, and in this video.
In addition to depression, TMS has been shown to be effective for a range of conditions off-label, including anxiety disorders, addictions and PTSD. TMS has indications for the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as well as Major Depressive Disorder in adolescents.
Dr. Brenner has been practicing TMS since 2010, and is comfortable providing comprehensive evaluation, treatment and referral for a range of conditions, solo or in coordination with your current mental health clinicians.
Dr. Brenner completed TMS and related neuromodulation training at the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and at Duke University School of Medicine TMS Training.
Please Contact Us for more information about TMS, and to schedule consultation.