We sat down with Dr. Robert Reiner, PhD, BCN, BCB, Executive Director & Founder, and Brieanna Scolaro, LMSW, Director of Community Relations and Myndlift Program Coordinator, from Behavioral Associates of New York City, which has been providing comprehensive mental health care to patients for 30 years and is one of the leading clinical providers of Myndlift. Dr. Reiner and Ms. Scolaro shared Behavioral Associates' philosophy of patient care and their experience integrating Myndlift home neurofeedback into their clinical practice.
1) Tell us a little about your practice:
Dr. Robert Reiner - I opened up Behavioral Associates in March of 1988, making 2018 our 30th year in operation. We are staffed by approximately 15 psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers with all levels of experience. Furthermore, we offer pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training experiences. We see approximately 300 to 400 patients a week, and are open six days a week.
We treat the full gamut of psychological and psychiatric disorders that are appropriate to outpatient treatment, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, phobias, character disorders and borderline personality disorder.
As innovators in mental health technology, we make it a priority to stay current in a rapidly evolving field. This allows us to provide the most effective treatments and diagnostic tools that are organic and without side effects. Our office specializes in utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) alone or combined with Virtual Reality, Biofeedback, Neurofeedback and qEEG brain mapping. In order to provide the best care to our patients, we also have two psychiatrists on staff to provide medication management when deemed medically necessary. In 2017, recognizing the tremendous potential in home neurofeedback training, we began to offer our patients the opportunity to train remotely using the Myndlift home neurofeedback system.
2) How do you determine a treatment plan for your clients?
Dr. Robert Reiner – As the Executive Director, I personally meet with each new patient to complete the initial consultation and assign them to the appropriate clinician on our team, based on the necessary expertise. In order to put together a more comprehensive treatment plan, we combine information from the initial consultation with results from psychological testing, such as the MMPI-2 personality test, as well as neuropsychological testing (qEEG brain mapping). When providing in-office or at-home neurofeedback, subsequent qEEG brain scans are conducted periodically in order to track progress and update the treatment plan accordingly.
