Dr Grant Brenner is a board certified physician-psychiatrist, an entrepreneur, author, teacher, speaker and not-for-profit board member. He has been featured on a variety of top ranked psychology resources and media as a thought leader and contributor. In other words, he’s a highly qualified professional unlike myself. At least I have people to call on!

Dr. Brenner has been involved with many traumatic situations including 9/11—he wrote a book based on his experience and knowledge, so it was great to get his valuable insights. We discussed a range of subjects including how people in different circumstance, parents, single people, couples can effectively cope. And he talked about what he’s been seeing in his practice as well. I found this session reassuring since simply hearing from a pro that this is indeed as crazy as it feels and we are all developing from it together in real time—that’s all anyone can do. But there is an opportunity for growth in all of us. The bonus of the episode is that Grant has a worthy sense of humor, so he makes it easy(ier?) to talk about dark shit.

Here's another great resource that Dr. Brenner is deeply involved with, Neighborhood Psychiatry— a great organization that is affordable and takes insurance. Also I LOVE his writings for Psychology Today—you can find them here. Here's a recent article about psychology in context of the Covid 19 pandemic, "What can 9/11 teach us about mental health for COVIS-19?" based on Dr. Brenner's experience in the wake of 9/11.

Also it becomes obvious that I have no control over my dog.

Bio: Grant Hilary Brenner MD, FAPA

Grant Hilary Brenner, MD, FAPA is a psychiatrist and an expert on mental health, relationships, and self-care and wellness who has been featured on CBS Radio, NPR, and more. Dr. Brenner brings nearly two decades of consultation, workshops, speaking engagements, therapy, and coaching to his clients, who range from individuals seeking to overcome emotional obstacles and build resilience to executives seeking to optimize their performance in the workplace. He writes Psychology Today’s popular “ExperiMentations” blog and he is the co-author of Relationship Sanity: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships and Irrelationship: How We Use Dysfunctional Relationships to Hide from Intimacy and an author and editor of the book Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience: Integrating Care in Disaster Relief Work. He is a 2004 recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for his disaster mental health work in New York City following September 11th, and he also received the Ivan Goldberg Distinguished Service Award for his efforts to bring mental health awareness to a wider and more diverse audience. He is co-founder of Neighborhood Psychiatric Associates of Manhattan and serves on the faculty of the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital and on the Board of Directors of Vibrant Emotional Health (formerly MHA-NYC). He lives in New York.