On Look for the Helpers, a podcast by Engage Therapy in Agoura Hills, Dr. Blake Brisbois sits down with Deanna Dow, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the founder of Spectrum Psych in Los Angeles. Dr. Dow specializes in autism and ADHD, and she recently came out to the Engage Treatment Program campus in Westlake Village to spend three hours helping our team make our programs more neuro-inclusive. This is that conversation.

Her throughline is one every parent, teacher, and clinician can use: a neurodivergent kid who "falls apart" at home isn't being bad. They spent the whole day masking, looking people in the eye, managing their sensory world, holding their emotions in, and they have nothing left when they walk in the door, where you're their safe person. Dr. Dow explains why so many kids (especially girls) and high-IQ adults get diagnosed late, why a diagnosis can land as relief instead of a label, and the reframe that changes everything: your brain is wired differently, and that's not a problem.

Blake and Dr. Dow also get into the language that's shifted (identity-first, and "support needs" instead of "high or low functioning"), the myth that autistic people don't want to be social, autistic burnout, and how to adapt good, evidence-based therapy so it actually fits a neurodivergent brain.

Warm, practical, and hopeful for anyone raising, teaching, or treating a neurodivergent kid.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:45 Welcome: Dr. Deanna Dow & Spectrum Psych (and training the Engage team)

2:23 The words we use: identity-first language & "support needs," not "functioning"

5:53 Treating mental health, not "curing" autism — and why a specialist matters

9:13 What gets missed: masking, late diagnosis, and why girls slip through

11:13 The after-school meltdown: the invisible work of masking

13:03 "My kid is not bad": diagnosis as relief and the superpower reframe

17:03 Accommodate vs. adapt: routines, sensory breaks & neuro-affirming spaces

23:23 The social-motivation myth & social-skills groups, done right

27:13 Why this work: authenticity, identity & autistic burnout

32:08 The hidden cost of masking, and a warm goodbye

Key topics:

• Masking and the after-school meltdown: why the tank is empty at home

• Why girls and high-IQ adults get diagnosed late

• Identity-first language and "support needs," not "high/low functioning"

• Diagnosis as relief: "my kid is not bad"

• The social-motivation myth, autistic burnout, and neuro-affirming therapy

About Engage Therapy

Engage Therapy is a clinician-owned, clinician-led practice supporting youth and families across the Conejo Valley, including Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and nearby. Our Engage Treatment Program offers intensive outpatient care for preteens, teens, and young adults. Learn more at engagetherapy.com · (805) 497-0605 · @engagetherapy.

Guest: Dr. Deanna Dow, PhD — Spectrum Psych, Los Angeles · spectrumpsychla.com · IG @spectrumpsychla

This conversation is for education and support, not therapy or medical advice. If you're struggling, you're not alone. You can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time.

Title: Connection Before Correction — with Maurissa Szilagi, LCSW, Attachment & Trauma Therapist

Summary: Maurissa Szilagi, LCSW, Ed.M, has spent her career helping families heal attachment wounds, and she comes to the work with rare lived experience: she grew up in foster care and was adopted in her late 30s. In this warm conversation with Adelina Brisbois, LMFT, she makes a case that lands for every parent, not just adoptive ones. You are going to rupture with your kid. The repair is the win. Maurissa describes letting a six-year-old "check" the adult who hurt their feelings, validating before correcting ("connection before correction"), and turning the car ride into an apology tour, because people remember the repairs. She and Adelina talk honestly about the narrative a child of trauma carries (the quiet "I'm not keeping you" that never fully turns off, only turns down in volume), the way the body keeps the score (the amygdala she calls "the jerk of the brain," the acne she came to read as a message), and why caring for yourself is not selfish but the whole job. It is hopeful, practical, and full of permission for any parent who has ever gotten it wrong and wondered if it was too late to make it right.

Key topics:

• Attachment and repair in parenting

• Giving kids a voice and "connection before correction"

• The foster/adoptive narrative that never turns off

• Turning down the volume on trauma

• The body keeps the score (the amygdala, somatic symptoms)

• Bodily autonomy and consent with young kids

• Self-care as part of the work

• Clinician community and collaborative care

Guest: Maurissa Szilagi, LCSW, Ed.M — attachment & trauma therapist, The Connecting Therapist (theconnectingtherapist.com · IG/TikTok @theconnectingtherapist)

Resources mentioned: The Body Keeps the Score (Dr. Bessel van der Kolk) · Violet Oaklander (Gestalt child therapy) · Peter Levine / Somatic Experiencing · EMDR · Dr. Tanya Altmann (prior Look for the Helpers guest, on PANDAS/PANS) · Engage Therapy's Reflective Parenting and Mindful Beginnings programs · Support: if you're struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), 24/7.

Timestamps: (chapters — see YouTube description)

Links: engagetherapy.com · @engagetherapy · (805) 497-0605

Note: This episode is education and support, not therapy or medical advice.

Title: Why Women's Mental Health Is Different — with Dr. Brittany Booth, Reproductive Psychiatrist

Summary: Dr. Brittany Booth is a reproductive psychiatrist in Westlake Village who works at the intersection of hormones and mental health — PMDD, pregnancy and postpartum, menopause — and at UCLA's Maternal Mental Health Program. With Adelina Brisbois, LMFT, she makes a quietly radical case: so much of what gets women labeled "too much" or "just hormonal" is a normal human response to carrying too much with too little support. They name postpartum rage, grieve the lost "village," and bust the well-meaning myths about psychiatric medication in pregnancy — why stopping a medication that's working can carry more risk than staying on it.

Key topics:

• Reproductive psychiatry & women's mental health

• Postpartum rage and de-pathologizing women's emotions

• PMDD, perinatal & menopause hormone transitions

• Postpartum isolation & rebuilding the village

• Social media & new motherhood

• Attachment, anxiety & infant sleep

• Psychiatric medication in pregnancy/breastfeeding — myths vs. evidence

Guest: Dr. Brittany Booth, MD — reproductive psychiatrist, Westlake Village; UCLA Maternal Mental Health Program website · @brittanyboothmd

Resources mentioned: UCLA Maternal Mental Health Program (perinatal IOP, Westwood) · PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) · neonatal adaptation syndrome · TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) · SSRIs · Engage Therapy's Mindful Beginnings class for new & expecting parents.

Support: If you're struggling, you're not alone. Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) · National Maternal Mental Health Hotline 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), 24/7 · Postpartum Support International 1-800-944-4773.

Note: This episode is education and support, not medical advice. Decisions about medication should be made with a qualified clinician.

Links: engagetherapy.com · @engagetherapy · (805) 497-0605

Title: Empathy Is a Human Skill — Breaking the Silence on Mental Health, with Harsha Dodani

Summary: Harsha Dodani has spent years teaching empathy — first in schools, now in boardrooms as the Chief Heart Officer of EmpathifyU. In one of the first times she's shared her family's story out loud, she and her friend Adelina Brisbois, LMFT get honest about the cultural silence around mental health, deciding “the stigma stops with me,” and why “you have to be selfish to be selfless.” They dig into empathy as a human skill, neurodiversity and belonging, breaking generational patterns, and why a rising tide raises all ships.

Key topics:

• Empathy as a human skill (not a soft skill)

• Breaking cultural & generational mental-health stigma

• Therapy, shame, and “you don't know what you don't know”

• Self-care and boundaries (“selfish to be selfless”)

• Neurodiversity, belonging & workplace culture

• Raising kids who can speak up; rupture & repair

• Community — a rising tide raises all ships

Guest: Harsha Dodani — Chief Heart Officer & co-founder, EmpathifyU

Resources mentioned: EmpathifyU · My Name, My Story / Changemaker Day · Childhood Matters · Violet Oaklander (child-therapy training) · Gary Vee's “Chief Heart Officer” · If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), 24/7.

Links: engagetherapy.com · @engagetherapy · (805) 497-0605

Janet Bayramyan, LCSW — a trauma therapist and owner of Road2Wellness Counseling in Encino — joined our new Mindful Beginnings program as a parent, alongside her one-year-old son.

Mindful Beginnings is for parents and their little ones (walking age through 5), built on the Reflective Parenting curriculum and grounded in attachment theory. It's not a typical parenting class. Instead of only teaching skills to use on your child, it asks how you were parented — and how that shapes the parent you're becoming.

Janet talks with Dr. Peggy Matson, LMFT (our Director of Parent Services) and Adelina Brisbois, LMFT about what shifted for her: making room for free play, validating a child's frustration instead of fixing it, the "little-t" traumas that surface when you have a baby, and the quiet power of staying regulated when your child falls apart. They also get into why it's never too late to repair a relationship, and the work Janet does with adults, EMDR, and IFS at Road2Wellness.

Chapters

00:00 A therapist on the other side of the room

00:41 Welcome to Look for the Helpers

01:03 Part 1 — With Dr. Peggy Matson: "I thought I knew this"

04:36 Her son, slow-to-warm — and the curriculum

06:25 Taking it home: free play & validating frustration

09:55 Boundaries — with your child, and with your own parents

12:13 Part 2 — With Adelina: two moms, reflecting

14:50 What "mommy & me" misses: the mom's experience

18:00 Little-t trauma and learning to slow down

22:35 Prevention: support parents now, help kids later

24:35 "It felt like magic" — triggers, anger & repair

28:25 Empathy over judgment — and why it's never too late

31:55 New at Engage: grandparent & dad/partner support

34:11 How to explain Mindful Beginnings (hint: it's about you)

37:35 Real moments: the car seat & the bedtime narration

43:30 The oxygen-mask reframe — care for the parent first

47:15 Janet's work: trauma, EMDR, IFS at Road2Wellness

54:29 Why Conejo Valley clinicians lift each other up

About Engage Therapy

Engage Therapy is a clinician-owned, clinician-led practice supporting youth and families across the Conejo Valley — Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and nearby. Learn more about Mindful Beginnings and our programs at engagetherapy.com · (805) 497-0605 · @engagetherapy.

Guest: Janet Bayramyan, LCSW — Road2Wellness Counseling, Encino · road2wellness.co · IG @therapy_with_janetb

Episode Summary

What if your child changed overnight—emotionally, behaviorally, or cognitively? In this episode, pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann explains how infections and inflammation can trigger sudden neuropsychiatric symptoms in children, and why early recognition matters.

This conversation offers parents and clinicians a grounded, compassionate lens for understanding complex cases where mental health and physical health overlap.

Topics Covered

• PANS & PANDAS explained in plain language

• Signs that behavior changes may be medically driven

• Why parents are often the first to notice something is wrong

• The role of sleep, nutrition, and nervous system regulation

• When to involve pediatricians, therapists, and specialists

About the Guest

Dr. Tanya Altmann is a pediatrician with Calabasas Pediatric Wellness Center, specializing in integrative and relationship-based pediatric care for families in the Conejo Valley. You an find her practice at https://calabasaspeds.com/ and her website for at https://www.drtanya.com/

Engage Therapy and Engage Treatment is a practice located in Westlake Village and Agoura Hills and provides IOP level of care for youth. Our website can be found at https://www.engagetherapy.com

Chapters00:00 Why sudden behavior changes matter03:30 When symptoms don’t fit one explanation07:00 PANS & PANDAS explained14:00 Infections, inflammation, and the brain23:00 Why pediatricians and therapists must collaborate35:00 Supporting the whole child and family42:30 Where parents can start

In this episode of Look for the Helpers, we welcome Dr. Rob Feeley, psychiatrist and Medical Director at Engage Therapy, for a wide-ranging conversation about medication, trauma, and trust in mental health care.

Dr. Feeley discusses why psychiatry is about far more than prescriptions, how misconceptions about medication take root, and how he works collaboratively with clients and families who may feel hesitant or afraid. He also shares his personal journey into neuroscience, meditation, and Buddhist philosophy—and how those practices inform his clinical work today.

This episode offers a grounded, compassionate look at psychiatric care for families navigating anxiety, trauma, and complex mental health decisions.

You can learn more about Engage Therapy at https://www.engagetherapy.com

and reach Dr. Feeley's practice at

https://robfeeleymd.com/

0:00 – Why medication conversations feel so scary

3:10 – Dr. Fey’s path into psychiatry

7:45 – Buddhism, neuroscience, and mental health

12:30 – Medication myths and misconceptions

18:40 – Trauma, psychiatry, and safety

26:15 – Working with families and adolescents

33:50 – COVID, young adults, and self-worth

42:10 – Integrating mindfulness into daily life

55:00 – What it really means to “look for the helpers”

🎧 Podcast Show Notes

Episode Summary
In this episode, Engage Therapy host Dr. Blake Brisbois welcome Ajit Dodani for a grounded conversation about empathy—not as a soft skill, but as a learned leadership strategy. Ajit reflects on immigration, trauma, and corporate leadership, sharing how self-awareness and emotional regulation shape healthy families, workplaces, and communities.

Key Themes

• Empathy as a skill that can be practiced

• The cost of emotional dysregulation in families and organizations

• Burnout, boundaries, and sustainable leadership

• Supporting neurodiverse individuals at work and at home

• Creating cultures where people feel safe to belong

About the Guest
Ajit Dodani is an empathy strategist and former CFO based in West Hills, California who advises organizations on leadership, trust, and human-centered systems. His work bridges business performance with emotional intelligence and belonging.

You can find him and his company, Empathify-U, at www.empathifyu.com

About the Podcast
Look for the Helpers is a YouTube-first podcast by Engage Therapy, highlighting local helpers and conversations that support families in the Conejo Valley and surrounding communities.

You can find Engage Therapy and Engage Treatment at www.engagetherapy.com

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Ajit’s early experiences with empathy and emotional suppression
05:00 – From CFO to empathy strategist
12:00 – Trauma, PTSD, and post-traumatic growth
20:00 – Emotional regulation in families and workplaces
30:00 – Burnout, boundaries, and self-awareness
40:00 – Neurodiversity, inclusion, and leadership systems
52:00 – Why empathy matters for future generations

In this episode of Look for the Helpers, a podcast by Engage Therapy, Adelina Brisbois, LMFT and Dr. Blake Brisbois sit down with Robert Scholz, LMFT—founder of The Change Place in Westlake Village—to talk about threat assessment, school safety, and how helpers make careful decisions when fear and urgency are in the room.

Robert is a speaker, author, national trainer, and former Clinical Director at Engage Therapy (now a consultant). He shares howstrong “systems” support better judgment, why protective factors deserve as much attention as risk factors, and how schools and communities can respond in ways that reduce harm and increase real support.

Content note: This episode includes discussion related toviolence risk, suicidal/homicidal concerns, and school safety.

Key topics:

• Why teams need a clear system for assessing risk
• Risk factors vs. protective factors (and why both matter)
• The harm of labeling kids—and the role of curiosity
• Supporting parents who feel anxious about safety
• Talking with kids in developmentally appropriate ways
• When to call in emergency support

Guest:

Robert Scholz, LMFT (The Change Place, Westlake Village)

Website: www.roberttherapy.com

Engage Therapy:

www.engagetherapy.com

Serving families in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Malibu, Simi Valley, Moorpark, and Camarillo.

Disclaimer:

This podcast is for education and is not a substitute for therapy or crisis care. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911. In the U.S., you can call or text 988 for immediate mental health support.

In this episode of Look for the Helpers, Adelina Brisbois, LMFT speaks with Andrew Cohen, LMFT, a Westlake Village–based therapist specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders.

Andrew is the co-founder of Cohen OCD Therapy, which he runs with his wife, Danielle Cohen, LMFT. Their practice serves children, teens, adults, and families throughout the Conejo Valley using evidence-based approaches, including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).

Andrew shares both personal and professional insight into:

• What OCD actually looks like beyond stereotypes
  

• Why reassurance can unintentionally strengthen anxiety
  

• How families can reduce accommodation while staying supportive
  

• What helps kids build resilience when facing uncertainty
  

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Andrew’s journey into OCD work

05:10 – What OCD really is (and what it isn’t)

11:30 – Obsessions, compulsions, and the anxiety cycle

22:45 – Reassurance, accommodation, and family dynamics

36:00 – ERP and learning to tolerate uncertainty

54:30 – PANS/PANDAS and sudden-onset OCD

01:03:00 – Why early recognition matters

01:08:00 – Community impact and closing reflections

This episode offers grounded education and hope for families navigating OCD and anxiety.

Learn more at www.cohenocdtherapy.com.