More About Us.
Brian Barkett, Psy.D.
Dr. Brian Barkett is the Founder and President of Better Minds Group. He is passionate about helping heal trauma.
Dr. Barkett’s first step is to help his clients understand that traumatic memories from horrific experiences become chemically encoded within our body. Too much, or too many trauma(s) changes one’s brain and one’s life. Sleepless nights, hypersensitivity to perceived threats, irritability, intrusive thoughts, impulsive outbursts take over. For example, First Responders who dedicated their life to service can become trapped in cycles of impulsive irritable over-reactions, stunned, wondering “How did I become the bad guy? Will I lose my job and career, will I be punished, if anyone finds out what I am going through?” There problems are about biology, not character.
In his second step, Dr. Barkett uses Contextual Counseling, EMDR, and eeg-biofeedback, to reprocess the trauma. Once their brain understands that the traumatic memory no longer represents a present, existential threat; that it isn’t needed for survival, then it’s intensity, it’s ability to trigger an intense over-reaction, subsides for good.
Clients return to being more thoughtful and calm. Others feel better about them and they feel better about themselves.
Dr. Barkett served 10 years on the Mental Health & Recovery for Licking and Knox Counties.
He is an American Psychological Association and Ohio Psychological Association member.
Liz Hartz, LISW-S, ATR-BC
Art Therapist
Liz brings heartfelt presence and deep listening in addressing your concerns and creating solutions. She supports you in cultivating resilience, building stronger mental health, and more skillfully managing problems of daily living. Trained as a clinical social worker and a board-certified art therapist, Liz works like an painter with a palate, designing your individualized therapy experience. She combines talk therapy and art therapy to help you create the healing and growth you seek. Liz incorporates positive psychology approaches and neuroscience to support sustained wellness. No artistic skill or experience is needed to benefit from art therapy.
Liz offers individual art therapy and counseling services for adults, helping create well-being in response to life’s challenges and transitions. Whether you seek to ease depression or anxiety, to transition through grief and loss, to build self esteem and self compassion, to manage stress and change, Liz will support you to more effectively access you inner wisdom and build deeper resiliency for your life journey.
Liz is a member of the Buckeye Art Therapy Association. She has taught undergraduate Art Therapy for 10 years, and has presented professionally for a variety of audiences.
Her personal art work focuses on landscapes, nature, and portraits using pastels and acrylics.
Niki Brown, MSW, LISW
Niki Brown, MSW, Licensed Independent Social Worker, is a fountain of warmth and empathy. Moreover, she uses her gifts to bring peace and balance to the lives of those with whom she works. Niki's early experience has been with at-risk youth and their families, developmentally disabled adults, those who are homeless, and those suffering grief and loss. Niki earned her Masters in Social Work at The Ohio State University with a concentration in counseling. She did all of this while being an actively involved wife, mother, and community member.
Niki’s training, experience, and contemplation has taken her to a holistic orientation. She focuses on people’s tremendous capacities for self- healing. She compassionately assesses her client’s situation within the context of their Mind, Body, and Spirit. She will help you reconnect to your intuition; your buried inner wisdom, with life-affirming confidence.
Niki, was attracted to us because of our use of EMDR and eeg-biofeedback. She is trained in EMDR therapy. So, if you are looking for the whole package- smarts with heart, you have found Niki Brown.
Kristin Carr, MSW, LSW
Responding to the First Responder community is close to Kristin Carr’s heart. She began her First Responder/Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in 2006. Through nearly 20 years of helping people in their worst moments and experiencing the horrendous emotional toll this work took on her and her colleagues, Kristin felt called to pursue a second career in promoting mental health. While raising two kids, she returned to the Ohio State University to achieve a Bachelors of Science in Social Work degree. She then obtained a Masters of Social. She focused on mental health, substance abuse, and trauma. During her Masters work, Kristin was awarded a grant from The Opioid Workforce Expansion Program to be able to study the devastating opioid epidemic in Appalachia.
Kristin is a compassionate care provider in the field and in the office. she strives to make her clients feel seen, valued, and worthy. She builds relationships that promote healing trauma and building resilience.
Understanding that traumatic memories can e layered and complex, Kristin understands that healing childhood trauma is often a prerequisite to a full healthy comeback.
Kristin has also works with disadvantaged women and children, victims of assault, and those struggling with grief and loss.
Kristin remains an active EMS provider in Southeastern, Ohio, fiercely advocating for adequate resources to help First Responders heal. She does outreach to area fire departments. She loves working with female First Responders who must navigate careers, gender discrimination, motherhood, and marriage.
Kristin is dedicated to being a voice for those in need and teaching others how to advocate for themselves.
In her free time, Kristin enjoys homesteading activities, like gardening, canning, and cooking. She is married with two children, living in Perry County operating a small hobby farm. She loves animals. Her “portfolio of pets“ includes chickens, peacock, and cattle. Kristin dreams of one day owning an emu.
Now accepting new clients!
Maureen Barkett
Maureen Barkett (she likes being called Reen) spent the first phase of her career as an accountant and CPA, having worked for Big Six public accounting firms and Fortune 500 companies. In 2016, Reen, through the pleasant pleadings of her husband, Dr. Brian, left the corporate world to join Better Minds Group. We now have her accounting expertise, process thinking, business skills, and breath-taking level-headedness, to make the operations side of our enterprise run more smoothly. She, and we, could not be happier.