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 Once their brain understands that the traumatic memory no longer represents a present, existential threat; that it isn’t needed for survival, then it’s intensity, it’s ability to trigger an intense over-reaction, subsides for good.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.
Sue Hebert, LISW-S
Sue Hebert LISW-S, is doing her part to spread positive energy throughout her community. She achieved a Master’s Degree in Social Work from The Ohio State University, then spent the next 25 years helping adolescents and adults heal the stormy, over-reactions that turn life’s picnics into muddy messes. Sue’s passion is giving her clients shelter from the storm; to appreciate the powerful shift that comes with mental clarity, emotional well-being, and deeply felt self-worth.
Beyond providing psychotherapy, Sue has volunteered with Dress for Success, a non-profit dedicated to providing women the means to see themselves differently as a path to self-esteem, gainful employment, and self-confidence. A dedicated wife and mother, Sue understands the ongoing necessity of fostering nurturance- the importance of connectivity. She practices Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Functional Family Therapy, teaching individuals and families how better to hear, empathize, and treat each other with compassion.
Sue strives to exhibit empathy and compassion with everyone she knows. She brings presence to her work. And Sue loves her work.
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.