Several professionals described available evidence-based treatments for mental health issues like PTSD, depression, and anxiety during a free live-streaming presentation on Feb. 17. Voices of Monterey Bay staged the event in a partnership the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Monterey County.
Presenters included Dr. Stella Lagarda, a neurologist-epileptologist at Montage Medical Group who explained Neurofeedback; Meg Grundy, a licensed clinical social worker, who discussed EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing; and Jodi McLean, a Somatic Experiencing practitioner who explained how Somatic Experiencing helps heal trauma.
LaGarda has been with Montage since 2013 and has recently been published in peer-reviewed journals illustrating the value of “infralow frequency” brain training and wrote a chapter in “Restoring the Brain: Neurofeedback as an Integrative Approach to Health.”
Grundy has been in private practice on the Monterey Peninsula for 15 years. Her primary clinical focus is on treating complex trauma and OCD/anxiety disorders. She trained in Attachment Focused EMDR with Dr. Laurel Parnell and is on the faculty of the Parnell Institute.
McLean has had a private practice in downtown Pacific Grove for over 15 years. She is also a senior teaching assistant for the trauma practitioner training program held through the Somatic Experiencing Institute. Through her modalities of Somatic Experiencing, Polarity Therapy and mindfulness, she helps her clients transform their relationship to shock trauma, relational/ developmental trauma, anxiety, depression and pain.
The discussion was facilitated by Bonnie Bufkin, a local licensed marriage and family therapist.
The event streamed live on the Voices of Monterey Bay Facebook page and YouTube channel, and the recording can now be viewed on this page or using the above links.
NAMI Monterey County is part of the largest organization in the United States dedicated to education, support and advocacy on behalf of people living with mental illness and their families.
