We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Neda Petz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Neda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Inspiration and Catalyst

During my clinical practice in Los Angeles, I saw families struggle with fragmented mental health services. A particularly challenging case involving a young client with ADHD and anxiety highlighted the need for a comprehensive, coordinated care model.

Vision

I envisioned a practice where neuropsychological evaluations, therapy, and family support were seamlessly integrated. This approach would focus on multicultural sensitivity and the unique needs of diverse populations, including multilanguage learners and LGBTIAQ+ clients.

Unique Approach

Mind Matters is pioneering a new way of delivering mental health care by:

Emphasizing Multicultural Sensitivity: Respecting diverse cultural backgrounds.
Inclusive Care for All: Providing affirming care for LGBTIAQ+ clients.
Addressing Unique Needs: Focusing on how conditions like autism and ADHD present in different populations, including women and girls.

Driven by my passion for making a tangible difference, I aimed to provide a better solution for overlooked families. The excitement of building something innovative and helping families heal fueled my determination.

Journey

From securing the right location to assembling a dedicated team, the journey was challenging but reinforced my belief in this vision. Today, Mind Matters stands as a beacon of hope, demonstrating the profound impact of coordinated, compassionate care on young lives.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello! My name is Dr. Neda Petz, and I am the founder of Mind Matters, a comprehensive mental health practice based in Los Angeles. My journey into the field of psychology began with a deep passion for understanding neuroanatomy and the brain and a commitment to helping individuals, especially children and adolescents, navigate their mental health.

How I Got Into the Industry

My path into the industry started when I worked in substance use treatment centers. It was there that I realized I wanted to take a more preventative approach to addiction, focusing on early intervention and comprehensive mental health care. I also gained valuable experience working in numerous hospital settings, including the VA, CHLA, and Kaiser. These experiences allowed me to see firsthand the benefits of interdisciplinary and research-based approaches to mental health care.

Services We Provide

At Mind Matters, we offer a range of services designed to meet the diverse needs of our clients. These include:
• Neuropsychological Evaluations: Comprehensive assessments to diagnose and understand various psychological conditions, including ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, depression, anxiety, and OCD.
• Therapy Services: Individual, group, and family therapy sessions tailored to address specific mental health concerns.
• Family Support: Guidance and support for families to help them navigate the challenges associated with mental health conditions and foster a nurturing environment.

Problems We Work With

Our practice is dedicated to solving several key problems for our clients:
• Integrated Care: We provide a one-stop-shop for mental health services, reducing the burden on families and ensuring coordinated care.
• Multicultural Sensitivity: We recognize and respect the diverse cultural backgrounds of our clients, including multilanguage learners and those from various ethnic and cultural communities.
• Inclusive Care: We offer affirming care for LGBTIAQ+ clients, ensuring that everyone feels seen, heard, and supported.
• Addressing Unique Needs: We focus on the unique ways conditions like autism and ADHD present in different populations, including women and girls, who are often overlooked.

What Sets Us Apart

What sets Mind Matters apart is our holistic and culturally sensitive approach to mental health care. We are pioneering a new way of delivering services by emphasizing family involvement, collaboration with schools, an overall holistic treatment with cultural curiosity. Our practice is unique in its commitment to addressing the intersectionality of various cultural factors and providing inclusive care for all clients.

What We Are Most Proud Of

I am most proud of several key aspects of our practice:
• Integration of Research: We continuously integrate the latest research into our practice to ensure that our clients receive the most effective and up-to-date care.
• Client Inclusion in Feedback: We actively include children and clients in the feedback process. Each client receives a personalized book created during testing that helps them understand their brain, fostering a sense of ownership and understanding of their mental health.
• Cultural Curiosity and Sensitivity: Our cultural curiosity and sensitivity to care are the hallmarks of our practice. We strive to understand and respect the diverse backgrounds of our clients, which informs and enhances the care we provide.

What We Want You to Know

At Mind Matters, our mission is to provide comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and inclusive mental health care. We are dedicated to making a tangible difference in the lives of our clients by offering services that are tailored to meet their unique needs. Whether you are seeking neuropsychological evaluations, therapy, or family support, you can trust that our team is committed to providing the highest quality of care. We believe in the power of holistic and culturally informed mental health care and are here to support clients every step of the way.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

A Pivotal Journey in Mental Health Care

Working in substance use treatment, I noticed many clients had unaddressed underlying mental health issues. This realization led me to pivot from treating substance use disorders to preventing them by addressing mental health early on.

I left substance use facilities to work in an afterschool enrichment program, Star Education, to see if I enjoyed working with children and their support systems. This transformative experience confirmed my passion and led me to pursue a master’s degree with the goal of becoming a therapist.

As I gained more clinical experience, I realized the need for a deeper understanding of neuropsychological conditions, prompting me to pursue a doctorate in psychology (Psy.D.) with an emphasis on neuropsychology. During this time, I also became a mother, balancing rigorous academic work with the challenges of motherhood. These experiences taught me resilience, time management, and the importance of support systems.

Looking back, this pivot was challenging but rewarding. It led to the creation of a practice that embodies my vision for holistic and inclusive mental health care, reinforcing my belief in early intervention and compassionate, culturally sensitive care.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Embracing Individuality and Cultural Sensitivity in Neuropsychological Evaluations

The Lesson

I had to unlearn the belief that every client must fit neatly into a diagnostic category. Initially, I thought precise diagnoses were essential for effective treatment, but this mindset proved limiting, especially when considering environmental stressors, contextual factors, and the diverse cultural backgrounds of my clients.

The Turning Point

In my early career conducting neuropsychological evaluations, I aimed to fit each client into established diagnostic categories. However, I encountered many cases where clients had complex, overlapping symptoms, co-occurring medical conditions, and environmental stressors that defied simple classification. One particularly enlightening case involved a young bilingual client from a Latino background who was referred for a developmental evaluation. Standardized tests indicated low verbal IQ scores, likely impacted by language barriers, and adaptive functioning scores suggested intellectual disability. However, the family explained that their collectivistic cultural values emphasized interdependence over independence, which is more common in individualistic cultures like that of the United States. Additionally, language factors impacted performance on language-based instruments.

This pivotal moment made me realize that my role was to understand and address each client’s unique needs, not to force them into predefined boxes. I also needed to understand the impact of culture on test selection and interpretation. The family’s cultural background influenced how his symptoms were expressed and perceived. For example, his parents viewed certain behaviors as normal within their cultural context, while these same behaviors might be seen differently in a clinical setting. This experience underscored the importance of cultural sensitivity in understanding and addressing each client’s unique needs. I recognized that considering cultural factors was crucial in accurately interpreting symptoms and providing effective care.

The Impact

Unlearning the need for perfect diagnoses allowed me to focus on individualized and culturally sensitive care. I began to prioritize understanding each client’s unique experiences and cultural context, leading to more personalized and effective treatment plans.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drnedapetz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mind_matters_psych/#
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctorneda

Image Credits

Photos include myself, Dr. Neda Petz, Psy.D., Dr. Sophia Gerber, Psy.D., Shane Villanueva (psychological associate), and Sally Kim (psychological associate). Photos were taken by Carin Yates.