Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brynne Goldberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brynne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the best advice you’ve ever given to a client? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

So, I’m not in the business of giving advice. I’m in the business of helping people gain insight in order to advise themselves. (If your therapist is giving you straight-up advice, maybe consider a new therapist!) I take a psychoanalytical approach to therapy which, in short, guides people through an exploration of the adaptive thought and behavior patterns they developed during their adolescence and how those patterns may be showing up in their adulthood.

I also like to refer to my clients as “my people.” To me, referring to the people I work with as “clients” insinuates the therapist is the expert of the two, which can create an authoritative-like power imbalance within the working relationship that may hinder our work together.

I believe everyone is an expert on themselves. I aid people in alleviating the external “chatter” that prevents them from trusting themselves and accessing their “internal infrastructure” (i.e., their own individual ideas, values, ethics, morals, wants, needs, etc.) Aka, their “gut” or “internal knowing” that informs and facilitates decision-making, executive functioning, relational functioning, etc.

But I’ll try not to bore you with too much psychobabble…

To answer your question, admittedly in a roundabout way…I feel like if you asked my people, they would say they get a lot from the work we do together. But, in all honesty, I feel like I get just as much, if not more, from them. I get a lot of joy from the genuine connections that evolve from the working relationships I establish with them. They serve up great “nuggets” of perspicuity that I can apply to work with others and even myself. My people also provide me with purpose and immense motivational fuel. And at times, they offer me a mirror-like experience that prompts me to reflect on my own life. It’s all a part of the magic of therapy that I wouldn’t get to feel if it weren’t for the people I work with.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a mental health therapist. I started my own private practice in 2020, Peak Pursuits – Mental Health Care. My clinical area of expertise is treating anxiety (stress, burnout, fears etc.) And I specialize in working with athletes and high-achievers/performers.

I think what differentiates me from others in my field is my niche and my therapeutic approach. For those who aren’t familiar with the term “therapeutic approach” or therapy in general, it’s how therapists conceptualize human behavior, which, therefore, informs how they treat patients (aka how they “do” therapy).

There aren’t many therapists working specifically with athletes and high achievers who also work from a collaborative insight-based approach like psychoanalysis. This means a large part of the work I do with clients, especially in the beginning, is exploring the underlying root sources of their symptoms. Not just treating the symptoms themselves. Together, my clients and I almost take on a researcher-like role to investigate why they have symptoms of anxiety and depression in the first place. We want to figure out what happened early on in their lives that caused them to think and act the way they do now. Collecting this data helps us identify and understand patterns that may be flying under the radar and causing excess stress and sadness. You can think of these patterns as targets. So, once we’ve collected enough data, we explore how best to change the target behaviors and ways of thinking. (To put it simply.)

For example, an athlete may experience a lot of anxiety around competition. Of course. But, nervousness (aka anxiety) is often not solely attributable to the inherent nature of competition itself. For many, the origins of their anxiety stem from the messages they received as a child and how those messages created meaning around success. I often see people who have become conditioned to equate success and achievement with love and affection. This causes them to tirelessly (yet unconsciously) chase (someone else’s ideas of) success and achievement in order to appease their internal discomfort (anxiety) and feel safe, secure, and loved. So, the targets become their definitions of success, how they are pursuing it, and why those tactics are ineffective and detrimental.

For me, exploring the past is essential to understanding the present. To effectively “treat” symptoms of anxiety (which are really just the tip of an iceberg peaking above the water), I believe you need to understand how it got there in the first place, not just learn strategies to cope with it. (To put it simply)

I’m incredibly proud of where I’ve gotten myself and my perseverance that got me through all the obstacles and hardships that presented themselves along the way (which I talked about in our previous interview.) I went from teaching ski school to owning my own business carving out a unique and underserved niche within the mental health field, and curating a practice dedicated to their unique challenges and issues.

I’m also super proud of a new “passion project” in the works that is geared towards an integral part of my personal and professional mission: increasing awareness, education, and destigmatization of mental health. The project is still very much in the “R&D” phase, if you will, so I don’t want to give too much away just yet. But, I will say that the mobility of this project will help uniquely deliver information, in unique locations, with a unique approach. I’m incredibly excited about it and can’t wait to update you on the project’s progress in the very near future!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’ve been told a lot that my passion is palpable. I just get stoked on mental health and helping people because therapy is such a (relatively) simple solution to so much intense suffering. It’s amazing to watch people have these little “ah-hah!” moments that lead to monumental meaningful change. It can honestly be like watching someone with poor eyesight put on glasses for the first time. It just gets me jazzed. And I think people pick up on that. I think people sense that I genuinely care about them and love what I do.

(It makes me wanna pull an Oprah and give everyone a car…except I’d give everyone therapy. I can’t afford that many cars!)

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Um, how to have a basic conversation!!!! Like literally, it’s beaten out of you on the first day of grad school. (figuratively speaking, of course.) Try responding to someone who is telling you about their day or how they feel without asking a single question! Seriously, give it a try and see what happens.

But in all seriousness, therapy isn’t just a conversation. It’s SO much more. Yet, we become socialized and conditioned to engage in conversations in a certain way. Therefore, you must become aware of the differences and essentially decondition yourself to a degree. This is why when my friends feel self-conscious about “making me work” when we’re just hanging out and talking, I tell them it isn’t like work at all. It’s a hell of a lot easier on my brain, and I can say whatever I want. I don’t have to be nearly as intentional. (That being said, as someone who psychoanalyzes for a living, it’s hard to turn it off completely!)

Contact Info:

• Website: PeakPursuitsLLC.com

Image Credits
Bonnie Sen