Mental Health Has Become a Major Topic —Lakewood Welcomes "The Better Center" Mental Health Practice

It's not a secret that mental health became became one of the most hot topics in today's days. Right? >> Absolutely. >> So guys, I'm here on Oak Street. What's the address of them? >> 680 New Hampshire Avenue. >> 680 New Hampshire Avenue and a beautiful new facility over here. A beautiful new therapy practice. >> Great location. It's almost everywhere across town by the way. >> Gavaldic. And the reason why Aram and his staff jumped in is because we saw what the need is for Clalis and people don't how important it is to take care of your mental health on time before we get take us into your new facility and let's and show us exactly what's happening over here. >> Please welcome. Thanks so much. First of all, coming right over here. Um first, as people walk in, we have a beautiful spacious and sunny waiting room. snacks, refreshments, whatever people need, they should be comfortable and feel right at home. Uh, as we move along over here, so we have a dedicated secretary, office manager. She sits over there. By the way, another another entrance. Sometimes people like they come in another way. They like to go out. So, we offer multiple entrances. >> So, how does it work if someone wants to keep private? They don't want other people to see. They have a you have like everything their appointment or like you have to >> Absolutely. It's by appointment. They can come in and wait. Um they can text a therapist. You know, we really work hard to each person to accommodate everyone's needs. Absolutely. Over here we have a a lounge for therapists. You know, one of our things is that, you know, if you come to work, you want to come to work, enjoy it. So, we have over here, you know, a waiting area. We have food, fridges, we have a gazak over here, a coffee, have a library over here. >> We have a behavioral health library, books, every topic, you know, feel check it out. And by the way, this is for clients also. This is not only for therapists, it's a it's a lending library also. So over here we have four offices up here. Beautiful, beautiful offices. If I take a peek over here, beautiful, sunny, spacious, the sun coming in, large offices, and they're all like that. Well decorated, all the touches, all the personal touches. And we get constant feedback from from clients, from therapists. Um they come and there's such a warm vibe. They they and the therapist they love coming here. They love coming here. >> How long have you open already? >> So we're open for about a year and a half, you know, coming up on two years now. So Hashem, um we've been busy. We've been very very busy. Um and we >> How many therapists do you have over here? No. >> So we have we have already seven therapists. We have seven therapists. Yeah. Um >> the best. Obviously I'm biased. Top of the line, highly trained, well-known therapists >> and experienced. only experience. The model that works for us is that we we hire people with experience, a minimum of a few years clinical experience. Most of the therapists are LCSWs and above. Um we see everything from kids through adults, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, coaching, productivity, you name it. >> Can you share some names there? >> Sure. Faker, proud, proud to share. Proud best team. Um, so besides for me being the clinical director helping to run things, I also I see clients as well. Um, we also have Manakim Friedman, a very well-known name in town. Um, evidence-based anxiety, DBT, CBT, um, specializes in Brim. Um, he's fantastic. Um, Schlommo, very well-known IFS, trauma, um, Raisy Nagel, a very wellrecoognized name. male and female, >> male and female. Gumly Albo, Sar Sasha, Ricky Israel. Um, great staff, great great staff. Um, and always hiring more because, you know, for good or for bad, you know, >> unfortunately there's a huge, you know, [snorts] people that it become pretty normal to talk about mental health and people are, you know, taking care of the mental health situation. It wasn't so picked up. Why did it take so long and people just start realizing how important mental health? >> Such a good question. I I'll tell you, you know, we're just by the gooda summit not that long ago and someone asked is is there t is there more problems today than in the past right he said there is there's not you know but even if there is the main thing is there also hashem gave more resources so we have more knowledge we have more psychological resources and that's our goal our whole our mission statement here by the better center is quality and accessible therapy you know that's why we exist you know it's for people to reach out no fluff no waiting you just reach out and you get an appointment. We try to get you in for an intake within a day, 2 3 days tops, and if it's a good fit, we you're in within a week. >> Wow. That's what I wanted to ask you. What makes you special? I know there's other clinics out there. >> It's a great question and we get asked that a lot, right? And I think what makes the better unique um is that, you know, it's I think number one, it is that accessible and quality care that even despite all the high level and everything, it's it's you call and you get in. Simple as that. That's number one. waiting. No waiting. >> There's there's no waiting. There's no >> You feel that there's a need that people >> and if it fills up like right people there's no slots evening. What we do is we hire more therapists. You know there are no waiting list. We keep it moving. We keep it moving. We >> say if someone needs something emergency you can get in within that day or next day. >> AB that that's literally our whole mission statement. It is a little bit lash shay. That's why we exist from the owner down. Um is to help people and to get them in. No fluff. It's a it's a novelty. Another kesh that we have, if I could mention one last thing, um is we offer a free 20-minute consult. Um yeah, it's no, no one does it. It's unbelievable. Um and but it makes all the sense in the world, you know, therapy, right? Before you commit, before you pay, before you start, try it out. If you have any questions that you want to ask, you want to meet the therapist, right? Meet them. 20 minutes, no charge, no commitment. Inperson, phone, video, no commitment to walking. Oh, you also do on Zoom. >> We we do Zoom, we do phone, we do inperson, we do consults, you know, we do all of it just to help out and it's and the 20-minute consult is so popular. So, yes, that's another thing that we offer as well. >> One more question before I let you go. Absolutely. How did this whole things whole thing start? I mean, I'm sure there was a story behind it. There was somebody that had a real passion. >> Everyone loves a good origin story, right? So, uh owner started the practice. Um, so it's a huge passion of his. He's a mental health advocate. Um, and he his goal is to get people who need therapy. Um, he he grabs them on the street. He says, "Go for the and but you know what? He puts his money where his mouth is." He said, "Let's open up a place. Let's open up a therapy center. Let's open up a resource. We're better than like >> you saw how important it is and how much people struggle. They don't know what to where to start. It's >> so hard to find therapists. I I get calls all day long and like this, you know, we hope to be a resource for Lakewood and beyond. You just call and if we're not a fit for you, then we help you find another therapist and who is >> amazing. Amazing. Thank you so much. >> Oh, pleasure. >> What's the phone number to reach out if somebody wants to reach out to the better call directly is 646-578822. Uh we also have a beautiful websiteenter.org. Um everything's there as well and just reach out. We'll get back to you. >> Raldi, thank you so much. Mom, it's a pleasure.