WHO I AM AND WHO I HELP

hello, i’m dr. briar flicker-grossman. i practice in the san Fernando valley
where i specialize in ‘depth’ (psychoanalytic) psychotherapy, childbirth education, and group work for teens.

Welcome, and thank you for visiting my site. 

I have been in practice for over thirty years and look forward to helping you. I have always had a love for people, and becoming a Psychoanalyst and Certified Bradley Childbirth Instructor are natural extensions of that love.

I am a licensed therapist having received my Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from New York University, and my Doctorate in Psychoanalysis from the Psychoanalytic Center of California.

I am a certified affiliate instructor of The Bradley Method for childbirth, and received training in general coaching through the two year Team, Management, and Leadership program at Landmark Education. Currently I am also Assistant Faculty at the Psychoanalytic Center of California teaching post graduate students and doctoral candidates. 

I am available to speak with groups and organizations interested in self-growth and development, and overcoming what may seem impossible… like cancer. Whether you are looking for a therapist, coach, childbirth class, or group for your teen, above all, I want to get to know you and help you get to know yourself and live your life with meaning and power. 

While in New York I was trained at Albert Einstein Hospital in-patient psychiatric unit working with adults, teens, and their families; and then in out-patient psychiatry at Gouverneurs Hospital working with children, teens and young adults and their families.

Early on in my career I worked with teens and their families in residential treatment at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls in Westchester, New York; and with young children in foster care where I helped develop a program for them at Queens Child Guidance Center in Jamaica Queens.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1989 I started my private practice. At the same time, I had the privilege of teaching group dynamics to masters degree students while running groups at Culver City High and spent one year working in the emergency room at the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica, California.

As the result of my growing interest in infants and birth, in 1992 I became certified as a Bradley Childbirth Instructor, and enjoy teaching natural childbirth classes. I have attended many births since that time, while helping families make the profound transition that comes with the birth of new babies including helping with breast feeding, attachment, and developing the beginnings of the family culture and traditions.

In 2002, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was quick to take action, including genetic testing for the BRCA mutation (a genetic mutation attributed to a predisposition for breast and ovarian cancer). Once I discovered that I tested positive for BRCA1 and had recovered from my cancer, I began to educate myself and others. I am now 17 years cancer free, and have devoted myself to helping and educating others with regard to breast and ovarian cancer over the years.

Above all, I want to get to know you and help you get to know yourself.