Arjun Gokhale has a passion for psychiatry that was borne of his creative nature. Arjun would often notice an overlap between creativity and psychiatric distress in many of the artists who inspired him. He was struck by how these artists found meaning in their suffering and created empowering works that facilitated their healing. Similarly, Arjun views psychiatry and psychotherapy as forms of art, requiring creativity, thinking “outside-the-box,” exploration of one’s thoughts and emotions, and accepting the beauty in imperfection. Just like there is no one way to create art, there is no one way to approach a patient’s mental health treatment.

Arjun understands that the decision to seek psychiatric treatment, whether medication, psychotherapy, or other interventions, can be challenging for people. Many patients have worries or misconceptions about what this will entail. Arjun’s approach is to establish a collaborative and supportive partnership with his patients, that promotes open dialogue, is non-judgmental, and meets his patients “where they are.” He feels this is the best approach to facilitate his patients’ recovery, empower them to regain a sense of control over their lives, and dismantle stigmas around receiving psychiatric care. Arjun’s strengths include providing empathetic, culturally-sensitive, LGBTQ-affirmative, and trauma-informed care.

Along with psychopharmacology and psychotherapy, Arjun is very interested in evidence-based interventions such as therapeutic Ketamine, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Arjun views TMS as a non-invasive and evidence-based treatment, which can have life-changing benefits for some patients. He is excited to offer TMS as one of several treatment options for depression.

Arjun Gokhale joins Mindful Health Solutions in the winter of 2020.

Dr. Alvin Lau is a Psychiatrist offering Medication Management, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), esketamine, and Ketamine Infusion Therapy (KIT) treatments. His initial interests were mostly around hospital psychiatry, integrated primary care and psychiatry care models, and then treatment of significant mental illness in complex medical populations. When medication management and psychotherapy reached their limit, he searched for other treatment options. Discovering other treatments allowed him to focus more on incorporating interventional psychiatry techniques into his treatment plans.

Having seen a wide area of complex patients with complex diagnoses and in complex situations in various situations, he prides himself on being able to step back and take a deep thorough dive into patient histories, to really try and tease out all a person’s complexities, so that the plan he comes up with can be as tailored as possible to an individual. He tends to take less of a formal psychoanalytic-style of approach to psychiatry, and more so realize he is working with a person.

Dr. Alvin Lau has an affinity for alternative treatments such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), esketamine, and Ketamine Infusion Treatments (KIT), which allow him to find what works best for each of his patients and their individual needs. TMS treatment in his words, is in many respects what we want medications and all our treatments, to be: A targeted method for treating mental illness that when efficacious provides durable benefit without any invasive aspects or systemic side effects. These treatments ensure that patients get the help they need.

Jennifer Guo is passionate about connecting with her patients first and foremost. She works with them to design a comprehensive treatment plan to target their symptoms and improve their overall sense of well-being. Her style with patients is highly collaborative, and she meets patients where they are at each stage of their journey to wellness. Jennifer appreciates patients with an openness to self-discovery and exploration, and works to ensure they feel heard and are engaged in their treatment.

She is particularly interested in using interventional psychiatric approaches including Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and esketamine for treatment-resistant depression. She sees TMS as a non-invasive, durable, and modern treatment for psychiatric disorders with minimal side effects, allowing providers to modulate specific brain circuitry involved in these disorders in a targeted way.

Jennifer Guo joined Mindful Health Solutions in the Fall of 2019.

Dr. Keith Wood is a Board-Certified Adult Psychiatrist with interests in general psychiatry, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, interventional psychiatry, mindfulness-based psychotherapies, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Other areas of professional focus are treatment-resistant psychiatric illnesses, the interplay of medical and psychiatric disorders, epidemiology, and an interest in the reemergence of psychedelic-assisted therapy modalities in the treatment of psychiatric disorders like depression and PTSD. 

Over the course of residency training, he witnessed first-hand how his patients were able to improve their quality of life when given an attentive presence, utilizing psychotherapeutic principles, as well as a thoughtful consideration of the use of psychotropic medication. For him, psychiatry encompasses many of the interests he has been cultivating over the years and he is excited about the many innovative treatments on the horizon. 

When working with patients, Dr. Wood provides a compassionate and collaborative approach that utilizes up-to-date knowledge of psychotherapeutic, psychopharmacologic, and somatic treatment modalities to help his patients achieve their specific treatment goals. He takes a holistic view of the person and the circumstances that have brought them to seek professional assistance. He believes that the cultivation of a balanced sense of well-being is an achievable goal.

Dr. Keith Wood finds that both TMS and esketamine can be effective in patients with depression for whom traditional medication management and psychotherapeutic approaches have been only partially effective or altogether ineffective. Having safe and effective treatments like TMS or esketamine available in the office setting provides more latitude to help patients, particularly those who haven’t been able to achieve remission with medications and talk therapy.

He joined Mindful Health Solutions in the Summer of 2021.

During medical school, Dr. Jesse Bastiaens became interested in psychiatry after recognizing how debilitating mental health issues can be for people, as well as the positive impact that treatments can make. He appreciates the meaningful and rewarding connections he develops and maintains with patients.

Dr. Bastiaens also has a great passion for the brain and neuroscience – how electrical and chemical impulses can direct our thoughts, feelings, and functioning. He sees psychiatry as a rapidly growing science incorporating therapy, medications, and interventional modalities, and is glad to be a part of the movement and momentum.

He is a strong proponent of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a newer advancement in psychiatry that can often help people when medications and therapy are not enough. He appreciates that it is well-tolerated, specifically tailored to each individual, and often a more precise treatment when compared to other strategies. As TMS utilizes neuroscientific principles of brain connectivity, it is expanding in the symptoms and illnesses it can treat at the forefront of the psychiatric field. Dr. Bastiaens looks forward to participating in this growth and helping patients find resilience and recovery.

He joined Mindful Health Solutions in the Fall of 2018.

Dr. Jesse Bastiaens finds the Bay Area to be an amazing combination of outdoor and city life. From phenomenal restaurants to breathtakingly scenic hikes, he enjoys the diversity of offerings and activities in and around San Francisco. He continues to pursue work outside of work by reading scientific literature and keeping up to date on the latest advances, contributing to his own psychiatric practice and tackling the struggle of mental illness.

Dr. Tobias Marton first became interested in medicine in his high school biology class, a time in his life he was also influenced by the hit TV show “ER.” This soon molded into an interest in neuroscience as an undergraduate in college. He was fascinated by the complexities of the brain, and how the brain functions and dysfunction give rise to human behavior. It became clear to him in medical school that he wanted to practice medicine in neurology or psychiatry as they both involved brain function and the potential to alleviate some human suffering. 

In his work with patients, he sees his role as very much an advisor and collaborator. He enjoys talking to people and trying to understand their stories and how they came to be who they are. He is able to sit with patients and listen to them as he works with them to find a solution. He appreciates their willingness to work hard, and he finds it incredibly rewarding to witness their quality of life improve. 

Dr. Tobias Marton has built his practice on working at the leading edge of innovation and treatment development to help patients suffering with severe depression. He has a passion for interventional psychiatry and in expanding access to innovative, life-saving treatments for severe treatment-resistant depression, such as TMS treatments, esketamine nasal spray and ketamine infusions.

With considerable experience using these treatments, he is gratified to see the profound improvement in depression symptoms, suicidal ideation, and general quality of life that patients can derive from these treatments, particularly when they have often struggled for years with their symptoms despite having engaged in ongoing pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.