Our Founder: Dr. Britt

WHO I AM

I understand ambitious but thoughtful & creative, purpose-driven people because I am one. Sooner or later, if you are these things, you find yourself confronting an existential conundrum: how to win the game when you don’t accept that there is a game, let alone its rules…and when so many people (sometimes seemingly everyone) either don’t acknowledge that the game is being played or become seduced by it and lose themselves in it.

Drawing from my early days in I/O psychology, analyzing discrimination data at the ADA, and supervising research projects, I developed a passion for understanding the intricacies of human behavior within complex systems. Today, at SENS, we synergize thousands of insider stories from executives, top consulting and law firms, Capitol Hill individuals, and startup enthusiasts to inform our best business consulting practices. We craft strategic paths that lead visionary brands and leaders to new heights.

WHERE I’M COMING FROM

Seriously though, think for a minute about all the stories I must have heard in my decade-plus of clinical work… It’s not at all a game, what happens to people’s lives, careers, and marriages. But I quickly realized that so often, people’s problems were not so much a form of illness as they were unfortunate consequences of a mismatch between aspects of their personality or constitution and the systems they found themselves in. Oftentimes, those causal elements of psychology found in the individuals are not even defects at all, but profound strengths: perceptiveness, sensitivity, originality…even ambition—especially if you are a minority or a woman.

Of course I’ve heard more than you can imagine about the modern workplace, especially in government agencies and the corporations that support them. I’m no longer shocked by tales of sexism, racism, plain-old backstabbing, or general disrespect. Those forces are all still active and powerful, to be sure, but my passion these days is in providing real, meaningful change—grounded in my years of clinical work—in the ways that organizations treat their members and build their culture.

WHY IT MATTERS

I would go so far as to say this: if your organization’s performance coaching or mental health & wellness solutions are not grounded in clinical insight, they are doomed to fail. And here is the flip side of the coin: if your personal psychotherapy is not attuned to the nuances of navigating systems & organizations, it is holding you back from important breakthroughs.

This has been the journey of my career, seeing the inextricable link between these worlds. Psychology has long recognized the value of family and couples therapy as complementary to individual therapy. And vice versa: when you seek family or couples therapy, it is common for therapists to refer participants to individual therapy as well. These are still crucial endeavors, and at SENS we are adept at them all.

WHEN YOU LIKE NEW THINGS

What is revolutionary here is the conception of business psychology and organizational improvement not as siloed practices, but as natural and complementary extensions of individual therapy. Businesses and institutions cannot fix their problems with token programs, blindly following the current fad or rehashing hackneyed truisms—any more than a fractured long-term relationship or a burned-out lawyer can be saved with a few tips & tricks you saw on TikTok. And while not every personal problem hinges on a bad work environment, insights from that side of things have more benefits than you might think.

I hope you’ll join me on this path. Let’s be realistic here, for the truly ambitious, the game is a given, but that doesn’t mean we have to give in to the game. If life is a game, it’s a long game, and one we can all win. And, it never hurts to make you are playing the latest version. 

Lightning Round