About Us
Treatment & Consultation Offered by Dr. Grabau
Meet Dr. Grabau
Optimal Performance Group, Inc. was formed in September, 1996 for the purpose of providing mental health services and helping people to prosper.
Dr. David Grabau, President, is a licensed psychologist with over 35 years of experience. He has worked as a geriatric specialist, psychotherapist, executive coach, corporate consultant, and an educator.
Dr Grabau earned his BA degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Ed.M. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Doctor of Psychology degree from Williams James College in Boston, Massachusetts. He pursued post graduate training at the Boston Graduate School for Psychoanalysis.
Emotional Development
I think of my work as a way of helping patients make friends with themselves. I believe that we torture ourselves by holding onto memories that are painful. We play endless “tape recordings” in our minds that create anxiety, depression or compulsive behaviors.
We repeat destructive patterns in our relationships which lead to isolation, shame, regret and guilt. Our choices in life become narrow and limited. Keeping unpleasant feelings at bay becomes our priority thus sapping us of energy. With the release of that energy prosperity can develop in all areas of life. A future begins to take shape which could include intimacy, stability, and even financial prosperity.
I specialize in treating depression, anxiety disorders, behavioral excesses and deficiencies, relationship problems, and chronic emotional disorders; loss, grief and trauma; mood disorders.
I work in the realm of language and thus help people examine what they think and how they feel before they act. I help patients to examine their fear of sharing personal information; once they remove their resistance to talking they move forward.
By keeping ideas in the verbal realm impulsiveness can be reduced and maybe prevented; a careful examination of impulses can reveal significant emotional underpinnings. My over 30 years of experience has enriched my clinical skills significantly.
I have worked with people as young as three to as old as 107. I encourage people to tell their story by sharing thoughts and feelings they have held onto all of their lives. Some times what is shared has never been told to anyone before.
Geriatric Post-Skilled Nursing Care
Patients are often discharged from their hospital after-care with improved physical abilities while still suffering from residual emotional problems. They may continue to struggle with the long term effects of losses suffered due to medically precipitated events.
There are also those patients who have long term depression, anxiety or additional mental health issues who will remain at high risk of recidivism if their mental health needs are ignored. Their families too suffer from anxiety and confusion due to changes in their parents and siblings. Families can struggle with the impending loss or actual loss of their parents.
OPG-I believes in the continuity of mental health care following skilled nursing care. Discharge from a nursing facility brings with it a new level of concern and possibly vigilance and self-doubt. More often than not there are physical declines to be dealt with, and a redefinition of roles and perhaps levels of dependence.
Staying out of long term care is a priority just as important as recovering from physical losses.
For Families
Dr. Grabau also understands the tremendous stress that the loss of a loved one can cause especially if the loved one’s illness is protracted. Experience has demonstrated that helping adult children with their relationships with their parents is a great benefit.
OPG-I offers dementia and treatment services including:
- Grieving
- Decreasing family conflict
- Reducing depression and improving outlook
- Reducing anxiety
- Reducing dependence upon medication
- Improving sleep
- Improving appetite
- Helping with transitional planning
- Dementia Assessment