Our NeurOptimal® Community

Zengar®’s co-founders firmly believe that only through community will NeurOptimal® come to reach its full potential for relieving suffering in the world.

Every step of the way they have been committed to creating a strong NeurOptimal® bond and community, and today that community extends to tens of thousands. We consider every member of that community to be part of our NeurOptimal® family.

Zengar® commits to supporting its family.

We do this with integrity, respect, on-going excellence in the development of NeurOptimal®, and unsurpassed support and service in its delivery. The main way Zengar® communicates with its extended family is through Facebook groups, its webinars, its courses and its biennial NeurOptimal® conference.

Zengar®'s Two Co-Founders

Susan Brown, Ph.D. Co-Founder & Director

Dr. Brown brought to her development of NeurOptimal® a varied path of careers and achievements in medical, psychological and academic environments. Her accomplishments include five degrees culminating in a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, numerous awards for academic excellence, publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, a full-time academic position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Division of Behavioral Medicine and licensure both as a Clinical Psychologist and as a Nurse (now inactive). Despite the academic achievements, Dr. Brown’s first love has always been direct work with clients. Dr. Brown’s role in the conceptualization, development and evolution of NeurOptimal®® has been strongly tied to her belief that personal change does not have to be effortful to be effective and lasting, and much of her work has been to ensure that NeurOptimal® is not only safe and effective but unmatched in its ease of use. Now retired from her clinical and consultation activities, Dr. Brown retains a central role in Zengar’s ongoing Research and Development.

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Valdeane W. Brown, Ph.D. Co-Founder & Director

Dr. Brown had a long and varied history in the field of mental health before even pursuing his Ph.D. in Psychology. For over 25 years he taught Continuing Medical Education courses across a wide range of clinical topics including Rapid Transformation of Borderline Phenomenology, Dual Diagnosed Clients, Dynamics of Family Therapy, Working With Angry Adolescents. For many years he was a featured and keynote speaker at numerous national and international conferences in the fields of neurofeedback, child psychology, Total Quality Management, and others. He developed and published the Five Phase Model of Neurofeedback which was the first and still the only, approach to clinical neurofeedback that integrated multiple protocols into a single comprehensive approach that could be used regardless of clinical presentation. With his background in mathematics, physics, computer programming, designing and implementing automated outcome studies as well as multimodal assessment, he was able to co-develop, with his wife Dr. Sue Brown, the Period Three Approach to neurofeedback. Their Approach was fundamental to their new and revolutionary neurofeedback system (later to become NeurOptimal®), showcasing their vision of Dynamical Neurofeedback™. Over time this was refined, always with an overarching commitment to safe, effective and effortless personal transformation that anyone can use. Now retired from actively programming, Dr. Brown directs the ongoing architectural development of NeurOptimal® as well as being intimately involved in ongoing Research and Development at Zengar.

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The Future of Zengar®

Alex Theoret CEO, CFO

Alex is responsible for all aspects of technical production for Zengar. Alex co-ordinates and oversees Research, Development and Production of our finished products. He is responsible also for website development and management, and development and management of the database upon which Zengar depends. He also manages the technical logistics of our conferences, teaching events and webinars, as well as recording and video production. Alex began with Zengar by recording some early teaching events, and went on to offer technical support for a while. Following this he was responsible for configuring and shipping systems for some years. In fact, since the early days of Zengar, if technology were involved Alex would be found likely somewhere near the center. 
And in his spare time? Alex is a grammy-nominated musician, record producer and founder-owner of music production company Threatened Productions in Manhattan.

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Samantha Diavatis CEO, COO

Samantha oversees and integrates all the day to day activities of the entire administrative team, consults on Research and Development, and decides when and how Zengar’s products will be launched. She began with Zengar in the early 2000s as Customer Care, at which point every new NeurOptimal® user was carefully guided by her towards a comprehensive understanding of the support structure and resources available to them. Her enthusiasm, knowledge of and commitment to NeurOptimal® made her an easy point person for many of them. This direct connection to the “front line” ensured that end-user voices were heard during the decision-making process. Since that time Samantha has moved on to head up the entire administrative team. She maintains a small private NeurOptimal® practice to be sure she understands the ins and outs of running a NeurOptimal® business. Samantha came to Zengar with a degree in Law as well as considerable experience in the organization and co-ordination of people and resources. She speaks English and French.

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