Dr. Ryan Cooper

My name is Dr. Ryan R. Cooper, and my work on Headway differs from most Headway weekly therapists. I primarily provide brief, focused, and specialized psychological consultation for people trying to navigate mental healthcare and understand their treatment.

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You may have received conflicting diagnoses, wondered whether psychological or neuropsychological testing would help, felt stuck in therapy, struggled to find the right therapist, worried that you aren't getting better, or wanted a second opinion from a specialist who can look at the bigger picture.

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Psychologists are trained across an unusually broad range of mental healthcare: diagnosis, therapy, testing, neuropsychology, behavioral science, systems, treatment, and psychopharmacology. No other mental-health specialist routinely combines this same breadth. That makes psychology especially suited for this unique expert consultative role: helping patients step back and look at the whole board rather than one square.

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I help you understand how the pieces fit together: your therapist, PCP, psychiatrist, work, relationships, values, faith, and other systems affecting your mental health. In short, I help you make sense of an often confusing and fragmented mental-healthcare system.

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I received my PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of the Cumberlands, my master's from Harvard, and my law degree from Mitchell Hamline. I completed residency in developmental neuropsychology and a two-year postdoc fellowship in acquired neurological disorders. I serve on the medical staff of two hospitals and have more than a decade of therapy experience.

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I consider myself not just a specialist in one area of mental health, but rather a specialist in the mental healthcare system itself. I especially enjoy complicated cases, conflicting information, and situations where the usual approach hasn't worked. I like a challenge.

My approach is not the usual traditional, open-ended weekly therapy. Instead, I work with patients who have (or need) a therapist in a brief, consultative role... to understand the bigger picture of their mental health care and develop a clearer path forward. Think of me as a specialist helping you make sense of the system and decide what should happen next.

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This might mean helping you understand a diagnosis, decide whether testing would be useful, figure out why therapy has stalled, think through whether medication fits into your overall treatment plan, identify what kind of therapist or treatment approach may fit you better, or make sense of conflicting recommendations from different providers.

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My role is not to replace or duplicate the work of your existing providers. Instead, we focus on how the different pieces of your care fit together, where gaps or barriers may exist, and how you can make the best use of the treatment relationships you already have.

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I also strongly believe patients should be active participants in their own treatment. You have the right to understand your treatment plan, ask what you and your therapist are actually working toward, know how (or if) progress is being evaluated, and raise concerns when something isn't helping. Sometimes my role is simply helping you learn how to take ownership of that process.

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Most people will see me for one focused consultation. Sometimes we need a second or third meeting, and occasionally I may suggest checking back in a few months to see whether the plan is working. If what you really need is ongoing therapy, testing, medication management, coaching, or another service, part of my job is helping you figure that out.

Hope. And, ideally, some clarity.

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My first goal is to understand not only your symptoms, but the bigger picture: what you've been told before, what you've tried, what has helped, what hasn't, and what questions still remain unanswered.

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By the end of our first meeting, I want you to have a better understanding of the problem we're actually trying to solve and at least a rough plan for what should happen next. That might be testing, a different kind of therapy, a conversation with your current provider, another specialist, or simply a better way of measuring whether the treatment you're already receiving is working.

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And if we don't have the answer after one visit, that's okay. Sometimes the most important first step is figuring out what question we actually need to answer.