Meet Dr. Belinda Bellet
CEO & Chief Clinical Director
Dr. Belinda Bellet
Dr. Bellet is the chief clinical director and CEO of Brooklyn Heights Behavioral Associates (BHBA). She is a community mental health advocate, educator and clinical psychologist, and has treated suicidal behaviors and trauma for over three decades. Her influences are in attachment research and theory, behaviorism, and Mindfulness meditation.
With over 25 years honing gold standard, evidence-based practices, Dr. Bellet has an extensive repertoire. She is especially adept at treating complex cases, with an emphasis on trauma and suicide in families.
Dr. Bellet has worked within the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) framework since 2000, and has extensive trainings and hundreds of hours with the developers of this ground breaking evidence based approach for all ages, including Dr. Marsha Linehan, Drs. Alec Miller and Jill Rathus (adolescents) and Dr. Francheska Perepletchikova (children).
Since 2008, as chief clinical director, Dr. Bellet has trained and supervised employees and social work and psychology interns and externs through her academic appointments at Columbia University and CW Post. Prior to that, she provided clinical training to all rotating students through her academic appointment at NYU Medical Center, including medical and college students, psychiatry, emergency and neurology residents.
Dr. Bellet’s training academy (BHBATA) offers Continuing Education (CE) and conducts workshops for teachers, parents, therapists, and first responders and essential workers within Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest public hospital in the United States. She has run a multitude of workshops on increasing health and safety, resilience and prevention, as well as reducing trauma, secondary trauma and burnout.
A Transformative Journey
Into Mindfulness
In 1999, Dr. Bellet came across Mindfulness as a treatment intervention, while researching her dissertation. Developed by John Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. (founder of the world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School), the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program stood out in contrast to other forms of treatment (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and psychoanalysis) for decreasing concomitant misery associated with pain and effectively increasing one’s capacity to cope.
Convinced by its efficacy, Dr. Bellet started incorporating these strategies into her personal and professional life. At the same time, she was intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy at NYU School of Medicine at Bellevue Hospital Center and was exposed again to Mindfulness as a primary treatment intervention, this time used for patients with severe emotional dysregulation and suicide (DBT was developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan – a behavioral scientist and Zen roshi). The coinciding exposure to and education in these two treatments for severe mind/body suffering laid the pathway for Dr. Bellet’s future. Of note, Dr. Bellet has advanced training in Acceptance Change Therapy (ACT) with Dr. Steven Hayes – another Mindfulness based therapy and has a variety of other influences including traditional Zen meditation, the works of Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman, books and audio guided lectures and meditations by Sogyal Rinpoche, Pema Chodren, Dr. Tara Brach, and most recently, books, audios, and meditations of Thich Nhat Hanh. Dr. Bellet has attended silent and teaching meditation retreats with Plum Village and Dr. Linehan, including an intensive 5-day mindfulness training in exposure to death and dying.
Shaping Mental Health Support for Communities in Crisis
Dr. Bellet obtained her doctoral degree from The Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University and interned at NYU School of Medicine / Bellevue Hospital, where she was employed for several years and had simultaneous faculty appointments.
Notably, Dr. Bellet was the clinical and co-director of the Interim Crisis Clinic at the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) at Bellevue Hospital and also worked with FEMA on a post-911 program where she received extensive training in crisis and post-disaster counseling with FEMA, the NYS Office of Mental Health, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was appointed a crisis counselor for NYC employees in the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner, NYC Council Office under Mayor Bloomberg, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, and for relief workers for the American Red Cross for those directly and indirectly affected by the 9/11 terrorist attack, Hurricane Katrina, and the assassination of Council Member James Davis at City Hall. Dr. Bellet has also provided forensic evaluations and has testified in Federal Court on behalf of victims of torture seeking asylum and in Family Court on behalf of children in foster care seeking legal placement. Most recently, she collaborated with Health and Hospitals Corporation of NYC to provide education on trauma resources within with workplace for first responders. She has also supervised, written and lectured at a variety of institutions about various clinical issues ranging from meditation, prevention and wellness to interventions for high-risk patients. She has also presented papers at American Psychological Association Conferences.
Let's See If We're A Good Fit
