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Community Business Spotlight: Peter from Aspen Grove Holistic Psychiatry


We're excited to introduce Peter from Aspen Grove Holistic Psychiatry. He's our go to for all things mental health wellness. He's no ordinary psychiartist, he's approuching his line of work with a holistic mindset. To bring a fresh perspective to his clients, he created Aspen Grove Holistic Psychiatry.


Aspen Grove is rooted in a different kind of mental health care, one that goes beyond symptom and diagnosis management and works to help people pursue the lives they've always wanted to live. By offering personalized mental health care plans grounded in each patient's individual story and goals, Peter helps people achieve the life they want, not just tolerate the ones they have.


We asked Peter a few questions to get a little insight on his story, here's what he had to say:


WL: What inspired you to start your business/ or get into this field of work?

Peter: I decided to become a psychiatrist because I love the complexities of the mind and how they both give use incredible traits and cause such anguish. I quickly learned though that psychiatry unfortunately has become overly medicalized and focuses more on treating algorithmic diagnoses than it does understanding each patient's individual mind. I started Aspen Grove because I wanted to practice psychiatry the way it was meant to be practiced. Aspen Grove moves psychiatry away from a medical model to one of true care. By offering longer appointments, direct patient to provider access, and individualized treatment plans tailored to each patient's story and goals, we're helping people live more whole, connected, joyful lives.


WL: What drew you to psychiatry, and how has your philosophy around mental health care evolved over the years?

Peter: I've always loved the brain and mind. As a 6 year old I was playing brain surgery simulators on my original apple desktop computer. I also come from a family of actors and writers and love great stories. Psychiatry is a field rooted as much in story telling as it is the brain. Unlike other medical fields that value efficiency and objectivity, psychiatry is as much art as it is science. I love that practicing good psychiatry requires you to take your time to hear someone's story and sit in their emotions with them. I believe that we do people a disservice by pathologizing emotions and simplifying their experience into a collection of diagnoses. There is no such thing as bad emotions. Even our most challenging experiences have value when looked at from the right perspective. I believe mental health care should be based on helping people understand and move through their emotions rather than see them as an enemy.


WL: Tell us the inspiration behind your "holistic" approach.

Peter: I was actually hesitant to even use the term "holistic" because it's such buzzword now that it has lost a lot of it's meaning. To me holistic care means treating the "whole" unique person, which requires me to full hear and understand someone's story and goals before ever making treatment recommendations. Holistic care also requires doctors and patients to have a real trusting relationship. I prioritize building real, lasting relationships with my patients so that they can be their full selves in appointments and feel fully supported in working towards their most ambitious goals.


WL: What do you want people to feel when they walk in the door/receive your services?

Peter: So many people have such bad experiences with psychiatrists that I mostly want people to walk out feeling like they had a normal, human conversation with me, haha. More deeply, I want people to feel fully listened to, cared about, and supported. If someone walks out feeling like someone understands them, I've done my job.


WL: What do you wish more people understood about what holistic psychiatry actually is?

Peter: Holistic has so often been co-opted to mean anti-medication and that's not at all what it means. Medications can be used holistically when they are intentionally prescribed based on an individual's emotional experience and goals. Medications are certainly not indicated in every patient on see and there are people I see for years without ever prescribing a medication, but there are situations where medications can be extremely helpful and when used intentionally can be a very important part of someone's treatment plan.


WL: How do you distinguish between stress that's part of life and stress that's become a real problem worth addressing?

Peter: I don't think I really differentiate between these two. Lots of people come to me for support around managing stress that's a part of every day life (ie. breakups, job transitions, grief, etc). Often times an unexpected life change is someone's entry into therapy and becomes a launching point for them to start a journey of deep and extremely journey into personal reflection and self work.


WL: You recently shared that you "hope to guide patients as they pursue the life they want, not just tolerate the one they have." What does that look like in practice? How do you help someone figure out what that life actually is, especially if they've been struggling for a long time?

Peter: What a great question! I often think of myself more as a guide than I do a doctor. My goal is to help patients unlock their own healing ability more than it is to "cure" anyone. Doctors so often take the role of "knower," but I really try to remain very curious when meeting with patients. I want my conversations with patients to feel like we're exploring a new trail together. Remaining intentionally curious helps patients explore their goals, priorities, values, spirituality in a way they've never been invited to before and explore parts of themselves they may have never met.


WL: In your own life, how do you protect your mental health given the weight of the work you do?

Peter: I keep my practice small so that I can give 100% of myself to my patients. Psychiatrists are often stretched so thin professionally that they have so little to give to each patient. I also am in my own therapy since I've learned the best way to help patients is to help and understand myself better. Outside of work, I do things that nourish me as much as I can: exercise, spend time in nature, be present with my family. I still find the most re-charging activity to be sitting alone at a coffee shop while people watching.


Where to find him:

Address: 2991 Kalmia Street, San Diego, CA 92104

Instagram: @PeterKassMD



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