Are You ?

Dr. Binus believes in whole-person care. His goal is to understand and address the emotional, physical, and spiritual factors that influence each patient’s well being. Dr. Binus serves as the clinical director of the Beautiful Minds Medical clinic which he founded in 2011. He provides outpatient psychiatry and oversees the Intensive Outpatient Program. He’s also on the medical staff at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, and a clinical instructor for Loma Linda University.

Dr. Binus completed a master’s degree in Public Health Education and enjoys conducting lectures and workshops on depression and other mental health topics. He also developed a mental health curriculum for the HIV/AIDS orphans of sub-Saharan Africa, which is currently being implemented in the country of Lesotho. Dr. Binus believes that proper mental-health education and support can greatly improve the lives of people and communities. He is grateful for the opportunity to transform lives, one beautiful mind at a time.

From refurbishing furniture to refurbishing the mind, Amanda loves home and people’s improvement. Amanda believes in honest therapy. Her goal is to empower clients to discover the causes behind their challenges and take action to address them. Amanda’s counseling experience includes substance abuse, depression, anxiety, teenage growing pains, spiritual development, and issues that affect relationships. Amanda also enjoys lecturing on a variety of mental health topics.

While working in development/fundraising for a private high school, Amanda realized that many of the students there were struggling with home and life challenges that made it hard for them to focus in school. She wanted to find a way to help. Amanda decided to enter the field. She earned a masters degree in marriage and family therapy at Loma Linda University. It brings Amanda great joy to help her clients experience complete renovation!

Dr. Elsen has a deep burden for helping others. She was moved by this compassion to pursue both a master’s and doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology at Loma Linda University. She further completed an internship at VA Boston Healthcare System, affiliate of Harvard and Boston University, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Her experience includes depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, coping with chronic and terminal illness, and meaning-centered therapy. In addition to psychotherapy, she has experience in and enjoys teaching and supervising aspiring counseling students, and providing seminars and training on mental health. 

Dr. Elsen further explains her mission and approach to psychotherapy: life is like a long and seemingly never-ending road trip. We get lost—we take the wrong turns, enter the wrong GPS destination, and the long list of “mistakes” (or lessons) goes on.  Sometimes all we need is a co-pilot. Dr. Elsen is committed to being her clients’ co-pilot: guiding them to their intended destination (accomplish their goals), enjoy the journey (find fulfillment in life), and to confidently drive on their own (to become their own therapist!).

After 15 years of global marketing experience and having lost her health due to “burnout”, Mariola learned how crucial lifestyle is for overall wellness. Her mission is to support clients to live their values and find solutions through wholistic health habits. In addition to coaching Beautiful Minds clients, she is the founder of BeHealthy Living®, a project that promotes wholistic health (body, mind and spirit) to executives and corporations internationally. 

Shama has served on the leadership team of Beautiful Minds Wellness since 2017. Evidence of the strong body mind connection informs her desire to support individuals to find optimal healing through a wide spectrum of integrative care. Her passion is finding ways to make eating whole plant-based foods fun and enjoyable for herself, her family (including 2 teenagers) and others. She firmly believes people “eat food, not facts” and desires to make eating well simple, and energizing.

Shama received her Masters of Public Health with an emphasis in nutrition from the University of California at Berkeley and is a registered dietitian, with a BS from Loma Linda University. She worked many years in maternal and child nutrition before transitioning to management, administration and web based learning. She enjoys hiking, traveling, and eating great tasting healthy food. Her desire is that transformational mental health education and support would be accessible to anyone desiring healing – no matter their physical location.