• Brenner Center

    The Brenner Center provides a wide variety of psychological testing, and as part of its mission serves many underserved children and families at low cost.

  • Brenner-Older Adults

    The Brenner Center at William James College offers neuropsychological assessment of older adults under the supervision of Dr. Jason Osher.

  • Brenner-NYC

    Early Childhood Assessment: Neurodevelopmental Assessment Service for Young Children (NYC).

  • Brenner-RRPTS

    Rapid Response Psychological Testing Service (RRPTS) for Children, Adolescents and Young Adults.

  • Brenner Center NYC

    At The Brenner Center, we have outstanding mental health expertise in the specific area of psychological and neurodevelopmental assessment of children.

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The Dr. Leon O. Brenner Center for Psychological Assessment & Consultation

The  Dr. Leon O. Brenner Center for Psychological Assessment and Consultation at William James College provides comprehensive psychological assessment to address problems of learning and adjustment for children, adolescents and adults. On the Center’s staff are senior psychologists, doctoral students, and post-doctoral fellows who work as a team to provide comprehensive evaluations, jargon-free reports, consultation and advocacy to facilitate the implementation of assessment recommendations.

Our thorough, accessible reports provide invaluable information to therapists, physicians, educators, employers, families and individuals to assist with educational planning, job performance, psychotherapy and personal growth. William James College has always endorsed the tremendous value of a thoughtful and thorough psychological assessment in improving treatment and educational plans and in improving quality of life. The Brenner Center provides this invaluable service.

Psychological assessment and consultation at the Brenner Center can help psychotherapists and psychopharmacologists
  • Assess your client’s learning style and cognitive-affective “fingerprint” to optimize treatment.
  • Locate problems in daily living in the context of your client’s overall personality.
  • Decide whether your patient or client could benefit from formal psychological assessment to clarify a complex presentation; identify a learning disability; distinguish conditions which could benefit from psychotherapy from conditions for which psychotherapy is unlikely to lead to much change.
  • Translate arcane testing reports into plain language; decide whether additional testing is needed.
  • Get a second opinion about conditions which are sometimes over diagnosed, such as ADHD.

Our reports put the client rather than the diagnosis in the center, and we make realistic recommendations which are consistent with clients’ actual resources.

Psychological assessment and consultation at the Brenner Center can help pediatricians answer questions which you encounter every day in your practice
  • Differential diagnosis of attentional problems with or without comorbid learning disabilities.
  • Diagnosis of childhood depression and anxiety disorders.
  • Identification of pervasive developmental delays.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of psychotropic medications.
  • Translate arcane testing reports by other psychologists into plain language, and decide whether additional testing is needed.
Psychological assessment and consultation at the Brenner Center can help individuals and parents to
  • Develop a parenting style which matches how your child learns best.
  • Understand why your child is not performing at full potential at school.
  • Access educational and social supports which a loved one may be entitled to such as special education services or Department of Mental Retardation services.
  • Get a second opinion when psychological assessment by another psychologist did not meet your needs.
  • Translate arcane testing reports into plain language, and decide whether additional testing is needed.
  • Get more time for yourself or your child to take important examinations.

The Brenner Center serves clients from throughout Eastern Massachusetts. Clients are referred from social service agencies, schools, pediatricians and other physicians, and psychotherapists, as well as being self-referred.

For an appointment or more information, please call 617-327-6777 x2283 or please email BrennerIntake@williamjames.edu.

The Brenner Center accepts the following insurances
  • Beacon Health Strategies, which includes: Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP), Boston Medical Center Health Plan (BMCHP) and Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (MBHP).
  • Network Health Plan (Tufts NHP): We can acceptTufts NHP only—we are not otherwise an in-network provider for Tufts.
  • MassHealth: (coverage for mental health services under MassHealth is variable. Some versions of Mass Health—such asMassHealth Limited— offer no coverage whatsoever for mental health assessment services. Other versions of Mass Health cover mental health assessment services through one of the three providers listed above under the Beacon Health Strategies network (thus, through NHP, BMCHP, or MBHP) or through Network Health Plan under the Tufts Health plan network. Please be prepared to discuss your particular MassHealth plan with us if you want to use your MassHealth insurance to pay for our mental health assessment services.
  • Blue Cross/Blue Shield

Plans with deductibles: Please note that if your plan has a deductible, you will have to pay us directly to "use up" your deductible, before we can proceed to bill your insurance. We provide you with a detailed bill to document to your insurer your deductible payments to us. 

Dr. Leon O. Brenner

As a William James College Founder and faculty member, Dr. Leon O. Brenner dedicated his career to community service and clinical training. In addition to his teaching, administrative work and psychotherapy practice, Dr. Brenner had a special passion for psychological assessments. He saw the value of this service to schools, families, courts and working people as well as its central place in training sophisticated clinicians. The Dr. Leon O. Brenner Center preserves his commitment to training and the availability of expert psychological consultation to those in need.

For an appointment or more information

Contact the Intake Coordinator
at  617-327-6777 x2283. 

Other questions? Contact the Executive Director at BrennerIntake@williamjames.edu, 617-564-9470 or fax 617-323-6969.

Brenner Center Location

1 Wells Avenue 
Newton, MA 02459
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