By Linnda Durré
“You’re too old!” said the academic advisors to the young 26-year-old medical school applicant, “You’ll never get into medical school.”
Undaunted, long-time Brentwood resident Elliott Grumer, ultimately earned his M.D. degree, with a specialization in psychiatry. Grumer attended Kenter Canyon Elementary School, Paul Revere Junior High School, and graduated in 1965 from Palisades High School, where he was an outstanding student, senior captain of the gymnastics team, and once held nearly every physical fitness record at the school.
Elliott earned his B.A. at UCLA with a double major in English Literature and Psychology, and then spent a year doing graduate work in English Literature at Berkeley. He worked in the psychiatric ward of Herrick Memorial Hospital, where he was inspired toward a career in psychiatry. Returning to Brentwood, he completed courses in chemistry, biology, physics, and calculus at Santa Monica College and applied to medical school.
While waiting, Elliott received a Master’s Degree from the San Diego campus of CSPP – California School of Professional Psychology, now known as Alliant University. He received APA-accredited training in clinical psychology, then earned his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine, returning to UCLA for his internship, psychiatric residency, and fellowship training in geriatric psychiatry, after which he began a private practice.
Grumer was increasingly aware of the promise and the constraints of traditional psychiatry, and began to explore non-traditional and complementary approaches, such as meditation, guided imagery, and neurolinguistic programming (NLP). He and his wife Laura, a sculptor, cellist and Feldenkrais practitioner, moved to Phoenix, where he was a staff psychiatrist for CIGNA, and for the remaining thirteen years, was an attending psychiatrist at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, now known as Banner Health.
He and Laura studied the Sedona Method with legendary founder, Lester Levenson, becoming two of the five instructors officially certified by Sedona Training Associates. They moved back to Brentwood and have been conducting weekend Sedona workshops Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday – for 10-20 participants for the past 20 years.
“It’s very gentle. People are never pushed,” stated Grumer. “There’s more laughter and fun in the workshops than discomfort, as people begin to experience the fact that they can let go of their negative feelings to find true happiness.”
A follow-up meeting on the last Thursday of every month is free and open to the public.
“Sometimes the most self-evident truths are the most difficult to recognize and resolve. Then when you do, everything falls into place. Simplicity, honesty, and facing one’s feelings are the keys,” states Grumer, a modest man who embodies his own philosophy, in spite of all his impressive experience and accomplishments.
Anyone interested in obtaining further information can e-mail Elliott at [email protected] A book, The Sedona Method, by Hale Dwoskin, is available at most bookstores and at Amazon. The Sedona Method website is www.sedona.com
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Linnda Durré, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist, business consultant, international speaker, and columnist. She is the author of Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Co-Workers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day (2010 – McGraw-Hill).
Contact her at [email protected] and 818-271-0204. Her book’s website is www.survivingthetoxicworkplace.com.
