Greg Marischen knows first-hand how fragile yet resilient the brain can be. More than 20 years ago he suffered a traumatic brain injury during a water skiing accident. After hours in surgery, Marischen could only move one side of his body and doctors told him he'd never walk again.
But through months of intensive physical therapy that doctors were sure would never work, he eventually regained the ability to move and today he can walk and play sports with his sons.
"I was told I couldn't walk again, and I was only in a wheel chair for six or seven months," said Marischen, a tax attorney from East Walnut Hills. "That was something that really changed my views and I knew one day I wanted to help other people."
Now Marischen is getting a chance to help his own son as well as other parents whose children suffer from neurobehavioral disorders including ADD, Dyslexia, Autism and other learning disabilities.
He's opening
The Brain Balance Achievement Center in Symmes Township to help treat those disorders without using drugs. A grand opening is being planned later in the year. This non-medical approach focuses on nutrition, sensory motor work and cognitive work to reconnect the brain's right and left hemispheres. The therapy known as Hemispheric Integration Therapy, or HIT, has been shown to improve student educational outcomes, according to a study in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health.
There are dozens of Brain Balance centers across the county. Marischen began to research the center when his son was diagnosed with ADHD.
"I was looking for alternatives to drugs for my son, and found Brain Balance. The more I found out about it, the more interested I was," he said.
It took him about a year to bring a franchise to Cincinnati, which included training by New-York based program founder Dr. Robert Melillo, an internationally known brain researcher, professor, author and functional neurologist.
Marischen is the Center director, but doesn't have a medical background. He has brought on a six-person team of special education teachers, motor skills coaches and a nutritionist. Initially the Center will work with youth ages 3 to 19 years old. Children will undergo a 12-week program, with three sessions a week. The work could later expand to adults, Marischen said.
The Brain Balance center is currently offering evaluations and Parent Lectures to answer questions about the center and its techniques. Call (513) 376-3085 or email Greg Marischen at
[email protected] for more information.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Greg Marischen, Brain Balance of Cincinnati
You can follow Feoshia on twitter
@feoshiawrites
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.