Leonard M. Brassard, Ph.D.

 

Our Studio Director, Dr. Len Brassard, is a licensed Psychologist with over 34 years of clinical experience. He has trained staff, social workers, nurses and physicians in the development of behavior treatment plans in medical facilities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mississippi, and Arkansas. In his private practice Dr. Brassard has treated children and adults with diagnoses such as: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Down's syndrome, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder and individuals with intellectual disabilities. He has also provided psychological assessments and recommendations as the Psychologist on a multidisciplinary team assisting children and families involved with the Department of Social Services (D.S.S.).
 

In addition to administering clinical training and treatment, Dr. Brassard has trained professional and line staff in medical facilities throughout Massachusetts, including Psychiatry residents at UMass Medical School in Worcester, MA., in non-violent methods of redirecting an aggressive patient’s strikes or kicks and immediately placing the patient in physical constraint or restraint, eliminating or minimizing injury to staff or patients.  He named these training techniques: “Preventative Aggressive Techniques for Hospitals” (PATH), and filmed a series of videos outlining these techniques for staff of the UMass Psych. Unit.  As interest in his methods grew, he taught PATH to staff members at Worcester State Hospital, where these techniques have been part of new staff training since the late 1980’s.

Dr. Brassard's academic teaching career began formally in 1978 at Mississippi State University as the Head Teaching Assistant in the Psychology Department. He has held faculty or adjunct faculty positions at Mississippi State University, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has also been on the faculty of the Psychiatry Department at the UMass Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Brassard has recently taught wellness "gym" classes for middle and high school students at the North Central Charter Essential School in Fitchburg, MA, and was also a member of the School Board at Crocker Elementary School in Fitchburg, MA. in the mid-90's.

Dr. Brassard's martial arts training began in the summer of 1966 when he joined a Judo class at a YMCA. As he became more interested in street self-defense martial arts he began a study of Chinese Kenpo Karate, and by the mid-70's he was teaching at two Kenpo studios in Massachusetts.  In 1977, as part of a senior class project, he taught a self-defense class at the University of Lowell (now UMass Lowell) in Lowell, MA.  In 1978, as a second degree black belt, he began graduate training in Clinical Psychology at Mississippi State University (MSU). With the encouragement of one of his Psychology professors, he began teaching a university course entitled: "Self-Defense for the Mind and Body." As he developed the course curriculum, Dr. Brassard integrated the art of Kenpo Karate with the science of behavioral Psychology, providing students with self-defense instruction in addition to elements of relaxation training, assertiveness training and principles of cognitive and rational emotive therapy.

In 1980 he was accepted into the Ph.D. graduate program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he continued integrating psychological concepts and therapies with his Kenpo martial arts training.  By 1983 he had opened two full-time martial arts studios, one part-time martial arts club, and had one of his senior students teaching his Kenpo curriculum in Florida.  To involve his students in the national martial arts community, Dr. Brassard contacted Mr. Ed Parker, the founder of American Kenpo Karate, and he and his students were invited to join the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA), under the banner of the Mississippi Kenpo Karate Association. In 1985, as part of his Psychology internship, Dr. Brassard taught a Kenpo Karate self-defense class at the University of Arkansas. As enrollment grew, he formed the Arkansas Kenpo Karate Association, and these students also became members of Mr. Parker's IKKA.  By founding these two martial arts associations, Dr. Brassard became the first IKKA representative in Mississippi and Arkansas. After receiving his Ph.D., and with Mr. Parker's approval, Dr. Brassard became a contributing writer for the martial arts magazines: Black Belt, Inside Kung-Fu, and Tae-Kwon-Do Times. In fact, following Mr. Parker's passing in 1990, Dr. Brassard wrote an article for Black Belt Magazine introducing Mr. Richard "Huk" Planas, the (then) Vice-President of the IKKA, to the martial arts community.

Today Dr. Brassard and his son Lenny own and operate the Family Martial Arts Center (FMAC) in Fitchburg, MA. providing a comprehensive curriculum that couples the art of Kenpo Karate with the science of behavioral Psychology. He also continues to counsel individuals and families at the New Beginnings Counseling Center in Fitchburg, MA. 

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