Blue Train Design Consulting, LLC  

Boutique consulting firm specializing in content design for digital therapeutics that converges software and content to optimize engagement & outcomes and product market fit. Results-oriented with deep expertise in evidence-based treatments and AI-driven personalized medicine. 

Achieving durable behavior change guides the design of all products, whether for mental health (depression, anxiety, substance use), medical conditions (obesity/weight loss, stress-related conditions), and wellness / personal growth. 

RESULTS ORIENTED: The firm’s founder, Edmund Neuhaus, longstanding Harvard Medical School psychologist, leads the clinical content design initiatives. Priority is changing individuals’ behavior to improve functioning and quality of life. Successes: 

+ Pfizer Digital Health & Medicines: designed the protocol and content for the migraine digital app that is Pfizer’s first commercial app product delivering behavioral treatment for a medical condition. Prototype tested on 500 patients leading to 2.0 version for commercial distribution. 

+ atai Life Sciences: led the design of protocol and content (CBT, Behavioral Activation, Mindfulness) for digital app to deliver therapeutic content to enhance treatment w/ ketamine and other psychedelic compounds. Successful prototype testing: 50 users had high degrees of engagement and reported usefulness to change behavior. 

+ deliq / Afterglow, where he leads the design of DTx app protocol and content (Mindfulness and Acceptance-Commitment Therapy) to enhance the effects of ketamine and plant-based medicine for mental health and wellness. Tested with 300+ users. 

+ Atheneum Learning, Neuhaus' start-up 2010's was forerunner of comprehensive eLearning training 1000 therapists in Neuhaus' Transdiagnostic, Flexible CBT approach. 

 ➕ Expertise in Evidence-based treatments (EBP): CBT, Behavioral Activation, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy--MBCT, ACT, DBT, and the common factors of psychotherapy that predict good outcomes.

Founder & Principal

College Parents of America

Strategic leadership role to develop content for parents guiding them to support the mental health and well-being of their children who are students in college.

Senior Clinical Advisor

Pfizer

Lead content designer for DTx app products delivering behavioral treatments to enhance care for medical conditions. Designed products for personalized medicine converging clinical content and software features. My evidence-based clinical approach integrates core CBT principles, behavioral activation, and mindfulness-based interventions.
✅  Signature achievement: Designed and wrote clinical content for prototype app product. Worked with dev and product teams to optimize product market fit. Tested with 500 patients yielding positive results on effectiveness, usefulness, and satisfaction with the product.
✅  Designed /upgraded to version 2.0 for commercial use. First commercial app product for the company.

Digital Health & Medicines, Lead Consultant in DTx Content Design

Harvard Medical School

McLean Hospital: Clinical Leader; Principal Investigator, CBT Outcome research on effectiveness of CBT in partial hospital/ Intensive Outpatient Treatment; and, Co-Director of Psychology Training. Served as teacher, mentor, and clinical supervisor for psychology interns and post-doctoral fellows. 

I began as an Instructor in Psychology in 1991, and in 2003 I was promoted to Assistant Professor based on achievements at McLean Hospital in innovative clinical care, administrative leadership, and achievements in upgrading the Psychology Training Internship program. At that time I was full-time at McLean serving in multiple roles: Director of the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program, 
Co-Director of Psychology Training, and Principal Investigator of the CBT Treatment Outcome Program. When I left my full-time position at McLean in 2009, my title changed to Assistant Clinical Professor which reflects part-time, unpaid status.

A major achievement of my academic career was integrating the Harvard/ McLean Psychology Internship training program into the clinical service delivery of the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program. In 2006, the internship earned national recognition from the American Psychological Association as Best Psychology Internship among 900 programs in the US.At

Assistant Clinical Professor

atai Life Sciences

I co-led cross-functional initiatives in R&D to design and develop DTx app products for clinical trials with psychedelics. We utilized a human-centered design and behavioral economics/ behavior design to maximize engagement and changes in positive changes in behaviors and habits to overcome long-standing dysfunctional patterns due to chronic mental health conditions. 

Atai Life Sciences is a global biotech start-up company with the mission to develop new and innovative treatments for alleviating the recovery of severe mental health conditions primarily using psychedelic compounds. I was hired to co-develop the new DTx product line to deliver psychotherapy via DTx app in combination with psychedelics. I started as the sole clinical content designer, working with the lead software designer and a small team of digital software engineers. We built the DTx prototype and began testing within just 6 months. 

Over my tenure, the psychotherapeutic team grew to four and we refined our behavioral design / human-centered design approach to converge clinical content with software features to maximize user engagement. We designed and built several new DTx products for clinical trials testing, and completed iterative testing of DTx products with 40+ participants showing positive results for engagement with Ketamine-combination interventions. 

I co-developed Behavioral Psychedelics model (published in Frontiers in Psychiatry)that informed the clinical treatment design for the DTx products to achieve durable behavior change and relapse prevention.

Senior Director, Psychology and Psychotherapeutic Development

Community Intervention Services, Inc.

I led initiatives to establish clinical standards of care with CBT evidence-based protocols, instituted outcomes measurement systems and EHR Clinical Decision Support, implemented quality/compliance, and designed eLearning training for 2000 clinicians serving 30,000 patients annually. This was largely a home-based care model of therapists going to patients' home.

Community Intervention Services--CIS was a PE-backed parent company of a national network of community-based, behavioral healthcare companies providing care for 30,000 clients annually with 2000 clinicians in seven states along the east coast with an exit in 2021. 

As Chief Clinical Officer, I was responsible for clinical strategic planning and execution of initiatives to improve standards of care across five subsidiaries offering multiple services lines: child and adult outpatient services both in-clinic and at clients' homes, psychiatric evaluation and management, intensive outpatient services, Autism services, and Early Intervention for birth to age 5. 

Major accomplishments: Co-led initiative to establish a standardized screening and Clinical Decision Support system for Suicide Risk Assessment fully integrated into clinician workflow with EHR dashboards to monitor quality and compliance; designed and implemented an outcomes measurement system that was incorporated into the standard EHR clinical workflow yielding data for descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics to improve quality of care; co-led team to establish a company culture for data-informed clinical care by optimizing the use of EHR technology across the enterprise; instituting comprehensive Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) processes to meet industry standards for Quality and Compliance, and Corporate Compliance.

Chief Clinical Officer

Atheneum Learning

In 2008, I founded Atheneum Learning to train mental health providers in Cognitive Behavior Therapy-CBT using scalable eLearning technology and human/technology hybrid approaches. My vision was to expand the use of CBT worldwide by providing gold-standard clinical training content developed and researched at Harvard Medical School/ McLean Hospital through an innovative approach. In 2009, this was one of the few comprehensive, online training programs in competency-based CBT practices. The "Flexible CBT Approach" was based on a pragmatic, transdiagnostic, patient-driven approach that is effective for treating depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and combinations thereof. I decided to enter the start-up world with the aim of providing scalable training that would otherwise not be available to thousands of mental health professionals needing training in CBT evidence-based approaches. 
 
Atheneum Learning was funded through a combination of bootstrapping, Angel Investments totaling $250K, and $450K revenue from contracts and partnerships. I negotiated a sole source contract with US Navy Medicine to train their therapists worldwide, with additional channel-partner contracts with CIGNA and Aetna insurance companies and their provider panels in over 40 states in the US.

Founder & CEO

Private Practice

Board Certified Clinical Psychologist with a wide range of specialties, treating depression, anxiety, personality disorders, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and the spectrum of psychotic disorders.

Psychotherapist and Consultant

Shanghai Mental Health Center

I led an intensive workshop training program in transdiagnostic, Flexible CBT Approach (from Atheneum Learning) from 2009 to 2012 at the Shanghai Mental Health Center, China's largest psychiatric institution.  After giving a Keynote address and workshop in Flexible at the First Chinese CBT Conference in Nanjing, China, I was recruited to teach 100 clinical leaders from 14 Provinces in China to proliferate CBT in the Chinese Mental Health System. This three-year program was designed for two workshops per year (1 week each) for didactic training, case consultation, the applied practice of CBT skills, and watching live interviews I conducted to demonstrate approach and technique. I still maintain close connections with my Chinese colleagues there and am pleased that CBT has really taken hold.

Master Teacher/ Master Clinician in Cognitive Behavior Therapy

McLean Hospital

I led this CBT partial hospital ("day hospital) program with specialty tracks: Mood andAnxiety, Bipolar/Psychotic Disorders, and Borderline Personality Disorder, all told serving 10,000 patients during my tenure. The program earned a national reputation as one of the premier intensive CBT treatment programs drawing patients nationally from the US and internationally. 

The BHP was the basis of the "Fixed Values and Flexible Treatment" program model I published as a peer-reviewed position paper featured in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The basic assumption of the model is that both clinical and organizational aspects of a psychiatry program must be inherently adaptable to maintain consistent effectiveness for all stakeholders: patients, staff, hospital, and payers.

Director, Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program (BHP)

I led the day-to-day operations of the nationally recognized Harvard Medical School/ McLean Hospital Psychology internship program starting in 1996 with the title of Associate Director of Training and then to Co-Director.  In 1996, I completely revamped the organizational structure and training curriculum and made it financially viable by integrating it into the clinical service of the partial hospital program. In 2006, the program earned the American Psychological Association award for excellence as the #1 internship program in the US among 900 training programs.

Co-Director, Psychology Training

I bootstrapped this research program with trainee and staff volunteers which evolved into a nationally recognized CBT research program in partial hospital treatment with five peer-reviewed publications on data collected from 1200 patients.

The research tested and showed effectiveness of the transdiagnostic Flexible CBT approach for depression and related mood and anxiety disorders. We developed, validated, and published the CBT Skills Questionnaire demonstrating that acquisition and use of Behavioral Activation and Cognitive Restructuring skills predict depression recovery.

Principal Investigator, CBT Research Program, Behavioral Health Partial Hospital 

I approach every day with a start-up mindset. My focus? What can I contribute to improve the lives of 10 million people? Behavior change is my North Star. I get results by designing innovative digital products that maximize engagement and change behavior, at scale. There is no effective clinical treatment, no personal growth, no weight loss, no fitness, and no enduring healthy relationships without behavior change. Let’s get to it!

Edmund Neuhaus, PhD, ABPP

Ground Control Research

At Ground Control Research, we help marketing agencies install insight-powered strategy systems that are faster, sharper, and more profitable than their current approaches.

We work with ambitious agencies to:

✅ Package their unique strategy process so it’s easier to sell, deliver, and scale
✅ Speed up strategy delivery with battle-tested frameworks, smart tools, and (only where useful) AI
✅ Protect and grow margin by tightening ops and raising client willingness to pay
✅ Reinforce strategy throughout the entire client relationship, not just at kickoff

After a decade helping fast-growing startups (and the agencies who serve them) make bold, confident go-to-market moves, we’ve distilled what actually works into practical systems your whole team can run.

Whether you know your strategy process needs a tune-up, or just have a hunch it could be working harder for you, we’ll take a look under the hood and make it better.

→ DM me or go to www.groundcontrolresearch.com to learn more and book a diagnostic.

Founder & President

Boutique Growth

As the Customer Listening Coach for Launchpad and The 90 Day Pipeline, I coach B2B consultants and agencies on how to: 
- Niche down their target audience and positioning
- Develop super-resonant positioning by speaking the language of their customers
- Create service offerings that get their clients to amazing results
- Develop relevant go-to-market plans and strategies that get them the business results they want
- Gather and apply relevant market insights to make all of the above excruciatingly better

As an action-oriented coach who has also been a successful participant in Boutique Growth's programs, I work live with clients to make strategic decisions, interpret insights, and troubleshoot mindset/approach challenges. My weekly 90 minute high-energy group coaching sessions lead to incredible clarity, confidence, and certainty on next steps to keep moving forward on growth

Customer Listening & Business Strategy Coach

Ripple Impact

As the Business Growth & Entrepreneurship Coach for Ripple Impact, I help clients develop their entrepreneurial vision, create a revenue-producing business model, develop their target market and positioning, and create precise growth strategies for their business....all while ensuring that they grow their mindset and capabilities as entrepreneurs, so that they can actually make the impact they want to make and get the results they want in their businesses.

Business Growth & Entrepreneurship Coach

UserTesting

Part-time researcher working on all sorts of interesting user studies.

UX Researcher

Google

- Synthesized perspectives from product teams, support teams, and other key stakeholders to shape the way user feedback is utilized within Google
- Provided strategic analysis of user feedback data to support new product launches and ongoing product development initiatives for 3 Google products (with each product reaching over 1 billion users per month)
- Conducted deep dive analyses and other ad-hoc reporting to support product team evaluation and execution of new initiatives (ex. UI changes, menu changes, feature launches, etc.)
- Developed and led analytical project management process for team, identifying areas where our team could simplify
- Supported cross-functional team efforts through program management and strategic communications development

Consumer Insight Analyst

SquareTrade

- Managed end-to-end customer experience improvement with a focus on data-driven decision making
- Owned and improved customer feedback loops (NPS, CSAT, etc.)
- Utilized customer feedback and data to drive specific innovations in product, services, and processes
- Developed and implemented research to drive acquisition in new segments and increase lifetime value
- Found the right data to make the right decision and gained buy-in from all stakeholders to move projects forward

Consumer Insights Manager - Voice of the Customer

Soylent

- Responsible for everything customer-facing at a 6-person VC-backed startup (2nd hire)
- Managed and executed PR strategy, customer communications, retention strategy, brand strategy, acquisition/growth pipeline, web strategy, consumer-focused product development, community management, etc. 
- Launched eCommerce site and tripled monthly revenue over a 4 month period through holistic awareness-focused marketing programs

VP Marketing

- Leveraged research skills to inform direct-to-consumer advertising/marketing strategy
- Supported brand positioning through consumer-facing public relations research
- Owned analytics and gave recommendations for new direct-to-consumer marketing pilot programs

Manager, Marketing Research & Analytics

- Worked with senior leadership (CMO, COO) to inform business strategy and growth through consumer research
- Designed custom research instruments (surveys, A/B tests, etc.) to support strategic evaluation of marketing initiatives
- Built data dashboards capturing direct to consumer initiative metrics and provided business recommendations based on findings
- Used consumer research and customer data to identify and drive marketing initiatives with the highest benefit to sales/revenue
- Provided research and insights to support business development and new strategic partnerships
- Supported brand positioning through consumer-facing public relations research

Senior Analyst - Consumer Insights & Analytics

The Nielsen Company

- Worked directly with Market Research, Marketing, and Brand Management teams at clients in the consumer packaged goods, financial services, and telecom industries to diagnose and address key business issues surrounding new product development
- Identified consumer behavior trends through representative consumer testing and predicted new initiative sales using detailed forecasting models

Senior Analyst, Client Consulting - Innovation Analytics

- Evaluated new products for launch via representative consumer testing and data analysis
- Relayed key diagnostic areas for improvement
- Predicted new initiative sales using several forecasting models

Analyst, Client Consulting - Innovation Analytics

GE Energy

- Devised and led an IT process improvement engaging members of Accounting, Contractual Services, Product Support, and Field Engineering to automate accounting business reason classification for turbine parts and repairs
- Discovered and corrected systems integration issues across the Finance and Contractual Services organizations which had resulted in up to $10 million per quarter in improperly recognized revenue
- Analyzed existing forecasting and pacing methodologies and initiated improvements resulting in increased accuracy and servicing cost reduction

Analyst (College Intern), Contractual Services Forecasting & Pacing

If you run a growing agency, strategy work is probably your biggest time-suck and your biggest opportunity for differentiation and client success. 

So, obviously you’re not going to stop doing it even if it's costing you.

You know the drill:
- You get off a sales call and it’s “all hands on deck” for a RFP and in the chaos, you’re wondering if you got it right
- Clients say strategy is valuable, then push back on the price
- You spend hours on a brilliant idea that is misunderstood or rejected
- Clients say they agree to the strategy but later question your team’s recommendations
- Your team is smart, but their strategy work can’t be scaled
- You want to delegate strategy, but it feels impossible without losing fidelity

Here’s the deal:

Whether you’ve defined it or not, you already have a strategy development process. It shows up in every pitch, every brief, every onboarding, every annual planning.

The question is:
- Is it scalable?
- Is it high-profit?
- Can your team run it without you?
- Can your clients see the value in it?

You need to:
- Make your unique strategy process as efficient and effective as possible for both client outcomes and your margin
- Package it so clients understand and want it, so pricing stops being a battle
- Build systems to scale it across your team including the right tools, budgets, and where to use AI (and where not to)

That’s where I come in.

Over the past decade as founder of Ground Control Research, I’ve helped some of the fastest-growing startups you’ve probably heard of (and their agencies!) use market insight to develop ultra-clear, ultra-focused, ultra-successful go-to-market strategies. 

Our methodology in a nutshell: Cut through noise and improve strategy development with high-precision insight gathering, interpretation, and application systems.

Today, I help agencies do the same for their clients by tuning their strategy development processes to be faster, smarter, and actually profitable.

I work with small-to-mid-sized agencies (5–50 people, $2M–$20M) that deliver brand, content, digital, creative, media, or growth strategy and are ready to level up strategy development.

So you can:
- Win more, higher ticket strategy work
- Protect your margin without compromising quality
- Make your team faster, sharper, and more consistent
- Scale strategy without hiring more strategists
- Reinforce your value throughout the client lifecycle
- Grow without compromising your uniqueness

Ready to stop reinventing the wheel and start scaling strategy with clarity, consistency, and cash left over? Let’s talk.

taplio

The Battle

Edmund Neuhaus, PhD, ABPP

Anastassia (Ana) Laskey

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