When Brian Mears got the phone call that would change his life forever, he wasn’t thinking about opening a mental health clinic. He wasn’t thinking about brain scans, psychology, or trauma-informed care. He was thinking about how to help seven children, his nieces and nephews, who had nowhere else to go.
“They were living in a van in a Las Vegas parking lot,” Brian recalls. “Their mother struggled with addiction, and one of the older girls called and left a voicemail for my wife that simply said, ‘Can you help?’”
Within 24 hours, Brian had flown all seven children, from a 2-year-old toddler to a newly turned 18-year-old, across the country to Florida. Overnight, he and his wife went from a quiet, career-driven couple to parents of seven. “That was our introduction to mental health,” he says. “And we had no idea what we were getting into.”
Before that life-altering call, Brian had built an impressive career in anesthesia. He was a respected clinician, educator, and leader, directing programs across hospitals, teaching, and even testifying before congressional healthcare committees. “I was on track to lead that profession,” he says. “I had a great life, a great career. But then life threw me a curveball.”
What followed was chaos and confusion. The newly adopted children arrived carrying deep emotional scars. “We saw fighting, cursing, and aggression. The 3-year-old couldn’t make eye contact,” Brian recalls. “We thought he might be on the spectrum. It was heartbreaking.”
As a medical professional, Brian immediately sought psychiatric help, but quickly hit a wall. “When I asked my colleagues who they would trust for mental health care, nobody had an answer,” he says. “It shocked me. How could a system be so disconnected? How could we not know who was good in this profession?”
The experience exposed a gap in the healthcare system that Brian couldn’t ignore. “We went to primary care, like most Americans do,” he says. “But all we found was symptom management pills for every problem. I knew that wasn’t a real solution.”
Armed with his background in anesthesia, where data, precision, and measurable outcomes drive every decision, Brian began exploring how those same principles could be applied to psychiatry. “In anesthesia, everything is objective. You have monitors, numbers, and data. In psychiatry, almost everything is subjective,” he explains. “You ask people how they feel, and you adjust based on their answers. But I believed we could do better.”
That belief became the foundation of Alleviant Integrated Mental Health (alleviant.com), the clinic Brian launched in Arkansas in 2018. His mission: to merge compassion and data into a new model of care he calls objective psychiatry.
This model not only demystifies mental health care but also builds trust through transparency. “Our goal is to treat root causes, not just symptoms,” he emphasizes. “That’s how real healing begins.”
Today, Alleviant has become a household name in Brian’s home state of Arkansas. Its model, focused on integrated, objective, and compassionate care, has set a new standard in the industry. And most recently, Brian turned his sights to Nevada. The Henderson clinic opened this past summer, and another clinic is set to open in Summerlin this month.
“Nevada ranked last in the nation for mental health access,” Brian says. “That’s why we had to come here.”
The Las Vegas Valley, where Brian has strong personal and professional ties, faces unique challenges. “Addiction rates are high and not just drugs, but gambling and technology addictions,” he explains. “People here often lose their sense of purpose. When that happens, anxiety, depression, and substance use follow.”
Beyond expanding clinics, Brian has a broader goal: education. “The best mental health care is prevention,” he says. “If we can teach families how to build resilience early on, we can reduce the need for treatment later.”
On Alleviant’s website, families can find free digital media plans designed to help parents manage screen time and encourage meaningful connections. “We have to go back to the dinner table,” Brian says. “Talk to each other. Look each other in the eyes. Stop letting meaningless noise fill your brain. Purposeful living. That’s where mental wellness begins.”
He also believes that the pandemic shifted public perception of mental health for the better. “COVID destigmatized it,” he says. “We all experienced anxiety, isolation, and uncertainty. It made us realize that mental health is universal. It’s brain health.”
Brian’s roadmap is ambitious. Within the next year, Alleviant plans to expand into six additional states. “There’s no end to the need,” he says. “Conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism are on the rise. We’re committed to meeting that need, community by community.”
But despite the growth, his focus remains personal. “I started this journey because my family needed help and couldn’t find it,” he reflects. “Now I’m building the kind of care we wished existed back then.”
His advice to anyone struggling? “Don’t wait until your brain is broken. If you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, or insomnia, get care now. It only gets worse if you ignore it.”
Today, Brian and his wife live with their two youngest children, now teenagers. (The older kids are out of the house and thriving!)
“I tell people, stop putting your kids in your 401(k) plan, put them in ‘today’s plan’,” he says, smiling. “Be a parent who’s present now. Be a spouse who’s present now. The best gift you can give your family is your time and your attention.”
For Brian Mears, that lesson, born from one desperate voicemail in a Las Vegas parking lot has become a life’s calling: Bringing clarity, compassion, and care to the most complex organ of all ... the human mind.
Real healing begins when we treat root causes, not symptoms.