The Brainspotting Hub for the Middle East & North Africa

Brainspotting MENA is supported & endorsed by Dr David Grand, founder of Brainspotting

Our vision is to build an army of healers, where we need it most

Our mission across the Middle East & North Africa region :

1. Deliver high quality, culturally attuned, internationally recognised Brainspotting practitioner trainings (Phase trainings & speciality trainings);

2. Develop & support the growth of localised Brainspotting practitioner communities, with continued professional development;

3. Facilitate pathways for Brainspotting provision with a registry of trained Brainspotting practitioners;

4. Provide humanitarian practitioner trainings and crisis trauma response missions;

5. Partner with leading bodies for data-driven research & development

Our Journey

2024 saw the first Phase trainings in history in the Middle East & North Africa

Through Senior International Trainer Marie-Jose Boon, and Trainer-in-training Chantale Ishac, within 14 months, 3x Phase One trainings and 2x Phase Two trainings were delivered.

36 psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health clinicians and educational coaches from across MENA completed Phase One, and 18 completed Phase Two.

15 clinicians continue their development through Monthly Consultation Groups with Brainspotting MENA, working toward their Brainspotting certification.

A handful of numerous notable highlights from Brainspotting MENA’s inception include:

  • being the first invited sponsor for the first trauma conference in the region, MENATA;

  • presenting at several trauma conferences in the region including The Psychology Masterclass in Abu Dhabi;

  • facilitating a world first brainspotting event utilising fire in the desert, FireGaze;

  • long-term ongoing partnerships with wellness organisations including F45 Middle East & North Africa;

  • honoured to be part of three humanitarian trauma missions, for 1200 Palestinian children displaced from Gaza;

  • hosted a bespoke 3 hour workshop facilitated by Dr David Grand, founder of Brainspotting, and the MENA regions first trained brainspotting practitioners, on the neuroexperiential model of Brainspotting and its integration within the cultures and subcultures within the Middle East & North Africa regions communities. Recording can be viewed via our Resources page.

2025 promises to be a year of continued growth for Brainspotting in our region, with more Phase trainings scheduled throughout the year, and a Brainspotting Intensive with Senior International Trainer, Marie Jose Boon, coming to the region in October.

Our Founder

Chantale Ishac RC,  founder of Brainspotting Middle East & North Africa, is an internationally renown addiction and trauma specialist, specialist counsellor, consultant, and Brainspotting Trainer In Training.

Beirut born, Sydney raised, and resident of Dubai, she holds two decades expertise in the rehabilitation sector across Australasia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Her passion is to relieve unnecessary suffering, and provide pathways to long term healing and recovery through cutting edge neuroscience and psychotherapy.

Chantale was awarded 'Young Alumni for Outstanding Achievement' from the University of Sydney in 2016, recognised as a Health Science Thought Leader, and Sydney Health Leaders invited speaker on multiple occasions. She has presented at numerous conferences internationally on brainspotting, addiction, trauma resolution, high performance, family interventions, and pathways for residential services.

Chantale’s career began in long-term residential treatment, initially in clinical case management, soon to coordinating operations of residential treatment facilities. During this period, observing a gap for Middle Eastern communities in Australia, Chantale simultaneously cofounded a non-profit residential treatment service in 2011, for culturally-specific communities. This service continues to operate in Sydney, Australia, under the patronage of the Maronite Eparchy of Australia.

Witnessing a need for early intervention, she founded her private practice in 2013, providing interventions and outpatient addiction recovery. This quickly grew to service elite sports and corporates, working with renowned athletes and creatives, c-suite executives, public figures and royal family members. Services expanded to workshops for schools, universities & elite sports clubs worldwide; and became the preferred intervention provider to Australia's largest rehabilitation centres, with her Compassion Focused Intervention model.

Through continued education, Chantale came across the modality of Brainspotting. This revolutionised the speed and safety of trauma resolution with her clients, as she journeyed through all phase trainings and numerous specialty trainings, seeing the immense benefit in therapeutic practice.

Under the direction of Dr David Grand, the founder of Brainspotting, Chantale is being trained as the first Brainspotting Trainer in the Middle East & North Africa. Chantale’s hope is to develop practitioners to become consultants and eventual trainers of their own communities and countries within MENA, making this astounding modality accessible to all.