Pronoia Inc. (dba Brookside Emotional Intelligence Institute) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2009 for the purpose of enhancing the lives of individuals and families by providing ethics and values training to build character and leadership skills.
Our mission is to provide supportive relationships in a mentoring program designed to help young people recognize who they were created to be and guide them through a process to build character that enables them to overcome hurdles and utilize their strengths to achieve great purpose in their lives.
Why is This Mentoring Necessary?
The situation: Roughly two-thirds of children experience common, stressful events before age 18, according to Northwestern University – Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Common “normal” trauma issues encountered growing up include parental divorce ● emotional neglect or abuse ● physical neglect or abuse ● household dysfunction ● bullying ● loss of a loved one, among others.
The problem: Trauma during childhood, “normal” or more significant trauma, can hinder brain development and lead to emotional dysregulation, trust issues, and difficulties with relationships in adulthood. And worse, trauma is linked to chronic health problems in adulthood.
Trauma reshapes internal narratives—often outside of conscious awareness. These “lies” aren’t random; they’re adaptive conclusions the brain forms to maintain safety, predictability, or belonging in environments that felt unsafe or unstable. Over time, they solidify into false identity-level beliefs. And these lies can negatively affect how they interact with others.
Some of the most common identity distortions that emerge from trauma include:
- “I’m not good enough”, likely the result of chronic criticism, neglect or conditional approval.
- “I’m not lovable”, often caused by emotional abandonment, inconsistent caregiving, or rejection.
- “My needs don’t matter”, commonly a function of emotional neglect or environments where only others’ needs were prioritized.
- “I must be in control to be okay”, most likely caused by chaos or unpredictability in formative years.
These beliefs are not simply “false thoughts”, they are encoded survival strategies. At one point, each belief increased the likelihood of emotional or physical safety. That’s why they persist so stubbornly: they were useful.
Overcoming false identities later in life is not just intellectual, i.e., saying “that’s not true”, but experiential: a gradual updating of the nervous system with new evidence that contradicts those earlier conclusions.
Can the effects of trauma be alleviated? According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the answer is YES! They say that supportive relationships with caring adults help children build resilience and mitigate the long-term effects of trauma.
Our mentoring program provides the supportive relationships of caring adults to help young people overcome the long-term effects of trauma.
We ignite the spark in young people to live fulfilled lives by discovering their created purpose, guiding them to forge unbreakable moral character and leadership skills through timeless values like humility, gratitude, responsibility, forgiveness, motives, empathy, and servant leadership, while offering compassionate counseling to mend broken hearts and unleash limitless potential.
In our mentoring program, these young people embark on a journey that helps them to understand and embrace their true identity, enabling them to be productive members of society.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr. Bruce Ohman – Ph.D., Clinical Pastoral Counseling
- Global Priority Solutions Certified RoundTableTM Facilitator for Values-Driven Leadership Development
- Ordained Minister of Christian Education
- Certified Temperament Pastoral Counselor
- Advanced Certifications:
- Temperament Theory
- Integrated Marriage and Family Therapy
- Cognitive Therapy and Ethics
- Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor
Pamela Osgood
- Global Priority Solutions Certified RoundTableTM Facilitator for Values-Driven Leadership Development
- Commissioned Minister of Christian Education, pending