Meet thE La Mente’ Behind Mind

Oswaldo Gaytan Jr. is a first generation American, inspired by the industrious endeavors of his mother and father, Oswaldo Gaytan and Isabel Gaytan.

Two important implements, who raised a man of honor, spirituality, loyalty, and deeprooted humanitarian compassion. Speaking of his childhood with light, security, and love for the cul-de-sac, that he resided in with his childhood friends and family. He was born in a second ward clinic across the border, and raised in Juarez, Mexico for seven years.

“I had a really happy childhood. My mother made the world’s most delicious beans, had always been involved in school, and was Texas PTA volunteer of the year. My dad worked in construction and always pushed me to excel in school because he knew that was the way to succeed in the United States,” Gaytan says, with an exponential and unconditional appreciation towards his parents.

In 1985, Gaytan graduated from Austin High School. He then attended the University of Texas at El Paso from 1985 to 1990. He started his college career as a performing arts major, with a glorious gravitation towards classical guitar, theater, and sports.

“I was told I couldn’t play sports because I would risk breaking my hands,” then fate transformed Dr. Gaytan’s magnificent exhibitions from the performing arts into psychiatry.

The Minority Access to Research Careers, also known as MARC, granted him a scholarship that led to an honor’s thesis and bachelor’s degree in biology.

After five years as an undergraduate in El Paso, a new beginning awaited the intelligent and marvelous addition to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, framing the successful pathway of gaining his MD-PhD in neuropharmacology for 10 years, through dedication and diligence. Gaytan in December of 1999, with over 22 first-author publications, that include journal articles, textbooks, published papers, and a residential co-author publication in neurology text.

“I enjoyed school. I’m a perpetual student. I took as many classes as I could because I couldn’t decide on a degree. I enjoyed philosophy, and for a while I was a mathematics major. Then, because I was always interested in how the human brain worked, I turned to medical school. I was lucky enough to get into the MD-PhD program,” Gaytan explains.

As if hard-work and the rhetorical inclination of education is genetic within his bloodlines, Gaytan returned to academia. At Emory University in Atlanta, he began his internship and residency from 2000 to 2006. In addition, he completed a three-year child and adolescent research fellowship to specialize in psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, ADD/ ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, in teens, adolescents, and adults.

Dr. Gaytan made the decision to come back to El Paso due to his father’s kidney failure.

“I had been away from home for so long, went as high up as you could go in academia, but I wasn’t happy because I didn’t have my family around. I decided to regroup and come back home,” he says.

Shortly after returning, Gaytan secured monumental positions and made contributions throughout our city’s clinical, mental health providers and servicers.

In 2006, Gaytan became the medical director of child and adolescence at El Paso’s Emergence Health Network for two years.

“I only planned on coming back for a year to care for my dad and my family. Then, I’d eventually move back to Atlanta and become a physician somewhere. Oddly enough, the training director for the fellowship showed me my medical school essay. In the essay, it said how I hoped to someday come back to El Paso and start my own clinic. As a spiritual person, I believed this was my calling,” Gaytan recalls.

With great purpose and the natural force of the universe, Gaytan married his wife, who he met in Atlanta and became the medical director of El Paso Behavioral Health System’s inpatient unit in 2008, only two months after opening its doors.

“I always say that I chose psychiatry as my specialty because it’s the closest thing to art, since I started as a performing arts major. It deals with the human mind, body, and soul. It’s not just about how the brain works, but also about human experience, existence, and emotional state. That’s what makes psychiatry so great.”

The light and prominent direction of Dr. Gaytan blossomed further, with a tight grip on faith and solicitude, alongside his two children, and wife. It wasn’t long before his medical essay became an exquisite and successful reality of opening a clinic he would proudly call his own.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses abruptly shut down, La Mente Behavioral Health began its process of growth. The clinic bloomed tremendously with co-founder/ owner, friend, business partner, and physician’s assistant, Dr. Phil Petrus.

“There were very few places we could send patients after I discharged them from the inpatient setting,” says Gaytan. “Dr. Phil said, ‘I’m going to get out there and start a clinic, you can be my medical director, or you could partner with me.’ I spent several weeks praying about it, talking to my wife, and felt this place was needed. In the middle of COVID, that’s when Dr. Phil and I established La Mente Behavioral Health.”

La Mente Behavioral Health offers a variety of services, such as targeted case management, therapy, treatment plans, rehabilitative services, interactional skill development, and medication management. In addition, the clinic includes a gym and dining area for relaxation and self-enduring activities.

Dr. Gaytan describes La Mente as an “outpatient setting where we like to teach people how to swim and eventually build their own boats. They won’t ever have to worry about drowning ever again. It is not as simple as just taking medication. Once you get here, we use everything available. From diet, sleep, prayer, and exercise. We keep an open mind to anything that will help a patient live a happier and healthier life.”

Being one of the highest ranked psychiatrists in the Southwest, Dr. Gaytan explains the sincerity and urgency of helping others.

“Psychiatric illnesses are nothing but common everyday behaviors, done within an uncommon frequency or intensity, for an uncommon duration of time, or in an uncommon situation, where it is not normally done. It has to affect at least two major areas of your life. So, all of us at one point or another will be challenged with a mental health disorder,” he says.

The most fulfilling part of Gaytan’s career is being of service to those seeking help, or afraid to seek it.

“Everyday on my way to work, I thank God that I get to work in a field where I can be of service to people every single day. That I can use all the talents He has given me to meet the challenges in their lives,” he says. “Through medicine, the corny jokes I like to make, or simply with a smile that will let the patient know that someone cares about them and wants to help. There is no magic pill, the big key is equipping ourselves with tools to overcome and learn to live with our emotions or horrible things that happen to each and every one of us.”

Dr. Gaytan is mindful of the precision and guidance he delicately gives to patients, and has gratitude towards those who have helped him greatly. This includes Patricia Torres, Doctorate in Nurse Practitioner, Jesse Montero, Clinical Director, Natasha Rivera, Director of the Care Coordinator Department, and Brenda Robins, Chief Operating Officer, and Dr. Phil Petrus, whom all stood -- and continue to stand beside -- Gaytan into creating a place of recovery, enlightenment, and abundance.

“We look at someone as a person, not a patient. We believe that your body and mind want to heal. Our job is to help find someone’s path to healing. Everyone’s path is different,” Gaytan says.

“We started off very small. The community and God have been receptive. We wanted a place where patients could see their therapist, occupational therapist, work out, pick-up their medication, and eat. Brenda and her staff made it come true. Our primary objective is to serve and transform the community. To contribute back as we succeed.”