Murtagh was Goodwill’s neuropsychology post-doctoral resident, and said he is excited to lead Goodwill’s two brain injury clinics in Lewiston and Scarborough where staff help people get back to life after a brain injury such as a stroke or car accident.

Murtagh graduated from Rivier University with a doctorate of psychology in counseling and school psychology. He is a licensed psychologist and neuropsychologist. Murtagh is from Merrimack, New Hampshire, and now lives in Auburn with his wife, Nola, and their cat, Bizy.

“I fell in love with brain injury rehab,” Murtagh said. “It’s such a unique part of neuropsychology because it’s day-to-day, hands-on interacting with folks. I get to celebrate their little wins.”

Murtagh’s goals include bringing patients with brain injury or concussion in as quickly as possible. Sometimes patients seek Goodwill NeuroRehab’s support after they’ve run out of other options and are trying to wait out symptoms at home.

“We want people here within a week of their traumatic brain injury,” he said. “A lot of time people wave off their concussions and a year later they may get a referral when that doesn’t work. We make the most progress in the first year, so I want people to know we exist and to get here as soon as they can.”

Murtagh plans to bring more and newer technology into the practices. Goodwill is investing in an EEG cap — a science-fiction-looking hat with electrodes on it. A patient wears the cap and can see their own brainwaves compared to an uninjured brain’s during activities. When the wave frequencies are abnormal, Murtagh and staff can immediately intervene with proven therapies.

Goodwill has other technology such as virtual reality, which it uses to simulate driving in a safe space. Murtagh envisions expanding Goodwill’s use of VR and combining it with his other medical training. For instance, VR can simulate an increasingly crowded grocery store, so that the patient can practice life skills, and if they get overwhelmed with anxiety, Murtagh can intervene with therapies during the simulated anxious moments.

He is trained in EMDR 2.0, neuropsych testing, PTSD counseling, and more. Murtagh dreams of building up Goodwill’s internship and post-doctoral programs to help bring more psychologists to Maine.