Brandon Brawner
Brandon Brawner
(he/him)
Frequently rebooked
New clients continue care with this provider
I've been working with children, teens and families for 40 years, and adults, couples and seniors for 20. Early in my career, I was a houseparent and counselor in group homes for delinquent teens, a teacher’s aide in a special education school and a counselor in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children. I also taught in junior high and high schools and was a rehabilitation group therapist in psychiatric hospitals. In the last 15 years, in addition to facilitating group therapy and seeing individuals and couples in private practice, I've continued my work with teens, families and adults in day treatment programs and long term living facilities. I obtained my Master’s degree in Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies in 1993 and PhD in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2013. My treatment approaches and therapeutic orientations include: Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) Dialectical Behavioral (DBT) Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Expressive Arts Therapies (role play, psychodrama, art, poetry) Humanistic Person Centered Jungian Depth Psychology Liberation Psychologies Object Relations Motivational Interviewing Narrative Therapy Solution Focused Structural-Strategic Family Therapy
Get to know me
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In early sessions, we’ll work together to identify your priorities, formulate plans and look at practical matters, including whether brief therapy or longer-term depth approaches are best for your situation. It’s likely I’ll ask you to read up on some of these options (if you’d like, I’ll give you reading material or suggest internet links to explore). Our initial discussions about the many methods (or combination of methods) from which we can choose opens up the creative space we’ll need to effectively address your needs.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
My background as a creative artist (writer/filmmaker), in working in many environments, in traveling in over 60 countries, has informed my therapeutic approach. There is no one right way to work with all clients, each person merits a variety of individual approaches that honors their individuality, culture, interests and challenges. Over the years, I've studied evidence based practices, depth psychology, the creative arts therapies, somatic therapy, sports psychology, couples and family therapies and a number of other healing modalities. Flexibility in mixing and matching different approaches to each individual is important to me.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
At present, I'm best able to serve clients 18 to 98 years old, of all ethnicities, backgrounds, interests, issues and challenges. As long as a client is willing to explore, dialogue and be honest in their willingness to share their story/challenges and to identify problematic patterns, my long experience working with thousands of clients of varied backgrounds suggests that the deeper human impetus to grow, meet potentials and uncover a sense of meaning, fulfillment and well-being is similar to all people.
About Brandon Brawner
I identify as
Specialties
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Interpersonal
My approach to psychotherapy with adults depends on many factors. Each individual is different in personality and background and brings with him or her a number of specific challenges, opportunities and intentions. In early sessions, we’ll work together to identify your priorities, formulate plans and look at practical matters, including whether brief therapy or longer-term depth approaches are best for your situation. It’s likely I’ll ask you to read up on some of these options (if you’d like, I’ll give you reading material or suggest internet links to explore). Our initial discussions about the many methods (or combination of methods) from which we can choose opens up the creative space we’ll need to effectively address your needs.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
Brief therapy is solution and coping skills focused. Techniques are based on an understanding that change occurs in the ‘here and now’ present moment. Mindful skills are learned and immediately put into practice in order to be effective. With initial support and guidance from a therapist, most brief therapies (CBT, DBT, etc.) require clients to identify old unproductive patterns and then consciously replace them with new and more effective thoughts and behaviors. The underlying principles behind brief therapies derive from neurobiology. Synaptic patterns in the brain become structurally ingrained but new ones can be formed with changes in thinking and behavior. Consciously catching yourself the moment you’re about to fall into an old unhealthy habit or pattern and then quickly re-directing your thinking and actions towards more beneficial responses builds new synaptic routes (neurotransmitter connections) that become easier to engage with practice. The result is a more pliable brain that has access to an ever wider-range of options and solutions.
Psychodynamic
Longer-term psychodynamic/depth approaches tend to be more “discovery” oriented. For example, as one nears mid-life and many of the routines and responsibilities of daily life hold less satisfaction and meaning, finding ways to access those parts of oneself that are hidden in the unconscious becomes a primary task. Edward Edinger writes, “The young ego is obliged to establish itself as something definite and therefore it must say, ‘I am this and I am not that.’” Many sacrifices are made during early life identity formation as a great number of invaluable personal interests and qualities are repressed in the service of securing an acceptable place in society. By mid-life, we are often weighed down by doubts and worry (depressions and anxiety) as we sense our full potentials slip away. However, if we are willing to search beneath the surface of the familiar, we can discover many unlived potentials that can be reawakened and restored to consciousness. This process takes time and must be done with care, but once released these dynamic personal and collective discoveries can generate a stream of new insights and energy. The work of integrating known with unknown, inner with outer, and past with present and future can restore our sense of vitality and purpose.