Let Us Begin Again…Awakened & Anew with Melody Brown, PhD, LMFT

Description

Last year gave us unprecedented challenges, unimaginable transitions, and for so many, tragic losses. In addition to the pandemic, we watched, in horror, the murder of George Floyd on the heels of learning about the deaths of other BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In the new year, we witnessed the insurrection on the Capitol building, the mass shooting targeting Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Atlanta, GA and a mass shooting in Boulder, CO. Through all of this, counselors and therapists have been called on to hold healing spaces for clients presenting with depression, anxiety, racial trauma, interpersonal violence, isolation, and a host of other presenting problems. At times, clinicians have navigated the same challenges as their clients.

This workshop will serve as a time to honor our journey through the trials of last year and the ongoing challenges of this year. We will use this time to connect and build community. Together, we will create spaces for gratitude and spaces to allow our humanity to rise in the face of injustices witnessed last year and those that continue. Each of you will reset your commitment and intention for yourselves, your loved ones, practices/workspaces, and your clients and community.

Learning Objectives:

1. Recount the lessons of 2020-2021 that revealed the unacknowledged experiences of BIPoC.
2. Demonstrate a greater understanding of the tools necessary to release the strain caused by loss, isolation, fear, and trauma.

Dr. Brown is a licensed marriage and family therapist with both her M.A. and PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her clinical training began nearly thirty years ago where her studies included a concentration on working with systems while addressing issues of power, privilege, and oppression. After completing her master’s degree, she began working in child welfare in long term foster care. While in this position, she witnessed the trauma children experienced both within their homes and at the point of being removed from their families. She collaborated to develop models for what is now called concurrent planning in foster care. She later became a foster care placement specialist. Prior to 3 completing her doctorate, Dr. Brown held several positions at Denver Children’s Home, a treatment center for traumatized children and families. In her initial work as a residential therapist, she was trained by the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) to work with sex offending youth. She also participated in training and case consultation with the Child Trauma Center where she learned to work with families using trauma informed treatment. She transitioned to work in community organizing as the Site Coordinator for the East Denver Collaborative of Family to Family. Through these experiences, she maintained her focus on highlighting the importance of understanding cultural norms and differences in marginalized communities.

She joined the counseling center at the University of Colorado Denver where she returned to clinical work, supervision and training in 2011. In 2019, she joined the Counseling Program at CU Denver specializing in couple and family therapy through a multicultural lens. She maintains a private practice offering consultation, clinical supervision, and individual, couple, and family therapy.

Dr. Brown is a clinical fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She presents both locally and nationally on clinical supervision through a social justice lens and on the complexities of working with oppressed and marginalized communities.

(NBCC, APA, and AASECT CEs are available in collaboration with Advanced Mental Health Training Institute.)