Brian Strode

Brian is a Virginia Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). His mental health professional experience has included significant training, research, and clinical practice in trauma, stress, compassion fatigue, burnout, emotion disruptions, relationship problems, and esteem. Throughout his nearly 15-year career, Brian has also worked in crisis counseling throughout his career in addition to his outpatient counseling practice, and is also a New Mexico Licensed Professional Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LPCC). Brian was a career Paramedic/Firefighter before graduating with his Masters in Counseling from Old Dominion University in 2009. Motivated by what he observed during his fire department experience, Brian became a counselor with the intent to understand and help improve the mental health of professionals in high-stress, high-risk, and high-trauma careers while also seeking to lower the stereotypes and stigmas that often prevent these professionals from seeking their optimal mental fitness. He has maintained his dedication to this specialization not just in his clinical practice, but also with his ongoing involvement in research, education, and advocacy work related to first-responder mental health. Brian uses an integrative mind-body approach in his counseling methods to help people learn how to use their mind, body, and spirit to take control over their emotions and use them as the tool they were meant to be. His primary goal as a counselor is to help people achieve their optimal mental fitness by properly processing their emotions and stressors in the professional counseling environment while learning and practicing credible research-supported healthy lifestyle habits that improve mood, esteem, success, relationships, and other important areas of the person's life. Brian discusses the science behind his methods with his clients and encourages them to research the information for themselves. He wants his clients to learn the information for their own knowledge so that they develop a sense of independence and ownership of their improved mental health right from the first session. He also believes that people develop the power to ability to be their best self when they have knowledge and understanding of information based on empirically researched science and how to differentiate it from well-meaning but potentially-harmful pseudoscience and/or dogmatic theories. In his personal time, Brian enjoys spending quality time with his spouse and children, traveling, learning history, and playing and watching sports and music. He enjoys baseball, ice hockey, MMA, running, playing the drums. He can often be found at sporting events, hard rock & heavy metal concerts, and 5k races.