Lisa Brown
MA (Pending Completion)
Advanced Grief recovery method specialist (certified)
contact Lisa
lisa@harbourcounselling.ca
APPROACH AND PHILOSOPHY
I am passionate about visiting the past for the purpose of discovering barriers to healing and repairing relationships. I offer attachment-based therapy, Internal Family Systems, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), the Advanced Grief Recovery Method (AGRM), as well as pastoral therapy when requested. In my work with children and teens, I use books, art, storytelling techniques, and play to connect and assist children and teens in sharing their stories, feelings, and needs.
I have found that grief and trauma often come together because the experience of grief reminds us of all of the unsaid and undone communications we have with the people we love and the people who have hurt us. Completing grief recovery work enables clients to process their pain and take their cherished memories and feelings with them. We can find beauty in unexpected places, often in suffering, loss, and the disappointments within oneself. In most cases, grief recovery processes trauma, and trauma recovery processes grief. This work helps people to let go, develop their strengths, and set achievable goals for the future.
Processing the past gives us the gift of insight into why we repeat patterns and helps us to see what we can let go of and what we want do differently. This work allows us to be gentle and compassionate with our younger selves who usually did the best they could with what they knew at the time. It is my aim to help clients release shame and heal so that they have the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves.
Recently, I have began including Internal Family Systems research, exercises, and techniques within the grief and trauma sessions and I have found that this work allows clients to take the time to understand themselves, and therefore have a much larger capacity for empathy, patience, and perseverance. This work allows you to understand and address your triggers which, as a byproduct, assists clients to repair and have healthier relationships.
BACKGROUND & EDUCATION
I have worked with families and students in a nonprofit capacity since 2009, caring for children, running programs for teens, and supporting parents. In 2019, I was certified in the Advanced Grief Recovery Method, and since that time, I have worked with approximately 200 grieving children, teens, young adults, parents, and seniors.
I began my Masters in Pastoral Counselling at Horizon College & Seminary in 2023 and have completed all but two remaining courses, which I plan to have completed by the beginning of 2026. During my practicum experience I have enjoyed working with a diverse client-base within a private practice setting.
Additionally, I have a BA of Theology from Vanguard College (1995), and a Counselling Diploma from the International Correspondence School in Edmonton, AB (1999).
TOPICS OF CONTINUED CERTIFICATION, WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING I HAVE COMPLETED INCLUDE (MOST RECENT FIRST):
- Psychopathology-Recognizing Common Mental Health Disorders with Mansfield Meal, MBBS, MSc. Psych
- Marriage and Family Counselling with Catherine Thorlakson, PhD
- Group Dynamics and Counselling with Sharon Pham, PhD
- Somatic Therapy (Practicum Experience)
- Internal Family Systems Techniques (Practicum Experience)
- Gottman Couples Therapy Techniques (Practicum Experience)
- Relationship Dynamic Mapping (Practicum Experience)
- Attachment Theory in Practice (Practicum Experience)
- Advanced Grief Recovery Method Certification
Rates
50-Minute Individual Counselling Session: 100.00
75-Minute Individual Counselling Session: 150.00
90-Minute Individual Counselling Session: 180.00
50-Minute Couples/Family Counselling Session: 115.00
75-Minute Couples/Family Counselling Session: 172.50
90-Minute Couples/Family Counselling Session: 207.00