Alexia Brown, M.Ed, R.C.C

Alexia Brown View Specialties

I believe you have the wisdom to find your answers. My role is as a collaborator; I sometimes follow, I sometimes lead, with the aim of providing opportunities for you to relate to yourself, your partner, or your family members with more conscious choice of the kind of relationship you wish to create.
My role is in helping you process your emotions, thoughts, and actions, highlighting your needs (physical, emotional, relational, mental, spiritual, occupational) and bringing to light the most constructive and resilient way to connect and grow as an individual, partner, and family member.
I attained a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Master's degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia, where I was also a teaching and research assistant.

Specialties:

I have worked extensively developing and giving workshops, training professionals and counselors, and in private practice in the following areas:
Grief and loss
Anger and Dealing with Difficult People
Depression and Resiliency
Career Development, Burnout, and Retirement
Anxiety and Stress Management
Family and Parenting
Marriage and Relationship


Grief and Loss
Grief is common to us all, however, how we grieve, is a very individual experience. My focus is in familiarizing you with your process of grieving and helping you reorganize your emotional life with grief as a predominant character.
Grief can be alienating, to our former self, as well as to those closest to us. My role is to help you integrate your grief in a functional way.


Anger and Dealing with Difficult People
We are all thoroughly emotional beings. We were not all fortunate enough to be coached from birth on how to handle our emotions, especially the big ones, like anger. My role is in helping you learn to regulate your feelings in order for those spikes of anger to become less overwhelming. It is never too late to integrate these skills.


Depression and Resiliency
As human beings, we mostly ignore the flashing red engine light warning us that a tune up is in order. We put our heads down and keep going and before we know it we're just not functioning right. My role in helping you through depression is reconnecting you with your needs: emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, relational, and occupational, so that you become your best champion in meeting your needs and feeling more connected to yourself and others.


Family and Parenting
As a mother of two, I often witness my theoretical background as a counsellor flying out the window. Parenting tests our mettle by the minute, and even the hardiest of us all, get bent. I use an attachment based parenting approach, whereby our bond and connection to our children is primary. Together we work to establish this trust and connection, and all else follows, not necessarily easily, but with conscious choice and understanding of our actions and reactions. I use a collaborative approach for older families, attempting to engage all family members in responsibility and unity.


Career Development, Workplace Conflict and Retirement
Career development has progressed away from computer generated test scores and more along the lines of inquiry to individual likes and tendencies. This is the approach I adopt. Together we complete a Career Development Workbook, uncovering inclinations and passions using exploration and connection to self and others as our tools. Once up to 3 career choices have been made, a referral to Workplace BC is often helpful for the next steps in market and career research for your choices.

Workplace conflict is a highly stressful reality for many of us. We often spend more time with our work colleagues than with our own families, and conflicts are inevitable. We work together to identify conflict patterns that are often astoundingly similar to our family of origin and we identify triggers that create our reactions to the conflict. Our goal is to develop mastery of our reactions, releasing us for the conflict cycle.

At the end of our long, sometimes illustrious, sometimes challenging careers, we face retirement. For some these are the golden years but for others these years are the end of road with very few new beginnings. My role is in preparing you emotionally and psychologically for your retirement years to bring you fulfillment and enjoyment.


Anxiety and Stress Management
We are far more primitive in our reactions than we like to think, and fear, stress, or anxiety, can go from an adaptive warning to a very non adaptive over reaction, arresting our ability to function. We focus first on understanding the body's reaction during anxiety and then developing skills to over-ride the anxiety response. Using a mindfulness approach, staying connected with our needs, and focusing on resiliency, anxiety can be tamed.


Marriage and Relationship Counselling
My role as a couple's therapist is to create a safe haven, a calm bay, for you to make the repairs as needed, for you to re-embark on your journey together, stronger, more connected and back on the same team.

The storminess of relationships is as natural as waves in the ocean, our ability to stay connect during the swells and crashing waves is what makes or breaks a marriage, not the wave itself. Our work together focuses on identifying our patterns and our partner’s patterns as we run for cover in the tumult of the wave. We then work on understanding, supporting and staying connected during and after the storm.


My Professional Experience Includes:

Family Services EAP (Employer Assistance Programme) core team counselor
·Workshop presenter in goal setting, retirement, stress management, critical incident responding, dealing with difficult people, and resilience.·Trainer for counselors in Critical Incident Stress Response·Group therapist at Pacifica Treatment Centre·Private practitionerIn addition, I offer short and long term counseling for:
Families, couples, and individuals with specialties in couples and families, career counseling, grief and loss, PTSD, burnout, trauma, suicide assessment and prevention, relationship issues, depression and anxiety, workplace conflict, transition management, disability and return to work, addiction recovery, anger management, and multicultural issues.
I am certified in:
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Critical Incident Responding
Critical Incident Trainer
Imago Relationship Therapy
Infidelity Recovery
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Psychological First Aid
Violence Prevention
Safety in the Workplace
Adolescent Suicidality
Appreciative Inquiry
Feedback from anonymous outcome questionnaires attests that “Alexia was fabulous – knowledgeable, articulate, personable”, “she used an approach that really worked for me”, “discreet, kind, non-judgemental”, “highly skilled”, “had the ability to make me feel comfortable”.







Alexia Brown Reaches

Kitsilano BC
Vancouver BC

Our purpose is to help people everywhere find great counselors and psychologists. Everyone can have a new start in life.

Copyright © 2024 by Theravive.

Theravive does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Read here for more info.