We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Breault a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
When it comes to taking risks I feel that I’ve often jumped into the deep end without much thought as to if there were even water in the pool. Sometimes you end up bobbing in the refreshing cool water, weightless, or you break your ankle from the impact. The first life risk I can remember taking was my sophomore year of college. I went to school to play football and beyond that had no idea what I was interested in career wise. I suffered a knee injury that year that took me out of playing for awhile. It was in this time I began to fall in love with story telling and acting. Primarily based off of a professor who later became a mentor, Professor Isbell. He acted out a story that he wrote about he and his father going to a baseball game. He was able to evoke emotion while telling the story. I had rarely seen that from a man before this. I was very intrigued. I made the difficult decision to close the locker and head to the theatre. That change opened up my whole world to art, poetry, and a creative life. I pursued acting for many years and really enjoyed the artistic expression. I’ve done commercials, written and performed in plays and pilots, done voice overs, films and a bevy of other jobs while trying to support my art. I was never really a good self salesmen however so I had a hard time advancing my career. I was in my mid thirties when I took my next risk. My wife was pregnant and we were remodeling our house when I decided to go back to school for psychology.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have been a licensed therapist in Los Angeles for 8 years now. It has been a fulfilling and challenging path but one I feel brings growth. It allows me time to work with people in overcoming the challenges that life often presents us while keeping myself honest about my own challenges that I need to overcome. Being a therapist in modern times allows for a wide variety of options for providing service to people. I have walked in the park with clients, played basketball, as well as more classic forms such as sitting in an office or on digital platforms. For a time I was volunteering at assisted living homes where I would play guitar for the residents. The power of music can have such an immediate impact on our well being. I would see this take shape when I would enter the room filled with elderly folks who are living their last years in relative silence and isolation. Music can bring us back to our youth with the opening chord of a song that once brought us joy. Engaging in this profession allows me to set my own schedule as well which affords me time to work on my passions. I still act on occasion. Last year I was cast as Macbeth in the Nevada Shakespeare Festival’s version of the play. It had been a while since I had been on stage so it was a great challenge to see if my brain still worked in that way. In addition to acting I also do work as an abstract painter and musician. I’ll be going into the studio in February to record a single that should be out this year.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
When it comes to success in the field of Therapy it is a pretty subjective answer. For myself it begins with establishing a connection with my clients. Do they feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable with me. I remember in grad school being taught that the therapeutic relationship was the biggest agent of change in therapy. If a client is not comfortable to be present with themselves on a deeper level it is going to be very hard to gain any traction in the direction they want to go. When it comes to other training that is helpful to the profession there are a wide variety of specialties one can focus on. I found meditation to be so helpful in my life that I wanted to learn the proper way of teaching it to my clients. I became certified at the Chopra Center to teach meditation. I have found it to be very beneficial in assisting my client’s in slowing down their thoughts in order to have some agency over what they want to be thinking about. My next goal is to gain more practice working with plant medicines. Psychedelics can help guide people to profound levels of inner healing that are difficult to access through traditional talk therapy. There is a lot of positive research being done on the subject and as society begins to except new/old ways of understanding the human condition and our connection to everything,I feel like it will be a more available option to more people in the not to distant future. I want to be an ally to the plants and the ancient wisdom they possess.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
Our lives are a combination of many factors. We are who we are today because of the things we’ve experienced. The people we have come into contact with. Sometimes I will think about what it would have been like to not pursue acting for so many years. Would I be more successful as a therapist at this particular moment? The answer I come back to is, no. In order to be able to have the sensibility that I’ve worked to cultivate for so many years I needed that time. Otherwise that aspect of me would have been stunted had I not been exposed to the nuances of art and the musicality of life. It’s allowed me to have a more rounded view of the potential factors to our existence. It’s made me non-judgmental. It’s made me aware of the similarities we all have with each other. That in and of itself is the greatest gift I could have had for my current occupation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/352608
- Instagram: @broshaka1