Eric M. Brown, PhD

Core Faculty and Assistant Professor

Office:
72 East Concord Street
Robinson Bldg. B-212
Boston, MA 02118

Email: ebrown1@bu.edu

Education: I received my BS in Psychology from Texas A&M University (College Station), M.Div. from Abilene Christian University, M.Ed. & Ed.S in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Florida, and PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.

Eric M. Brown, PhD
Eric M. Brown, PhD

Biography: I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine Program here at Boston University’s School of Medicine. Most recently, I was an Assistant Professor in the Counseling and Special Education department at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. For the past 12 years, I have worked in various clinical settings such as a level one trauma hospital, a community mental health counseling center, and a private practice. I am currently a member of the American Counseling Association, International Association for Resilience and Trauma Counseling, and the Association for Counselor Education & Supervision. My service to the community has been focused on consultation and training in areas related to the mental health development of marginalized populations. I routinely present to schools, adolescent community development organizations, and churches on topics related to trauma and trauma-informed care.

Teaching: The goal of my teaching is to support my students’ sense of calling to the counseling profession. I seek to foster a “critically compassionate intellectualism” (CCI) as this posture is imperative in the training of counselors who honor the dignity of all clients. CCI is a pedagogical framework developed by Latine educators that is operationalized at the intersection of three emphases: critical pedagogy, social-justice oriented education, and compassionate student-teacher relationships. CCI emphasizes authentic connection as essential to intellectual and human development. I hope to create growth-fostering relationships with my students in order to create safe spaces that will enable them to think critically about their social location and what this means for their interaction with clients. Through the use of role-plays, here-in-now processing of experiential activities, and weekly reflection papers, I aim to increase my students’ awareness of their internal and external processes. I further want to help students contextualize these experiences within a larger socio-political framework recognizing and honoring the ways our experiences in relationships are affected by our social location.

Q. Please describe your clinical and research interests.

Clinical Interests: Most of my clinical work has centered on issues related to trauma, addiction, and general mental health issues. In the past five years I have undergone extensive training in Emotionally Focused Therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy, and EMDR from the EMDR Institute, Inc. I have also received extensive training in trauma-informed care and counseling through the Green Cross Academy.

My theoretical orientation has been shaped by all of the aforementioned training, and is based on an attachment and relational-cultural lens. I believe that the person of the therapist and their ability to foster a growth fostering relationship based on trust and affirmation is the most significant tool for healing. I believe that by fostering confidence in the therapeutic relationship that a person can then internalize such a relationship which will, in turn, lead to greater self-confidence in their ability to grow and heal.

Research Interests: One thread of my research has examined interracial trust between students, clients, and patients from racially marginalized backgrounds and White educators and mental health professionals. My research team has examined interracial trust through both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The goal of this research is to better understand what factors cultivate interracial trust despite experiences of racism and marginalization.

A second thread of my research examines factors that contribute to compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress for helping professionals. For example, I have studied the rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences of Counselors and how these personal-historical factors predict rates of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. I have also conducted research on the rates of racial trauma of Black therapists and Black School Counselors and Psychologists and how they correlate with burnout, resilience, and social support.

Q. Why did you choose to be a faculty member in the Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine Program?

I was most impressed with the faculty and students I met. The faculty are clinicians with a wealth of experience in a diverse range of areas critical to mental health and have a sincere desire to educate counselors toward intellectual and compassionate care for all persons. I found the students to be very bright and inquisitive, coming from different parts of the U.S. and the world, and was aware of the significant contributions alumni are making to the field of mental health. I also chose this program in order to have the opportunity to return to a medical school setting. The potential for cross-disciplinary collaborations was a significant draw, and I believe this program at BUSM will continue to greatly influence the profession of counseling in regard to behavioral health.

 

National Presentations 

Brown, E. M. & Baraka, M. (2021, October). Survival Strategies Faculty of Color Use to Teach Multicultural Counseling Courses. Virtual Roundtable Session at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Atlanta, Ga.  

Webber-Ritchey, K., Spurlark, R., Lofton, S., Brown, E. M., Lattner, C., Ponder, T.N., Nwafor, G., & Simonovich, S.D. (2021, October). The Experience of Black Nurses Practicing during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study. 50-minute Oral Presentation. American Public Health Association 2021 Annual Meeting & Expo. 

Chang, Y. J., Liu, T., Brown, E. M., Yeboah, M., Huang, Y. (2021, July). Intra-ethnic othering among Asian Americans. Poster Presentation. Division 45 of the American Psychological Association Research Conference. (Online due to COVID). 

Baraka, M. K., Fang, T., & Brown, E. M. (2020, March). “But I just need to trust God”: Spiritual bypass in the counseling room. Poster presentation at Christian Association of Psychological Sciences. Atlanta, Ga. 

McConnell, J. M., Kibble, C. D. M., & Brown, E. M. (2019, March 21–23). A church-based cultural humility intervention for peaceful multicultural connections. In L. Captari (Chair), Bringing a divisive world together through cultural humility: Transforming people, communities, and systems [Symposium]. Christian Association for Psychological Studies Annual Convention, Dallas, TX, United States. 

Brown, E.M., Baraka, M. K., & Fang, T.  (2019, October) More Relevant Than You Think: Teaching Career Counseling as a Pathway to Justice and Advocacy Work. 50-Minute Presentation at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Seattle, WA.  

Bertolet, C., Parks-Savage, A., Brown, E.M., & Gerwe, C. (2019, October). Supervising Counselors as Coaches: Exploring the Ethical Dilemmas. 50-Minute Presentation at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Seattle, WA.  

Liu, T., Chang, J., Brown, E. M., Huang, L, Liu, C., & Godon-Decoteau, D. (2019, October) Internalized Racism and Intra-Ethnic Othering among Asian Americans: From Victim-Blaming to Solidarity Building. 90-minute session at the Asian American Psychological Association National Convention, San Diego, CA. 

 McConnell, J. M., & Brown, E. M. (2018, March 9–11). The role of needs assessments in racial peace and reconciliation. In J. M. McConnell & E. M. Brown (Chairs), Racial peace and reconciliation: Methodological insights to experiential promise [Symposium]. Division 48 of the American Psychological Association 1st Annual Convention, South Bend, IN, United States. 

Brown, E.M., Grothaus, T. (2017, October) Cross-Ethnic Trust Factors: Black Counselors with White Mentors. 60-Minute Education Session at the American Counselor Education and Supervision Conference, Chicago, IL.  

Brown, E. M., Kalkbrenner, M., Carlisle, K. (2017, March) Cross-Ethnic Trust Factors: Black Counselors with White Mentors. 60-Minute Education Session at the American Counseling Association (ACA) annual conference, San Francisco, CA.  

Brown, E. M. (2017, March) Frankl and Yalom’s Existential Therapies: Paradigms for Both the Atheist and Religious. 60-Minute Education Session at the American Counseling Association (ACA) annual conference, San Francisco, CA.  

Brown, E. M., Holland, D., Carlisle, K. (2016, March). Positive Counseling: Going from What’s Wrong to What’s Strong. 60-Minute Education Session at the American Counseling Association (ACA) annual conference, Montreal, Canada. 

Tate, K. A., Brown, E.M. (2016, March). Career Exploration: A Career Program for First-Generation, Low-Income College Students. Counselors for Social Justice Featured Poster Presentation Session at the American Counseling Association (ACA) annual conference, Montreal, Canada. 

Brown, E. M., Ramrakhiani, S. (2015, Oct.). Stories of Resilience: First Generation Graduates Tell Their Stories. Poster at American Counseling Education and Supervision Conference (ACES), Philadelphia, PA.  

 

Research Publications 

Brown, E. M., Liu, T., Baraka, M., Yeboah, M., Fang, T., Chang, J., Huang, L., Fu, R., Wong, S., & Jones, D. (2022). Survival strategies of Asian and Black faculty who teach multicultural competence courses. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, Advanced Online Publication,  https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/tep0000412 

 Brown, E. M., Carlisle, K. L., Burgess, M., Clark, J., & Hutcheon, A. (2022). Adverse and positive childhood experiences of clinical mental health counselors as predictors of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. The Professional Counselor, 12(1), 49-64. https://doi: 10.15241/emb.12.1.49 

Brown, E. M., & Baraka, M. (2022). Teaching career counseling as a pathway for justice and advocacy work. Counselor Education and Supervision, 61(1), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12224 

Brown, E. M., & Grothaus, T. (2021). Interracial Trust Between Black Doctoral Student Proteges and White Mentors. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 23(2), 80-87.  https://ijme-journal.org/ijme/index.php/ijme/article/view/2613/1515  

Brown, E. M. (2021). Commentary: Mindfulness interventions in the Black community. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 40(2), 43-44.  

DeBlaere, C., Green, C. E., Brown, E. M., Dwiwardani, C., Owen, J. Hook, J. N., & Davis Don E. (2021). Mindfulness and Christians of color: Themes and recommendations. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 40(2), 153-159. 

McConnell, J. M., Liu, T., Brown, E. M., Fort, C. J., Azcuna, D. R., Tabiolo, C. A. M., Kibble, C. D. M., & Winslow, A. B. (2021). The Multicultural Peace and Justice Collaborative: Critical peace education in a research training environment. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 27(2), 191–202. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000539 

McConnell, J. M., Bacote, V., Davis, E. B., Brown, E. M., Fort, C. J., Liu, T., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., & Davis, D. E. (2021). Including multiculturalism, social justice, and peace within the integration of psychology and theology: Barriers and a call to action. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 49(1), 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091647120974989 

Brown, E. M., Ramrakhiani, S. H., & Tate, K. (2020). Not a problem to be fixed: Narratives of first-generation college graduates who are currently working in higher education. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 48(4), 243-246. doi.org/10.1002/jmcd.12197 

Brown, E. M., & Grothaus, T. (2019). Experiences of cross-racial trust in mentoring relationships with black doctoral counseling students and white counselor educators and supervisors. The Professional Counselor, 9(3), 211-225. doi:10.15241/emb.9.3.211 

Kalkbrenner, M., Brown, E. M., Carlisle, K., & Carlisle, R. (2019).  Utility of the REDFLAGS model for supporting community college student mental health: Implications for counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 97, 417-426. doi: 10.1002/jcad.12290 

Worthington, E. L., Brown, E. M., & McConnell, J. M. (2019). Forgiveness in committed couples: Its synergy with humility, justice, and reconciliation. Religions, 10(1).doi.org/10.3390/rel10010013 

Brown, E. M. (2016). Attachment Styles. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Marriage, Family, and Couples Counseling. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. 

Brown, E. M. (2016). Differentiation. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Marriage, Family, and Couples Counseling. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. 

Brown, E. M. (Oct. 2016). Motivational Interviewing. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Marriage, Family, and Couples Counseling. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. 

Williams, C., Garrett, M., & Brown, E. M. (2015). First Generation African-American College Students. In K. Fasching-Varner & R. W. Mitchelle (Eds.) The Journey Unraveled: College & Career Readiness of African American Students (p. 187-206). Lanham, Maryland: Lexington.  

Tate, K.A., Torres Rivera, E., Brown, E., & Skaistis, L. (2013). The legacy of Liberation Psychology: Exploring the roots of social justice in contemporary counseling. Interamerican Journal of Psychology. Revista Interamericana de Psicología/Interamerican, 47, 373-382.