Dr. Brown is a licensed psychotherapist in the State of California.
He also brings to his consulting and clinical practice a rich background in the field of education. He earned a Teaching Credential for Life upon completing a graduate course of study in the School of Education at the University of Southern California.
In addition to his private practice, where he works with individuals, couples and families, Dr. Brown is also a specialist in the area of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). He is a clinical member of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. He holds two board certifications as an expert in traumatic stress and crisis response, and was recently awarded a distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
One of the most active and experienced pre-incident, on-scene, and post-incident disaster mental health specialists in the United States, he has served as a crisis interventionist for numerous fire services - urban and wild land - including the United States Forest Service; the Torrance Fire Department; Culver City FD, Santa Barbara FD; and the Los Angeles City Fire Department. He has also conducted several trainings for the Ventura County Fire Chiefs Association.
In addition to serving in the public sector, Dr. Brown also provides crisis intervention services in the private and business sector. He has responded to numerous incidents involving violence in the workplace as well as other types of man-made, natural, and technological events.
A consultant to various local, regional, and national media outlets, he has also appeared on The Learning Channel's production of "The Secret World of Paramedics" and has appeared on CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC as well as being quoted in various print media.
One of the most active members of the crisis response community, Dr. Brown serves as Co-Team Leader; Senior Clinical Advisor, and on-call crisis intervention specialist and trainer for the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center CISM Team in Los Angeles. Dr. Brown has also taught Crisis Intervention for Disaster Workers for the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles and currently trains and provides crisis interventions services for the Los Angeles Mayor's Crisis Response Team through the Mayor's Office of Homeland Security. He has lectured overseas with emergency responders and consulted for United Nations Peacekeeping Forces as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA.
An on-scene and post-incident disaster specialist, he advises incident commanders and other responders during mass casualty incidents; provides pre and post-incident support for a wide spectrum of agencies, elected and appointed governmental officials, as well as local and national media services. He has served as an Advisor and Instructor to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Urban Search and Rescue Division through the OES Specialized Training Institute, as well as the United States Army Corps of Engineers Rapid Response Center; all four branches of the Department of Defense; and NASA. In addition, he served two tours in Vietnam with the United States Navy from 1967-1969.
Trained in basic life-saving techniques, he was presented an Award for Heroism by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the American Red Cross for his successful life-saving efforts during a medical rescue. An active member of the emergency services community, he is also a recipient of numerous local and national honors and commendations for his extensive and ongoing efforts to serve those who have been impacted by traumatic events and especially those in the first response community who are tasked to respond to these traumatic incidents.
At present, he is attempting to further the application of various crisis-intervention theories and strategies as they apply to primary victims of trauma as well as emergency service workers who must respond to traumatic events. He is particularly interested in two specific aspects of critical incidents: (l) prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder through the use of various Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) techniques and, (2) pre-incident planning and education for the private business sector; emergency first responders; appointed and elected government officials; incident command personnel; healthcare providers; as well as civilian victims and survivors of traumatic events.