Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Letitia Browne-James.
Hi Dr. Letitia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, where I lived with my family. Around age 12, I decided that I wanted to go into psychology to help people. After graduating from Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, I moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, and pursued a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Bethune-Cookman College (now Bethune-Cookman University or BCU). After I graduated from BCU, I moved to Orlando and worked with minors from infants to adolescents in the child welfare system. Two years later, I started my master’s in mental health counseling with Marriage and Family Therapy and Play Therapy certificates at the University of Central Florida (UCF). After I graduated, I worked as a counselor for many years in the Orlando community, and during that time, became a licensed and board-certified counselor in FL. I later pursued a Ph.D. because I wanted to continue serving people and make a greater impact by training counselors on how to provide ethical and multiculturally competent care to those they serve. So I earned my doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision with a Counseling and Social Change specialization from Walden University.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all. I was diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age and struggled with it most of my life. Hence, school was difficult for me because of the physical, mental, and emotional toll the seizures had on my loved ones and me. But my faith, combined with my determined and strong-willed spirit, allowed me to take my health into my own hands. I fired the neurologist I had because he gave me inadequate care and hired an epileptologist (a neurologist specializing in epilepsy that is hard to diagnose and treat). And this led to me having a life-changing brain surgery on August 16, 2012, at Tampa General Hospital that resolved my lifelong medical nightmare living with epilepsy. Other challenges included my mom’s sudden death from cardiac arrest and watching a dear friend who died from cancer take her last breath. A more recent challenge started last January while I was in Nashville, TN, for a few days on business and passed out at a meeting. After getting wheeled into an ambulance, I went into cardiac arrest, but thanks to a dedicated team of paramedics who performed rigorous CPR on me, I survived. I stayed in ICU for a week and spent another week on the cardiac unit at St. Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville. Turned out, I had developed 20 blood clots that traveled to my lungs and put a strain on my heart, which caused the cardiac arrest. I survived that but am still under the care of a great hematologist at Orlando Health who will most likely monitor me for the rest of my life because I am in that small percentage of patients with an unknown cause of the clots.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I have a small business in Orlando called Victorious Living Counseling and Consulting. It is a group counseling practice where we help individuals and organizations improve their emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and occupational health using individualized and culturally informed strategies for success. We see people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and age groups. However, most clients who seek our services are people of color looking for a counselor who looks like them and can relate to their lived experiences. We specialize in marriage and family therapy, cultural and diverse issues in counseling, and work with individuals and families facing various mental health issues, family problems, and other life stressors. We also provide clinical supervision for persons seeking counseling licensure in Florida. We offer training on various topics related to mental health and offer consultation services on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and other topics.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
To always be my authentic self and remember that what is destined for me is, for me.
Pricing:
- We accept insurance but also accept self-paying clients at a rate of $150 per hour for therapy sessions
- We do custom quotes tor training, clinical supervision, and consultation services
Contact Info:
- Email: Drlbj@letitiabrownejames.com
- Website: www.letitiabrownejames.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victorious_living_counseling/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/VictoriousLivingcounselingandcounsulting/?ref=bookmarks
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/LetitiaBrowneJames
- Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/
in/letitia-browne-james/
