Brannon LaForce

DBT Group Announcement

I am delighted to know of your interested in the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group. As you may already know, this treatment approach was developed by Marsha Linehan, PhD to address the challenges of borderline personality disorder. For some time now, DBT has also shown great promise for those dealing with chronic depression and anxiety. I have been working with individuals with these issues for the last 20 years. I am committed to alleviating the very real suffering caused by these disorders and empowering individuals to manage their thoughts and emotions in spite of the pain. I have found DBT to be an effective arsenal of skills to address these challenges.

African Adventure update 9/1

It’s crunch time. I am packing and getting everything organized for my departure on Tuesday. I have ordered 120 flashlights for the healthcare workers in Uganda. I still need to purchase t shirts and some hygiene products for them when I get to Kampala. I will be providing three workshops for this group: Complex PTSD and Coping Skills; Basic Counseling Skills, and Coping with the Stigma of Living with HIV. I received an email yesterday from my good friend Jeanne in Kigali. I learned that we will be going goat shopping–a first for me for sure. It seems that a goat costs $35 in Kigali and we need to buy 20. The goats will be given to villagers in order to have a supply of milk and even produce more goats. If you would like to support this work, please click on donate and you may make a tax deductible donation to St. Dymphna Global Resources. 100% of your money will go to the items we are purchasing for the people there.

LPCi SUPERVISION

BSL & Associates provides supervision for licensed professional counselor interns in accordance with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/counselor/. Supervision is offered both one on one and in a group format.  In addition to weekly supervision, the LPCi will be provided with office space, business cards, website exposure, referrals, and assistance in developing a private practice.  If you are interested in LPCi supervision, please forward a letter of interest as well as a resume below.

African Adventure Update 8/26/2018

My departure to East Africa is fast approaching.  I am eager to return to Rwanda for the 4^th time and to make my first visit to Uganda.  The plan had been to take a group of medical professionals to assist in both Rwanda and Uganda.  As it turns out the six individuals who had committed to join me have all canceled for various reasons.  Additionally, I purchased airfare for a dentist to accompany me on the trip and he elected not to go on the trip and has refused to reimburse me for the airfare.  I had hoped to use this $1000 to hire a local dentist in Rwanda (since the US dentist elected not to go) to assist with dental care for around 100 individuals living with HIV.  I am exploring options to recover this money.

Although I am going solo to East Africa, the needs remain.  Rev. Emmanuel Ntaganda, an Anglican priest in Uganda, coordinates a group called the Village Health Team.  This team provides care and treatment for the HIV patients that I mentioned above.  These workers need the following to do their jobs:  flashlights and bicycles.  Together, these items may be purchased for $80.  The individuals living with HIV need flashlights, t shirts, bar soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste.  And in addition to the dental treatment, there is a need for these individuals to see an eye doctor.

There’s also a group of women in Uganda who are developing a mushroom farm.  They need a “drier” to dry the mushrooms, materials to construct a shed where the mushrooms will grow, and mushroom seeds.  This project will cost $950.

Finally, back in Kigali, Rwanda, Rev. Appoline Kabera with Amahoro Builders are engaged in a project to assist two groups in obtaining gainful employment.  The first group are women who have experienced domestic violence and the second group are disadvantaged teenagers and young adults.  The women want to raise farm animals as a source of income and the young people are looking to establish mobile hair salons.  I have included the proposal Rev. Kabera gave me in another post.  Please see Kigali’s Amarhoro Builders Project.

If you would like to support these projects a link will be posted to make tax deductible contributions.

100% of your donations will go directly to the projects above and your gifts a tax deductible.  An accounting of the donations will be provided upon request as well as a receipt for your contribution. I am grateful for your prayers and support as I make this journey.

St Dymphna Opens in Rwanda

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…..

I have been moved by the journey of more that 52,000 children from Latin America to the United States in the last several weeks. While mass migrations many times greater are common in other parts of the world, it seems much more poignant when these individuals cross the border into the United States.  I cannot imagine hugging my child for what may be the last time to send him on a dangerous journey of many hundreds of miles in hopes that he will have a better life than the one I am able to provide for him.  I am reminded of the images from 1975 when Vietnamese parents thrust their frightened children into the arms of Westerners as Saigon fell at the hands of the Communists.  Being the Americans that we are, citizens have stepped forward offering their opinions to address this crisis.  Some say send them back; others suggest we provide a safe haven for the neediest among us.  My dear friend and former missionary, Daniel Thompson, spent a number of  years working in a refuge camp in Southeast Asia.  I am curious as to his response to this crisis.

I am pleased to say that Catholic Charities in Fort Worth is spearheading an initiative to render aid to these children.  In fact, they are taking applications for those interested in fostering these children.  A very wise federal judge in Dallas has made a way for 2000 of these children to be sheltered in Dallas until such time a more permanent solution may be found.  Whether these children stay in the US, or return to their home countries is an issue for another day.  Today, the issue is to find avenues of compassion and care for them.  The writer of Hebrews provides us with an interesting perspective, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

How can a parent forget his child?

Much has been made of the recent tragedy in Marietta, Georgia where 33 year old Justin Harris left his 22 month old son, Cooper,  in the car for 7 hours strapped in a car seat, resulting in the death of the child by intense heat exhaustion.  There is no way to know the suffering that this little boy endured.  Public outrage has been intense with some calling Mr. Harris a murderer, while others suggest that he is a grieving father who mistakenly did the unthinkable.  Either way, the loss is tragic and so sad.  I am grateful that it is not my job to determine the truth.  Twenty-two years ago this month, my wife and I brought home our first child, a daughter. Her birth was greatly anticipated and we were excited and nervous to be first time parents.  I carefully drove our small family home from the hospital–much to the chagrin of all the other drivers on the road that day.  The first night I kept waking up to make sure the baby was still breathing.  Her mother and I delighted in every moment with our daughter.  She became our world and our schedules revolved about here.  Fourteen months later, our second daughter arrived and then nearly six years after that, our son made his way into our hearts and lives.  My children live 12 hours away from me now, but I still think of them every single day.  They are the apples of my eye.

Over the years I have worked with men and women who were not the apples of their parents’ eye.  In fact, while they were not left in a hot car to perish, they were forgotten and cast aside.  One dear lady named Sasha bore the scars of abuse at the hands of her father, and perhaps even more painful, the neglect of her mother.  I met Sasha in  her second marriage.  Her first husband was sadly much like her father.  She was angry and wounded.  Her anger kept most people at bay.  Her current marriage was in jeopardy.  She ruminated over her past hurts and seemed to be defined by them.  When I asked Sasha about God, she retorted that if God really cared about her, then He would not have let father abuse her and her mother stand by and do nothing.  Toward the end of our conversation, I read the words of the prophet Isaiah to Sasha, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”  Sasha broke and began to weep.  You may feel forgotten, wounded and alone today.  The One who made you will not forget you.  In fact, your name is written on the palm of  His hand.