I would like to recommend Brian Hubbard as an extremely gifted presenter on the subjects of loss, recovery, and "discovering and tapping the hidden power inside each of us". I have known Brian for the past three years. During that time I have heard him speak and have introduced him to several audiences. Each time he has presented his material clearly and without pause, receiving a standing ovation upon completion.
Perhaps some information on how we came to meet is in order. The Chairman of the Rehabilitation Department at the University of North Texas gave me a copy of Brian's early book, From Emptiness to Empowerment, when I was a Graduate student there in 1998. 1 was very impressed, read it straight through, and wanted to get to know the author better. A series of letters were exchanged over the next few months, culminated by a face-to-face meeting and day together in Loma Linda, California (where Brian was working as a counselor/teacher while having medical treatment). That day and subsequent times together have confirmed my initial opinion, from reading his book and letters, that he had a unique ability to connect with people and to help them "take control" of their lives.
Although my educational background is in engineering - I was in the aerospace industry as an engineer/manager (1967-72), in academia as a professor/researcher at Purdue University and the University of Illinois (1972 - 1977), and then a pilot for American Airlines (1977-1993) - , it took a serious injury to teach me about rehabilitation and counseling. I was struck as a pedestrian by a truck that left the road at high speed, causing numerous broken bones, internal damages and a brain injury that erased most of my "memory" of the past. This required me to "relearn" to walk and talk, to "learn who I was", and to retrain many previously known skills. In years of treatment with the "best doctors, counselors and therapists" I discovered that few of them were knowledgeable about brain injury, skilled in rehabilitation, or really had any idea of how to help patients regain control of their lives. However, Brian's book and presentations really hit it all! As an insightful person who has struggled all his life with overcoming losses, physical shortcomings, societal prejudices and ignorance, he has an almost magical way of presenting challenges, coping tactics and solutions that captivates able-bodied and handicapped audiences alike.
I was so impressed with his message that I distributed over 200 of his books to people and groups, and tried to get the university to sponsor a workshop for the psychology, counseling and rehabilitation departments. Brian was subsequently brought to Dallas as a keynote speaker and workshop presenter for the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Texas Chapter of Association of Higher Education for Adults with Disabilities (AHEAD), co-sponsored by the University of North Texas and Texas Womans University. Although much of the material he presented had not been given before, Brian clearly and movingly addressed a large audience of education professionals for more than three hours. Afterwards, a number of attendees came to me to comment on their positive impressions of the workshop and its presenter, including one who commented that the only person she had seen communicate so effectively without notes was former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.