Empowerment Therapy

Brian as a Speaker

"Brian Hubbard is the best speaker I have ever heard and he has inspired me to make the most of my own life"
Francis Zweir, Jamestown, RI

"Without a doubt, he is one of the best speakers I have ever heard"
Russell Repogle, Computer Analyst/Technician

Click here to listen to excerpts from Brian's presentations
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Don’t let the fact that I deal with ( notice I didn’t say suffer ) a dually disabling condition mislead you into thinking that my lectures and presentations address only the disabled population groups. Capitalizing on my thirty years experience as a licensed psychotherapist in clinical social work along with my personal experiences, the focus of my talks is on personal empowerment, the rare art of truly being the captain of your own ship. Disabled and other groups of disadvantaged people have an advantage in taking the road less traveled to empowerment because, in a very real sense, a conscious choice must be made whether to truly living a rewarding, meaningful life or simply finding ways to ‘get by’ in life. To a large extent, those who are not classified as disabled or disadvantaged may appear to have lot of room to get by in their lives, in part because these people may appear independent or otherwise ‘normal’. In reality, everyone has had episodes in their lives and this is because everyone has experienced, to one degree or another, loss.

There are essentially two types of losses in the human experience - natural losses or traumatic losses. Put simply, everyone loses something in the process of growing up. When we reach teen years, we must give up the self-centeredness and fantasies of childhood. Similarly, when we reach senior years, we have to deal with previous physical and mental abilities.

Traumatic losses, or perhaps what could be called unnatural losses (except they are natural because everyone experiences them) are the unpredictable losses that occur throughout life’s journey. Everyone has lost something someone or something that is meaningful to him or her. Whether it may be loss of a job, loss of a loved one (through death or divorce, or even a close friend moving to a far away place) and certainly the loss of a physical or mental ability are classic examples of traumatic losses. The word often used for a traumatic loss is crisis, but, interestingly, the word crisis is derived from a Latin word that means ‘change’.

Thus, since the experience of loss is universal, the option of becoming empowered is universal. Becoming empowered, put in a nutshell, means to get through these losses with new abilities so we can not only continue to live rewarding and meaningful lives, but possibly to live our lives with an even greater degree of satisfaction. I will never forget once telling a newspaper reporter that I was more satisfied with my life after I lost my sight and hearing. The reporter looked at me as I had three heads, never mind two. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have my sight and hearing back, but when I did lose these valuable senses, I developed a much greater awareness of what my true options in life are. I also developed a much deeper level of understanding how important the notion of love becomes with friends, family and other support systems.

Anyway, my presentations focus on empowerment; that is they focus on solutions rather than problems, strengths rather than weaknesses, and on options rather than limits. They focus on my copyrighted ‘Eight Elements of Empowerment which are: 1) self-awareness 2) responsibility 3) goal-oriented 4) solution-focused 5) empathy 6) collaboration 7) genuiness and 8) growth-oriented. Thus, my audiences have ranged from disability groups, educational groups, business groups, professional groups as well as other group categories. Below are some of the groups I have presented to. For more information contact me at mailto: brian@brianjhubbard or telephone 401-848-9021 or fax 401-846-3149. Video and audio tapes are also available for review. Also, please note that I often present with Robert ‘Bob’ Hamilton, retired American Airlines Captain who also has an amazing story to tell. Bob has made one of the most miraculous recoveries from a head injury, so miraculous that he was dubbed the "Rotweiller of Rehab" by his rehab staff. Bob was able to accomplish this amazing journey to recovery through the use of the principles outlined in my talks. Bob is so convinced of the empowerment journey that he has changed careers by becoming a counselor after obtaining his Master’s Degree in Rehab Counseling. Read Bob’s inspirational letters in this section as well as the writing section.

"Text of Speech, RI Award for Excellence in Professional and Personal Achievement, RI State House, June 27, 2002'

Click here for a listing of some of Brian's speaking engagements

Click here to see one of Bob Hamilton inspirational letters

Speaking Endorsement, Patrick McManus, Phd., Mayor
City of Lynn ( MA )

Speaking Endorsement, Ray Bastarache
Deputy Superintendent, Lynn ( MA ) School Department

Speaking Reference, Robert Hamilton, MA
Rehab Counselor, American Airlines Pilot ( ret. )

Speaking Reference, Russell Replogle
Diabled Consumer, Computer Analyst/Technician

Speaking Reference, Francis Zweir, Jamestown, R.I.

Speaking Reference, Congressman James Langevin
U.S. House of Representatives

Reference from Donald Emonds, LICSW
President/CEO Family Services of Greater Fall River (MA)

Speaking Reference, John Curry, President (emeritis)
Northeastern University

Speaking Reference, Steve Pickett, MA, Director
University of Texas, Student Services