Hi from Berkeley, CA. I’m writing to you from my home office in the Bay Area. After 30 years in Houston, TX I have a new hometown. So far, it’s great.
When I talk to people about moving they’ll often ask, “Why Berkeley?” I say, “I bought a home in Berkeley site unseen and before I’d even visited the town.” That usually gets some combination of a laugh, wide eyes, and a shake of the head. Berkeley checks a lot of boxes for me. Its population is much bigger than the 2,607 of Telluride, CO and much smaller than Houston’s 2,300,480. Population wise it’s similar to my original hometown of Lafayette, LA so the scale is familiar in a good way. I love having access to a major league city within 30 minutes from my front door. I wanted a college town to bring the cultural events and perspectives that come with Universities. Moving to Berkeley was a rational decision.
One of the models of the human mind that I use most often for myself and the people in my practice is the wise mind model cited in Marsha Linehan’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Linehan’s wise mind is typically illustrated by concentric circles overlapping. One circle represents our checklist-obsessed, bottomline oriented, just the facts rational mind. Typically in western culture the rational mind is oft rewarded in school and at work. The second circle is our emotional mind. This is the metaphorical home of our intuition, emotional reactions, and our desires. Wise mind is where our rational selves and our emotional selves overlap. Our best decisions check a lot of boxes and they just feel right; that’s wise mind.
I bought in Berkeley because the house was in my budget; it’s a college town; it’s not too big and not too small; it’s a quick car or train ride to San Francisco. I made the right rational decision and hoped beyond hope that I’d like it. Whew, I really do.
Business wise I’ve got some new things cooking. I’ll still be offering therapy sessions to good-fit people. My client days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’m still working 100% Telehealth. I’m keeping my Texas and Colorado licenses and hopefully by summer I’ll be adding California licensure to my state social work certification lists. I’m still an AASECT Certified sex therapist of course. If you want to work with me email me at christopherbrown@me.com and let’s find out if our wise minds think we’re a good fit for each other.
Love y’all,
-C
When I talk to people about moving they’ll often ask, “Why Berkeley?” I say, “I bought a home in Berkeley site unseen and before I’d even visited the town.” That usually gets some combination of a laugh, wide eyes, and a shake of the head. Berkeley checks a lot of boxes for me. Its population is much bigger than the 2,607 of Telluride, CO and much smaller than Houston’s 2,300,480. Population wise it’s similar to my original hometown of Lafayette, LA so the scale is familiar in a good way. I love having access to a major league city within 30 minutes from my front door. I wanted a college town to bring the cultural events and perspectives that come with Universities. Moving to Berkeley was a rational decision.
One of the models of the human mind that I use most often for myself and the people in my practice is the wise mind model cited in Marsha Linehan’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Linehan’s wise mind is typically illustrated by concentric circles overlapping. One circle represents our checklist-obsessed, bottomline oriented, just the facts rational mind. Typically in western culture the rational mind is oft rewarded in school and at work. The second circle is our emotional mind. This is the metaphorical home of our intuition, emotional reactions, and our desires. Wise mind is where our rational selves and our emotional selves overlap. Our best decisions check a lot of boxes and they just feel right; that’s wise mind.
I bought in Berkeley because the house was in my budget; it’s a college town; it’s not too big and not too small; it’s a quick car or train ride to San Francisco. I made the right rational decision and hoped beyond hope that I’d like it. Whew, I really do.
Business wise I’ve got some new things cooking. I’ll still be offering therapy sessions to good-fit people. My client days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I’m still working 100% Telehealth. I’m keeping my Texas and Colorado licenses and hopefully by summer I’ll be adding California licensure to my state social work certification lists. I’m still an AASECT Certified sex therapist of course. If you want to work with me email me at christopherbrown@me.com and let’s find out if our wise minds think we’re a good fit for each other.
Love y’all,
-C
