Ryan Brundrett

Ryan Brundrett, LPC-Associate

Supervised by John Spoede, PhD

My Mission:

I feel as though all people, but children and parents especially, benefit greatly just from having someone listen to them. Whether it be a child/parent relationship, or a couple’s relationship, where it often feels like no one is listening, my aim is to provide a space where all parties are heard, and open communication is achieved.

My Focus:

For kids, it usually means understanding their feelings so they can be expressed clearly and calmly. Parents require support and understanding often of themselves and of their children. Healthy communication and introspection are how I also approach counseling couples. Through common goals and clear planning, great things are achievable.

My Experience:

I am a recent graduate, with a Masters of Education in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Houston (Go Coogs). I received all of my practicum and internship hours here at Renewing Hope where I primarily practiced play therapy with kids (aged 3-14), in addition to seeing parents and couples. I am a member of American Counseling Association and the Houston Licensed Professional Counseling Association.

My Technique:

Play therapy combined with empathetic listening using emotion focused and goal focused techniques. My work with children focuses on exploring the thoughts and feelings behind behavior and addressing these underlying concerns through play.

It is important to realize that play therapy is often a slow process. While behaviors are often the problem that bring a child into my office, it is the emotions and thoughts behind those behaviors that need to be addressed or the behavior will not change and may become more difficult. While this process can be slow it is also highly effective and prevents new problems from arising later when the process is completed.

I also use parenting skills training and dyadic sessions to help parents be more involved in the process and to help the child take learning outside my office into their real life. My work with parents focuses on teaching parents how they can best support their child’s specific personality and style of learning.

For individuals and couples, I take a more humanistic and existential approach, focusing on goals and purpose. Occasionally I will introduce behavioral therapy where appropriate for the client.

About Me:

I am a husband, a father of three, and a Houstonian. When I have down time, I like to play basketball, go swimming, or sit in the backyard with a book. I am a huge movie lover (everything from indie/art-house to the Marvel Cinematic Universe). I consider movie theaters my favorite place to escape and unplug for a couple of hours.

Education/Credentials:

University of Houston - Master of Education in Counseling (May 2022)

Kansas State University - Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications (2009)