Brown’s Behavioral Consulting: Culturally-Sensitive Mental Health Care
Brown’s Behavioral Consulting founder, Christian Brown, tells his story of building mission-driven businesses on episode 20 of An Entrepreneur’s Vibes Podcast. He shares how he found the path to behavioral analysis, providing mental health services, and advocating for Indigenous youth in Canada.
In this episode, Christian recalls his journey and tells the story of what began as a part-time role and how it evolved into a full commitment to reshaping how society approaches mental health, especially for vulnerable children.
Read ahead to learn more about Christian’s journey of founding Brown’s Behavioral Consulting and Indigenous Youth Services, his unique and groundbreaking AIM model, how he addressed the systemic challenges and mistreatment in Indigenous youth homes, and the lessons entrepreneurs can draw from his resilience.
How Christian Brown Founded Brown’s Behavioral Consulting
Christian Brown’s path to establishing Brown’s Behavioral Consulting wasn’t a straightforward line. It was born out of necessity and his conviction to make a difference. He was originally set on pursuing a medical career and happened to stumble into the world of group homes while he was attending university. That experience exposed him to the realities that many children face in the Canadian foster care system.
Christian recalls his experience, “I was in the university, plan was to go to medical school. I got a job at one of the group homes in the area, and then as soon as I got there, it pulled me in pretty aggressively, which is a lot of the living conditions, bad treatment, and just abuse going on in the system”. From that experience, Christian shifted to learn more about the psychology realm, and within the first few years of his being in the industry, Child Services reached out to him, asking if he could start his own company, and Christian says, “it’s just been non-stop ever since.”
What began as a desperate need for proper mental health services and structured behavioral consulting turned into the foundation of a growing practice. Christian committed himself to behavioral analysis not only to provide a service, but as a means to reform how children and families in crises are supported.
The philosophy that is at the heart of Brown’s Behavioral Consulting is separating the child from their behavior. Christian explains, “Behaviors are separate from the person. The behaviors can be changed, the behaviors can be modified, improved.” He continues, “You can’t hold what people do against them. Your goal, like our job now, is to correct what can be corrected, not to stigmatize what they’ve done.” It was this perspective that shaped Christian’s consulting practice into one focused on intervention, healing, and long-term growth.
Christian’s mission has always been clear: “The main goal that I’m striving for is just to improve the system and de-stigmatize mental health.” Christian’s story is a testament to how impactful entrepreneurship often grows from seeing a broken system up close and choosing to do something about it.
The Mission Behind Indigenous Youth Services
Alongside Brown’s Behavioral Consulting, Christian Brown also founded Indigenous Youth Services. The organization was also meant to confront a painful truth– the systemic mistreatment of Indigenous children in Canada’s foster care system. His work shines a light on the injustices that are often hidden from the public.
Christian shares, “A huge issue in foster home and the child protective fields is there’s still a significant mistreatment of indigenous kids in Canada. He continues, “There are so many people being abused. There are so many people that the system fails every day. We’ve been exposed to so much injustice that it’s just hard not to do something about it.”
His decision to act wasn’t optional, especially after witnessing repeated cycles of abuse and neglect. It was his overwhelming feeling of compulsion to create a new reality. He says, “I wish this field didn’t have to exist, but somebody had to do it.”
The mission of Indigenous Youth Services is rooted in restoring dignity, safety, and belonging. Many children who enter youth homes already come from traumatic circumstances and are then placed in environments that further harm them. The organization Christian built puts an emphasis on culturally sensitive care, family connection whenever possible, and rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Christian’s work aligns with broader and much-needed conversations about mental health care equity. The Canadian Mental Health Association has emphasized how Indigenous communities face unique systemic barriers, with historical trauma from residential schools still influencing health outcomes to this day. By addressing these systemic inequalities head-on, Indigenous Youth Services not only offers youth support but is meant to help rebuild trust, culture, and hope in Indigenous communities that have long endured generations of systemic harm.
To help support the Indigenous minority across North America, The Write Direction is now offering DEI & Indigenous Writing Services for culturally-grounded and inclusive technical documentation.
The AIM Model: Transforming Behavioral Consulting
An innovative contribution from Brown’s Behavioral Consulting is the AIM model. It’s a framework that was developed by Christian that was meant to help families, youth workers, and mental health professionals understand and respond to behaviors better.
Christian explains, “The AIM model stands for action, intention, and motivation. Every behavior can be compartmentalized into those three basic categories…You isolate what the action is, then you move into the intention behind it, and then finally, the foundational motivation that drove it.”
The model shifts the conversation from judgment to understanding. Instead of labeling children as “troubled” or “dangerous”, the AIM model breaks down behaviors in a structured way that makes it easier to address the root cause. Christian shared how effective the approach has been for some of the highest-risk clients in Canada. Christian shares, “We’ve been able to take the highest risk clients in the country and transform them to just being happy again and wanting to live life again. Change is incredibly possible.”
The AIM model is not just for professionals; in fact, its strength lies in its accessibility. Parents, educators, and community workers can utilize the AIM framework to analyze conflicts, breakdowns in communication, or even everyday challenges like workplace disputes. By focusing on behavioral analysis rather than stigmatizing erratic behaviors, the AIM model fosters empathy and opens pathways to solutions.
Christian’s framework is inspiring for entrepreneurs in mission-driven sectors, as he demonstrates how innovation doesn’t always mean technology. Sometimes, it’s about creating practical, repeatable systems that can change how people think and act.
To understand how frameworks are applied across industries, check out our guide on policy manuals and procedure manuals, “Writing Policies for Nonprofit Organizations: A How-To”. This guide, much like the AIM model, provides structure and consistency, especially for nonprofit organizations that are trying to solve complex problems.
Success Stories in Youth Support and Mental Health Care
What really sets Brown’s Behavioral Consulting apart, beyond the frameworks and systems Christian has developed, is the impact it has on real lives. There’s a story Christian shares on the podcast about the failures of the system and the power of compassionate intervention.
Christian recalls, “I got called to consult on a youth that was staying in a psychiatric unit in a hospital; he was only nine years old. He had nonverbal autism, and for that entire eight months, he wouldn’t leave the room. The room was empty, there was just a bed on the floor and a locked bathroom…nothing on the walls, and this kid was in there for eight months.”
The boy’s behaviors were misunderstood and stigmatized, which led to further isolation. But with the consistent support and behavioral consulting strategies, Christian and his team were able to transition him out of the hospital and back home with his family. Christian continues the story, “Just immediately, this child…realized I was there to help him, and his behaviors stopped, and he just became a great kid to hang out with. We transitioned him from that environment back to his house and back into school, and that was the biggest success.”
The story illustrates the importance of shifting from a punitive system to one that prioritizes empathy and evidence-based care. It’s also a reminder that mental health services for the youth must involve human connection.” The American Psychological Association says children facing early trauma can heal significantly faster when provided with safe environments and supportive relationships, which echoes the outcomes Christian has seen in his work.
For Indigenous youth homes and other vulnerable populations, these success stories show the possibilities when interventions are guided by respect, understanding, and cultural sensitivity. They also prove that systemic change is possible by helping one child at a time.
Entrepreneurial Lessons from Christian Brown’s Journey
Christian Brown’s story is a masterclass on how to build a mission-driven business from the ground up while advocating for mental health care. His founding of Brown’s Behavioral Consulting and Indigenous Youth Services required resilience, sacrifice, and the ability to see beyond short-term setbacks.
Christian admits that the entrepreneurial grind, especially the nature of the industry he was in, was overwhelming at times. “I think I spend a lot of time working, a lot of sleepless nights…Sometimes, I do work 18 hours a day, 24 hours straight, and it’s still hard to go to bed, because you really haven’t got enough done.” Regardless, his passion for youth support kept him moving forward.
For entrepreneurs who are hoping to launch their own mission-driven businesses, Christian’s advice is, “On a personal level, I would tell them don’t do it…But as a member of the community, we need a million more people that go into this field and go into community-based improvement agencies. You have to get ready to lose a bunch…but the day I say I’m not going to help somebody because they don’t have money is the day I’ve got to leave.”
Listen To The Full An Entrepreneur’s Vibes Podcast Episode
Listen in depth to Christian’s journey through Brown’s Behavioral Consulting and Indigenous Youth Services, as it is a powerful reminder of how entrepreneurship can become a force for systemic change. From his unique AIM model to advocating strongly for youth mental health services, Christian has built more than a business but a movement that is rooted in compassion, cultural sensitivity, and reform.
If you’re inspired by Christian’s story, tune in to An Entrepreneur’s Vibes, where you can watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify!
And if you’re looking for more guidance on how to build your own mission-driven business from the ground up, consider our newest consulting services, where you can get subscriptions to marketing services, training services, and research services, among many others!
Christian Brown [00:00:00] A huge issue in the foster home and the child protective fields is there’s still a significant mistreatment of indigenous kids in Canada. I wish this field didn’t have to exist, but there’s just so many people who need help. There are so many people being abused. There is so many people that the system fails every day. We’ve been exposed to so much misjustice that it’s hard not to do something about it.
Patricia [00:00:31] Welcome to An Entrepreneur’s Vibes, the podcast that gives insight into the minds of visionary entrepreneurs and business leaders. Brought to you by The Write Direction, a leading professional and technical writing company based in North America. Each episode, we explore the stories and experiences of those who dare to dream, took the leap, and built their own empires. Join us in uncovering the secrets to success and lessons learned along the way. So if you’re just starting out your entrepreneurial journey or you’re already a seasoned business pro, you’ll find inspiration, knowledge, and good vibes right here. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce our guest, who is an inspiring leader and trailblazer in the fields of behavioral analysis, mental health, and youth support. He is the founder of Brown’s Behavioral Consulting and Indigenous Youth Services, two transformative organizations dedicated to providing compassionate, culturally inclusive care for young people and families facing behavioral challenges. Beyond his consulting and direct intervention work, he is also a passionate advocate for mental health reform and a prolific author. Today, we’ll dive deep into his journey and dedication to making real world change in mental health care and the lessons he’s learned along the way. Welcome to the show, Christian Brown!
Christian Brown [00:01:39] Hi, thanks for having me!
Patricia [00:01:40] Hi! How are you doing today, Christian?
Christian Brown [00:01:43] Fine! Doing great, doing great!
Patricia [00:01:44] Amazing. Well, could you tell us, please, for everyone who’s joining us today on this episode, [00:01:49]could you share with us your journey in psychology and behavioral analysis, how that began and what inspired you to specialize in mental health and intervention strategies? [9.6s]
Christian Brown [00:02:00] [00:02:00]Yeah, yeah! This was never the plan at all. So, I was in the university, plan was to go to medical school, and while I was in university, you needed a part-time job. So, I got a job at one of the group homes in the area. And then as soon as I got there, it pulled me in pretty aggressively, which is a lot of the living conditions, bad treatment, and just abuse going on in the system. So, that part-time job really quickly started becoming 120 hours a week. And then, yeah, just shifted into the psychology realm after that, and everything has kind of been just a storm. This wasn’t the plan at all. I fell into it and got stuck in it. And once I got there, I started working a lot, learning a lot, and then within the first couple of a year and a half or so being in the industry, Child Services has reached out to me, asked if I could start my own company, and that’s what I did. And then, it’s just been non-stop ever since. [62.3s]
Patricia [00:03:03] So, I guess this industry just kind of fell on your lap, and I guess you could say just kind of fell in love and grew the passion from all the experience that you’ve built through the years.
Christian Brown [00:03:13] Yeah, it’s more of just like a drive, I guess. I’m motivated to help these kids out, fix the system. I mean, not a lot of people know, but right now, it is a disgusting world out there, especially for these kids. It’s just not something I can say no to ever. So, whenever I get a phone call or whatever asking for a referral, it always, “How can we modify the schedule to fix everyone’s problems really quickly?” It’s definitely been a incredible journey, though. [00:03:45]Happiest thing that’s passed. [0.6s]
Patricia [00:03:48] It’s very inspiring indeed. And I wanted to ask you, like, was there something specific that drew you to focus on youth and family behavioral challenges in particular?
Christian Brown [00:03:56] Being exposed to all the hardships, and all the kids that are suffering, and the system is broken, it really makes you stay up at night thinking how you can help them. You know, when you get this seven, eight-year-old abused kid pulled out of a trafficking situation, the drug houses, and then they got just the more traumatic backstories that stick with you. So, once you get exposed to that, you either become incredibly jaded, or you become incredibly motivated. So, I’m trying to stick with the motivated side and really try and make an impact.
Patricia [00:04:34] And [00:04:34]for people out there who don’t know about the industry too much, what’s one thing that people might not know about behavioral analysis or mental health care that you think everyone should understand? [10.1s]
Christian Brown [00:04:46] [00:04:46]I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there, a lot of confusion, a lot of stigma. So, when people, you know, witness a behavior, even aggression or self-harm, or just aggressive outbursts, it’s easy to label them as crazy or as, you know, fundamentally something is wrong with them as a person. But I think it’s really important to understand that behaviors are not something that we should be looking at in judging the person for. So, you gotta separate the behaviors of the person. Behaviors arise from a variety of different contributing factors, but essentially it’s nothing that that individual is to blame for. Behavors are no different than any biological illness. If you had a tumor in your frontal lobe, and it caused you to have bad impulse control, that tumor in the frontal lobes, when people heard about that, they go, “Oh, that’s why they did that.” So, we don’t, you know, you put them in a hospital, we get the two removed, and then no one holds what they did against them. But the exact same neurological functions that cause the impeding impulse control in that person can exist in other people that don’t have a tumor. They just have an altered development of that portion of the brain. So, biologically, those two regions can be identical, tumor or not tumor. And for some reason, society tends to heavily stigmatize the person that you can’t just label who the tumor causes because of, you know, 20 years of abuse that led up to negative behaviors produced by, you know, impeded frontal lobe. I think the main thing, I guess, I ramble a lot, sorry, but the main takeaway is that behaviors are separate from the person. The behaviors can be changed. The behaviors could be modified, improved, and especially in this field, you can’t hold what people do against them. Your goal, like our job now is to correct what can be corrected, not stigmatize what they’ve done. [111.1s]
Patricia [00:06:37] I think it takes a lot of patience also for the work that you continue to do, because like you’re right, there is so much stigma around like mental health and it’s not deemed as important as like any other physical ailment that you might have. And people need that help and people need organizations that will help them, like you said, correct those behaviors, because we really need to establish these sort of industries and organizations that will help people be better members of society and just because, you know, it’s easy to label and judge people based off their behaviors or, you know, their mental health, and I think it’s really important what you do, and I wanted to ask you like, [00:07:17]how would you describe the mission of your work in a few words for someone who is unfamiliar with what you’re currently doing? [6.7s]
Christian Brown [00:07:25] [00:07:25]It’s tough to say. You’ve got a lot of side quests going on as well, but I think the main goal that I’m striving for is just to improve the system and de-stigmatize mental health. I think that’s the gist of it is we found a method that works really, really successfully. The model that we’re using is amazing, not to brag too much about it, but it just, the results of that, we’ve been able to take the highest risk clients in the country and transform them to just being happy again and wanting to live life again in a matter of, you know, months, weeks sometimes. It just, like, change is incredibly possible, and I tell all the staff that our job is actually incredibly easy. This is a really easy job. Once you know what you’re doing, this is the easiest thing in the world. I don’t even consider working with clients and working with kids as the job anymore. All the administrative stuff? Sure, I hate it. Doing all the meetings, all the countless, countless mountains of paperwork, that’s really boring. Working with people, that is amazing. And if you know what you’re doing, and you know what you are looking for, and you know how to not take things personally, because in this field, it gets ugly quickly, it gets really ugly really quickly. There’s a lot of death threats and high stress situations, and it can be really hard if you’re not able to remove those behaviors from the person to continue working with them. If you have a client who tried to stab you on Monday going into work on Tuesdays, a lot more of a challenge for some people if you’re not able to understand that is a symptom that you’re treating. So, when you have somebody who [103.0s] [00:09:10]has the ground to have the behaviors, [0.9s] [00:09:11]who acts aggressive in response to certain situations, we frame it in a way where, like I would equate it to a cardiologist, if you were a cardiologist, you wouldn’t hold the fact that your patient is having a heart attack against them. You wouldn’t go, “I’m not going to work with that guy, because his heart is not working very well.” Well, we’re in the behavioral industry, so if you point out a behavior, and you say you’re not going work with this person because of this, you’re just saying you won’t work with them, because they have something they came to you to help with. So, it’s really about keeping that perspective. You’re there to help. You can’t hold it against them. You can’t judge. And it’s your job to fix it. So, if they try to stab you, and if they call you racist names, if they now try to light the house on fire, then the point of that you be there is to protect themselves and society and correct those behaviors. So, you got to intervene and it’s, you know, if they didn’t have those behaviors, they wouldn’t have even seen you. So, you obviously have to go to work on Tuesday. [62.7s]
Patricia [00:10:15] It’s a tough job, and you said it’s very high stress situations. I wanted to ask you like, how do you handle that? How do you not take it personally? [00:10:23]What are the things that you do to level yourself out so you can still go to work in the morning and not be as stressed because you’re dealing with a lot of stressed out people. How do level yourself when you’re continuing this job? [12.4s]
Christian Brown [00:10:36] [00:10:36]That is definitely a thing. The burnout rate in this field is incredibly high, but I think that’s the thing most people struggle with, and it is just about cognitive reframing. Again, we have to separate it. So, remember, if that person tried to stab you on Monday, you’ve got to remember that outside of that incident, that person has the potential to become happy and healthy, and there’s a reason why they have that. So, the reason why someone might come out and be aggressive towards you is because they’ve been abused in the past, and they have these defensive mechanisms that are just hyperactive, and society, with a lot of people, is not worth being a part of in their eyes. So, hey, if you were taken away from your home at three years old and moved into 25, 30 different group homes and foster homes over the course of a year 15 years, it’s understandable not to have ingrained connections in society. If you would move that many times, and you’ve seen that many phases, you’ve seen 500 to 1,000 staff come through over the years, and you know that you don’t have that consistency, it’s really about breaking down understanding why. If you can separate that, and you can avoid, like now, I don’t take anything personally, [71.3s] [00:11:48]anyone does it at all. It’s just now it’s like everything that could be our things the next place it’s an explanation for every behavior. [5.0s] [00:11:53]So, the goal is, especially with new people in the industry, is to always have that perspective. So, when someone does something negative to you, even outside of work, it’s every day like someone cuts you off in traffic or whatever, a lot of first instincts is that emotion, the primal emotion of really getting angry, yelling, you know, road rage. But like that incidence itself does not define the person and that you should be able to understand that, yeah, that action was bad. It could have been an accident, it could have on purpose, [29.4s] [00:12:23]whatever the foundational causes, [1.7s] [00:12:27]it’s still not how you should value that individual. So, you can say that that action was terrible, that action was bad, and you know, that’s not to say like you say that, “That action is bad. They’re still a great guy,” but you say, “That action’s bad,” and you say, “How can we prevent it from happening in the future?” I use the latest and just de-stigmatize it for everybody. Every negative behavior, from the extremes to the minor, it is all a byproduct of things outside of, you know, all of our control. Like, we didn’t get to choose who raised us as a child, what we were exposed to, what traumatic events we had, how our brain was wired, how much delirium or serotonin or whatever we had. None of that’s in our control. So, just remembering that it is always possible to find the good qualities of a person, all the potential for good qualities, at least. So, that’s how you stay in this field for long and don’t burn out, that you have that cognitive reframing of these actions, these emotions, these words even, are not truly what that person is fundamentally. [65.2s]
Patricia [00:13:34] It takes a lot of empathy to do what you do, and it takes a lot of strength as well to separate yourself from a situation. And like you said earlier, you know, you can’t really control the circumstances. But if coming from someone like you, you can easily separate that and, you know, You can’t control what anyone else does to you, but you can control how you act, and you can control how you react to certain things, and I think it takes a lot of strength, and I think that’s why you’ve been able to be successful in your field, which leads me to the question of the creation and the mission behind Indigenous Youth Services. [00:14:07]Could you tell us please, what was the motivation behind founding Indigenous Youth Services and how did the organization come to fruition? [6.9s]
Christian Brown [00:14:15] [00:14:15]So, I am in the [1.5s] [00:14:17]presentation [0.0s] [00:14:17]myself, and a huge, huge issue in the foster home and child protective fields is there’s still a significant mistreatment of indigenous kids in Canada. I’ve been ranting for two weeks about this, but this is the most corrupt industry I’ve ever seen in my life, and that’s not an understatement at all. This industry is disgusting. So, there’s, you know, group homeowners that exploit natives. They get more money for them. So, the government has kind of like a [35.0s] [00:14:52]pot [0.0s] [00:14:53]set up like for natives. You know, sometimes these agencies charge two, three, four times as much to have a native kid [5.8s] [00:14:59]in the bed [0.3s] [00:14:59]than someone with a different lineage. When you have that financial motivation, it is very similar to the prison industrial complex of the states. I mean, for profit prisons to happen, you know, prison sentences get longer, the quality of treatment gets worse. So, when you have this world that no one wants to look into, it is a depressing world, so I don’t want to hold it against everybody in the public, but it’s a world that is full of abuse and misjustice, and it’s easy for everybody to not look at the books in this field, when you have that, it creates this model of how badly can we treat the kids and how much money can we get for them. So, these group homes, even the first one I worked at, which is why I got exposed to all this mistreatment, some of them have 12 kids in the house. They have 12 kids, they lock them up during the day, especially during COVID, they would be locked in their rooms for weeks at a time, not being able to leave. You know, physically restrained, physically abused, and you would take a kid, you know, some of these kids are like seven years old, and their parents were abusive, or their parents died, or the parents, you know, for some reason outside of that seven-year-old’s control, they can’t live at home anymore, so they take them from their indigenous communities across Canada and bring them to, you now, places they’ve never been to. These kids have never seen street lights before, and they bring them into this whole new world, they get treated, they get told that they have to stay in their room 13 or 14 hours a day. Some treatment facilities told them to not have contact with anybody outside the group home for six months, and they get completely isolated. The staffing ratios are insanely terrible. They get 12 kids, maybe two or three staff, and the kids range from, you know, that seven-year-old who’s a victim of abuse may be next to, you know, a 17-year old that sexually assaulted a handful of people, or a robbery, and then they get exposed to all these negative behaviors, and it becomes a funnel of, yeah. The tragic story of the vast majority of cases is that they get pulled away from their home at a young age. They fall into the system, they go into their 20, 30 houses, and then they age out, they turn 18, they have no life skills, so they haven’t been allowed to interact with the outside world. The only exposure they have is negative, and they end up homeless or in jail. I mean, it’s long-winded way of answering. I guess it’s just that there’s a crisis happening in the indigenous communities. Residential schools might have ended in 96, but the practices are still there. They still take indigenous kids. I’ve sat in meetings with the [166.0s] [00:17:45]AAS, where they didn’t know why they ever ended the kid. [2.3s] [00:17:48]There’s so many situations where these kids get pulled away from their communities, put into these homes, and every time it comes close to redoing that kid’s contract with the agency, now all of a sudden they got all these behaviors that are causing too much trouble, and it’s too risky to send them back home, so that three-month placement turns into six, turns into 12, turns it into a lifetime. We need to shed some light on the issues. One of the places I used to work at, this is a huge reason why I had to start my own company, is there was an indigenous kid who was being sexually assaulted by a staff at the group home. And the group home found out about it, and they kept the staff on for six weeks. They just moved into a different house. They ended up getting arrested. No significant things happened out of it, but it was a month’s long of abuse on this kid. It’s hard to not get caught up. It’s hard to, you know, explain, because when someone asks like why we do things, the surface answer is kind of the wall falls down, and the flood comes in. So, I started this company, because it needed to happen. I would much rather not need to have this company. I’d much rather not have to be in this field at all. I wish this field didn’t have to exist, but somebody had to do it. There’s so many people who need help. There’s so many people being abused. There’s so many people that the system fails every day. We’ve been exposed to so much misjustice that it’s hard not to do something about it. Yeah.[82.1s]
Patricia [00:19:11] Definitely understandable. And [00:19:12]I wanted to ask you specifically about the model you developed, the AIM model. What was it like turning that idea into an award-winning program? [8.1s]
Christian Brown [00:19:21] [00:19:21]That model kind of evolved with my time in the industry. There didn’t seem to be anything that was good at explaining why people did it, and the system that you’re using isn’t working. You know, my mindset is always like, “How can we make this better? How can we make this better?” And over the course of years in the industry, this is kind of the simplified version of how it could be widely explained and utilized. I’m going to break down the model a little bit for you. The AIM model stands for action, intention, and motivation. So, every action, every behavior can be compartmentalized into those three basic categories, right? So, there is the action itself, like maybe you walk into a room, and a lamp flies across your face, and it gets shattered into pieces at the wall behind you. That’s the action itself. A lot of people’s first reaction would be like to look where it came from and start assuming that that person tried to kill you, or that they were trying to hurt you, or there was this plot to get rid of you. So, the action part is really essential in isolating the event without any emotions attached to it, without any assumptions. So, you isolate what that action is, and then you move into, you know, the intention behind that action. So, you know, you see somebody standing across the room who look like they threw a lamp. You go over there and you ask, you have [96.1s] [00:20:58]the third period [0.3s] [00:20:58]conversation with them, you talk about why they did it. So like, “What were you trying to do?” Like, “What was the outcome, the desired outcome of that lamp throw?” It might be that he didn’t even see you there or he just threw a lamp, because he was mad he lost at his video game. It might be he was walking with a lamp and tripped and fell, and you know, it just happened that way. Or it might be that he threw a lamp at you, because he wanted you to be intimidated or injured. Whatever it is, your job is to sit there and understand what the desired outcome of that action was, and then you get into the meat of it after that. Once you establish what that desired outcome was, what the intention of it was, you can move into why, “Why did you have that intention? What was the foundational cause for that, for that intention to happen?” So, if you say, if that kid says, you know, “I wanted to intimidate you. I wanted to hurt you,” or whatever it is, you go, “Why?” Like, “Why did you want to intimidate me? What is the, like, foundational cause that grew that intention?” Once you identify the action, and the intention, and the foundational cause, you can actually get to the root of the issue. Maybe he’s afraid that you are going to leave him like all the other staff left him. He’s afraid that he’s being abused. Whatever it is, but you need to identify each component before you can actually intervene appropriately. And the models that were being used before just weren’t getting deep enough. So, most interventions even in treatment facilities, even in day-to-day life, focus solely on the action and in that person’s interpretation of the action. The beauty of this lens, compartmentalization, is it can be utilized with people across the spectrum of knowledge. If you don’t know that much about psychology, you don’t t know that about neuroscience, you dont know that that much behavior interventions, you could still use this model, and you could still use it to [113.3s] [00:22:52]the action things. [0.7s] [00:22:53]You get to separate your emotions. You get the go, “Nah, let’s think about this correctly, really quickly. Like, what exactly did happen?” And then once you can do that, you’re in a great space already. The model allows people to take a time to properly process information before acting. So, if you live your life thinking, you get to work one day, office job, someone came over to your cubicle and starts yelling at you for business, you know, you parked at this parking space or whatever it is. You could use this model still. You use the model of the action, the yelling, and then the intention was it to, you know, get you to stop parking at the parking space, and then like, why? Why is that parking space so important to that one person? Like, what happened in their life where they felt like that parking space meant so much to them that they needed to become firmly aggressive towards another person to defend it. So, if you can compartmentalize all that, now when you’re on the receiving end of all this aggression, right? When you compartmentalized it that way, your action, [56.3s] [00:23:51]your back [0.4s] [00:23:51]to them is not going to be emotion-driven, you know, yelling back, or plotting a revenge, or hating that person. It’s going to an exercise in analyzing the situation and coming up with a productive outcome. How can you assess why this is happening and what steps need to be taken to prevent it from happening again? And I think that’s why the model’s taken off so much. It’s a little across life circumstances, and you don’t need to have a PhD to utilize it. You can use it in just everyday life. I mean, definitely if you’re working with complex behaviors, it helps to know a lot more about why those behaviors are foreign, but the reality of the situation is 90% of the the problems are solved when you just understand why they happen, like you understand like half of the events that happen that led up to where you are, you know, you can isolate variables, and you can make better decisions in the future. [51.9s]
Patricia [00:24:44] It’s definitely looking at the situation from looking at it at the bigger picture, not just like looking at is so deep, you’re looking at all the variables in place, and I think it’s an amazing program. And I wanted to ask you, since we were talking a lot about like the stressful parts of your job, [00:24:59]could you share with us some of the success stories or maybe a memorable moment that showcased the impact of your team’s work on an individual or a family? [8.6s]
Christian Brown [00:25:09] [00:25:09]We’ve taken the most high risk kids, and I guess I’m just trying to word it the way where it doesn’t give out too much personal information on these clients, but I got called to consult on a youth that was staying in a psychiatric unit in a hospital, and he was only nine years old. He had nonverbal autism. He was being heavily mistreated and all of the behaviors that arose from that were demonized and used against him, but he essentially wasn’t able to communicate very effectively. And he has these, you know, he’s seven, he’s starting to understand it a little bit more, has complex wants, needs, might want a [37.0s] [00:25:46]particular burp coke [0.5s] [00:25:47]or some food. What happened was there was a lot of, you know, his home kind of broke down, [4.9s] [00:25:52]called it [0.1s] [00:25:53]every day, so they put him in the psychiatric unit. The most disheartening part of that situation was that they didn’t cater to his needs at all. He was put on an upper lever floor behind security doors, and when I got there, it would have been eight months into his stay. For that entire eight months, he wouldn’t have to leave the room. He became increasingly aggressive over time being there. He had a bathroom in his hospital room. The staff locked it, because he kept going into the bathroom and playing with the sink, so he ended up, it was a hard scene, he would end up defecating on the floor, he would urinate his pants, and it got really, really bad. So, I went there, when I walked into the unit, he had three adults, all supposed to be in this industry, and they were treating him just like [64.7s] [00:26:57]it was kind of electric. [0.4s] [00:26:59]It would be two staff at the door and another one at the hallway exit. You know, you could see that when they would look at him, they would be intimidated, afraid, and they wouldn’t be engaging with him socially at all. They would just be literally like it was [16.9s] [00:27:16]hand-walking in [0.4s] [00:27:16]that room. So, he wasn’t allowed to leave the room. The room was empty. There was just a bed on the floor and a locked bathroom, nothing on the walls, and this kid was in there for eight months. So, I got there, and they were complaining, because he kept assaulting staff. You’d would walk by, he’d start punching, kicking, hitting them, and the aggression just continued to escalate. But I think what happens in this field is that you become so institutionalized yourself. You know, your goal turns from helping that kid to getting through the day, and the getting through the day’s easiest when you lock him in a room. So, they locked him in a room essentially for eight months, and we’re wondering why his behaviors became more and more, you know, high-risk, even more aggressive. So, just immediately, this child, I sat next to him, started talking with him, started playing with him, and you could just see that immediately he realized that I was there to help him, and his behaviors stopped, and he just became a great kid to hang out with. So, we transitioned him from that environment back to his house and back into school, and that was the biggest success. Because if we didn’t intervene, he would still be in that hospital. The mistreatment was, it’s just insane. I mean, [91.3s] [00:28:49]I know we don’t bash around with agencies all the time, [3.1s] [00:28:53]but there was no need for that. Like, you’re creating larger issues. Just seeing a kid from that completely helpless zone, like he was completely being heavily abused, helpless, and deemed by everybody else to be the highest-risk kid in the world, and so aggressive no one wanted to be close to him, to really, or like almost immediately, becoming just a great kid, happy, you know. I worked with him every day for months, and just being able to transition back to his house was amazing. Back to his family, and that’s the big goal there. I started in this industry when I branched out with my own company. We didn’t even do [41.5s] [00:29:35]placements, [0.0s] [00:29:36]we just did in-house support interventions. The goal is always to keep kids with their families, and we didn’t start getting houses until there was kids that just didn’t have families to go to. The success stories are amazing. It’s great. I mean, every day, I get messages, emails from families and kids just saying how their life turned out better, and they were thankful and everything. So, there is a lot of happy stories when you do the job right, which is great, because you know, when I first started in this industry, there were no success stories. It would be always, you know, a kid would end up dead or in jail, homeless, and it just gets so hard to go to work after that. It’s so hard to live with yourself after that, so it’s like, it just, this industry is something that either takes you over completely or makes you the worst person you can be. [58.2s]
Patricia [00:30:34] It’s great that you’ve stayed passionate, and now, you can share these amazing success stories. I think it’s really amazing. Thank you for sharing that. It goes to show that it only takes, you know, attention and a great level of care to help these kids to not end up on the streets and not end up as bad members of society. I think it’s great that you’re able to do that, and I’m so happy, and I hope you continue to hear a lot more of these success stories. And if you don’t mind, I wanted to ask you some entrepreneurial advice, [00:31:09]because you run a lot of initiatives, your consulting practice and the work that you do at Indigenous Youth Services, and you’re also an author, how do you balance your time and energy? [10.7s] Because it takes a lot of energy to do what you do. So, how do you do it all?
Christian Brown [00:31:24] [00:31:24]Oh, honestly, I got a really supportive wife. She’s really taken over a lot too. Honestly, I don’t really have the best life to model here. I think I spend a lot of time working, a lot of sleepless nights. But yeah, I think the way I juggle it is just basically jumping between tasks. So, when I’m working on the consulting company, and I start to get fairly burned out, I would switch to a different task, with IYS or something. With writing, I write multiple books at a time, and I just kind of jump between all the books, so that way it doesn’t feel like I’m sitting there for 18 hours straight doing one thing. It’s not, like, I know a lot of like entrepreneurs, they go and, like, wake up at four in the morning and grind, and it’s like a great life and whatnot, but it’s not a great life. Life sucks. But the goal is to make a better life. That’s the difference, and that’s why I think a lot of people fail is because they get into wanting to start their own business, and we realize, “Oh man, this is 120 hours a week of working, and I got nothing for it.” Because, you know, with regular jobs, you work 120 hours a week, you get a huge paycheck in two weeks. With your own company, you might have wasted 500,000 hours doing things that didn’t pay me a dime. You end up wasting a lot of resources pursuing things, because you don’t know if it’s gonna work out until after you start trying to do it. So, balancing everything is the hardest part. If you have a passion for what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel so much like work. Like, I’m excited to do this. I think it’s great. Sometimes, I do work 18 hours a day, 24 hours straight, and you know, it’s still hard to go to bed, because you really haven’t got enough done. But if you’re going to start a company or you’re gonna try and create some change, I think you have to prep yourself for not only just weeks but years of just endless work, like putting in all the hours. It is something that consumes you entirely. [124.8s]
Patricia [00:33:30] I think that’s, like, really realistic advice that you’re giving, because a lot of people, they think, oh, it’s so easy to just like start a business. But like you said, it is different from when you’re working like 40 hour weeks if you’re just an employee, and you get something out of that immediately. When you’re starting something from scratch, you don’t necessarily see the payoff until much later, and you’re like on call 24 seven. So…
Christian Brown [00:33:54] All the time, yeah.
Patricia [00:33:55] Yeah, it’s very stressful. Well, would you have any advice for entrepreneurs who want to create a mission-driven business like yourself?
Christian Brown [00:34:05] [00:34:05]It’s tough. On a personal level, I would tell them don’t do it. It’s really bad. It’s a really bad time. It takes everything, everything from your life. As a person, I don’t want my kids doing this. I want my children to live a happy life where they don’t have to worry about the troubles of the world. But as a member of the community, as a member of world, the species, I think we need a million more people that go into this field and go into community-based improvement agencies. You have to get ready to lose a bunch. Yeah, I really have the two companies, but realistically, there were 200 companies, right? They fail all the time, they fail constantly, and they fail, because they have to. Like, if you go into this industry with the mission of actually creating change and helping people, you’re going to go bankrupt a million times. You’re going lose everything. You’re gonna have nothing. Whenever I first started, I would go, you know, live at work with the clients. And sometimes, I would have to put groceries back for myself, because I didn’t have any money. That would happen for years, because the industries are impossible to work in. The agencies don’t pay you at all, and sometimes they’ll pay you. I’ve not gotten paid for months at a time, and the kids don’t get the funding that they need. So, I’ve had lots of kids, lots of kids who live in support homes that weren’t getting any money. They weren’t getting funded at all. So, we would get a call from a social worker, and they would say like, this kid’s being abused or this kid’s, you know, they’re afraid they’re going to commit suicide. [112.6s] [00:35:59]They need to get out of there, [0.9s] [00:36:01]but they have no money. And I can’t say no. You can’t be like, “No, you should go somewhere else.” We always take them in. And, you know, it’s just the company can be doing great. You could have a, you know, lots of money in the bank, and then, we get somebody who doesn’t have any money, but they need help, and all the money goes to that, so yeah. Bank accounts [23.1s] [00:36:24]dips to empty [0.6s] [00:36:25]every couple of months basically, but it has to happen that way. The day I say I’m not going to help somebody, because they don’t have money is the day I’ve got to leave. [9.3s] [00:36:35]I can’t even feel any more, [0.9s] [00:36:36]because the industry is full of people who do that. I’ve sat in meetings with directors of [6.6s] [00:36:43]CAS [0.0s] [00:36:44]from different areas, and they would tell me that [1.5s] [00:36:45]We’ll see you then. In part 20 people, [1.9s] [00:36:48]and they’re not going to investigate this child abuse allegation and these claims, because they have nowhere to put the kid if they find anything positive or they find any actual abuse. They don’t want to put him or they don’t wanna live in the [12.3s] [00:37:00]CAS [0.0s] [00:37:00]building with the kids, so they tell him no. This field’s full of it, like, when my wife and I found four homeless missing kids, and they were living in a tent in the forest, and they told us to put them back at the tent, and obviously, that’s not something we can do, so we didn’t do that, and yeah, my wife and I ended up just taking them in, and we couldn’t pay for staff either, so we just lived there for six months with them, but you have to make that sacrifice, essentially. This industry in particular is not one you should get into to make money. This industry is one that you will lose money, and you will loose a lot, and you’re going to get beat up a lot. You have to remember that you have to help the people and not to profit. [53.2s]
Patricia [00:37:55] Yeah, it takes a very specific and special type of person to endure all the stresses of this industry. And especially for you, like, I can tell that you’re, you know, you’re quite passionate about this. And for anyone out there, since you say there’s, we need a lot more people into these types of industries and organizations, because there’s a lot of people that need help, right? [00:38:16]What skills or qualities do you think are essential for a leader in this field? [4.1s]
Christian Brown [00:38:21] [00:38:21]You have to be really resilient, and you have to be okay with extremely delayed gratification. Like, you won’t get results for a long time. And, you know, when you speak up against the injustices in the system, there will be entire agencies that come after you and try and say that, you know, just demonize you for pointing out things. But I think if you want to get into this field and you want to create a change, you have to have compassion, have empathy, and be okay with the suffering for a long time. Be okay not making money, not having friends, not having a social life. Just like ingrained in the company and ingrained into supporting all those kids. And then once your company starts to grow a little more, once you’ve built a solid team, I think that’s the key thing is you have a solid team, so you don’t feel guilty [54.9s] [00:39:17]tapping out. [0.3s] [00:39:17]You don’t feel like guilty taking a nap or going home for the day. When you’re starting, I think the foundation is the most important. You need to have a good model, you need to a good system in place, but you also need to have a good support structure for yourself, and have a good team of people that you trust that, you know, aren’t going to neglect, or abuse, or drop the ball. Because in this industry, you know, if you drop the ball, it could be a really bad time. So, you could have, you know, 23 and a half hours of great people on, great supervision, but a half hour could result in, you know, someone getting injured or someone dying. So, you really got to make sure that it’s really, you got to [44.6s] [00:40:03]excel a group. [0.4s] [00:40:03]And I think what’s more needed now is just people that are willing to advocate for change, the people that want to stand up to, you know, the CAS and the ministry, and just tell them that the system’s corrupt, like the system is undoubtedly corrupt. It is so frustrating, because if you ask any social worker individually, you buy them a drink, you talk to them, they’ll say it’s corrupt. Like, 100% of them say it is, but no one’s doing anything about it. No one is doing anything at all. There is quite literally billions and billions of dollars being funneled into supporting kids. And the kids, you know, they don’t even get to get signed up for a baseball, because they say there’s no money for them. The people who own the group homes can charge $60,000 upfront to take a kid in. They tell them that they can’t get Netflix subscriptions. Like, it’s crazy. It’s an insane system that honestly needs a lot more people looking into, because it is just rampant with, like, greed and abuse, mismanagement of funds. So, I would say, I mean, I’m really not doing a great job at selling this field, but I would say if you join the field, you better be ready to try and change the field. Because if you want to be part of what it is now, it’s a gross place to be a part of. [79.4s]
Patricia [00:41:23] I think there has to be systemic change, definitely, because there is funding, I’m hearing, but it’s just not being allocated into the correct places. And you know, there might be some young professionals out there listening to us, and since you’re an industry expert, I wanted to ask you just one last question. [00:41:40]How can young professionals entering this field ensure that they maintain compassion and empathy in the work that they do. [6.5s]
Christian Brown [00:41:47] [00:41:47]Being able to separate, like, view yourself as a professional going in to treat symptoms. When you see somebody who’s acting in a way that society does not like, they’re agressive or they’re swearing at you, these are all why we are around. If you walk into this kid who bites you, hits you, you have to know that your job is to correct that. Doctors can’t get mad, because the patient had a clogged artery. We can’t mad because this kid bites you. You gotta remember that you’re there to help them. You’re there fix that symptom, so they don’t continue biting people. They don’t continue hurting these people. They don’t continue doing that. And more importantly, there’s a reason why they’re acting in the way that they are. So, if you get [46.7s] [00:42:35]sworn in [1.0s] [00:42:36], and yelled at, and called racist names or whatever, you need to understand that all those behaviors that are targeted towards you are the result of abuse or mistreatment and, you know, lack of lack of professional guidance. The person exhibiting the behaviors is not responsible. The behaviors of the person are two separate entities. And remember that if you’re going into this field, even in life, you just remember that people are not their behaviors. They are completely separate behaviors or situational. They’re caused by a mountain of factors outside of our control, and they can be isolated and changed. The person themselves, they should be appreciated for who they are and who they can become, and if you keep that separation, if you can keep that separation every day you go in, and really, if you do it well, you see the change really quickly, like, you do it well, and you can walk in day one, this kids tries to stab you, at day five, they might be a best friend. It could be really quick. You just have to be able to keep that, be able to keep that throughout everything. You can’t have those moments of frustration where you’ll exhibit it in a way where now you fed into the problem. You’re the solution. You are there to do it. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. It is all treatable, and you’re there to treat it. [92.2s]
Patricia [00:44:09] Thank you for that, Christian. No, you definitely are so strong to be able to endure all the stresses that this industry entails. And just before I let you go, is there anything that you’d like to share to our audience? We have a huge audience in North America. Perhaps you’d to share some of the resources. Perhaps there’s someone out there who needs help. Anything that you would like to say before we go.
Christian Brown [00:44:30] Yeah, yeah. I think if anyone is interested in getting involved in helping, the Indigenous Youth Services has a Facebook page that’s pretty active. We’re trying to just generate orders for injustice treatments and trying to improve the quality of services. I’m not really great at sales pitches, but buy my books and stuff. And really, if you want to get involved, get involved on a ground level. [00:44:54]and really [0.2s] get some information on what’s what’s been happening, and what changes they have, and how they [00:45:02]plan to, you know, elect an official too, [2.0s] ask them how they plan to fix these these injustices, because I think if people were actually aware of these, you know, the house four doors down, one might have 12 kids locked in a basement, I think there’d be a lot more protest in the streets, but no one shines a light on it. You know, if we could have a million community members with flashlights, it would be a great time.
Patricia [00:45:25] Well, thank you so much, Christian, for being here on our podcast. And yes, everyone who’s listening today, Christian has a lot of books available on Amazon, I believe. There’s Decoding Behavior, Parenting with Purpose, and the Ethical Eagle series, so please check those out. We’ll probably link those down below as well as the links to the resources for the Youth Indigenous Services. Thank you so much, Christian, for being here in this podcast, and thank you for the work that you continue to do. I hope, I wish you all the strength to keep going forward and keep helping everyone who needs you. And of course, thank you to everyone who has joined us today on our podcast. This has been your host, Patricia. And remember for all your professional business and technical writing needs, there’s only one way to go and that’s with The Write Direction! See you guys!
Christian Brown [00:46:09] Thank you! Thanks for having me!
