About me

What It’s Like to Work With Richard Brouillette, LCSW

Therapy works best when you understand what you’re stepping into and feel respected in the process. My approach is collaborative, paced, and grounded in clarity — not guesswork.

Here are some of the priorities that guide how I work.

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Certified Trauma Therapist Richard Brouillette, LSCW

Consultation & Understanding

Our initial sessions are a chance for me to develop a thoughtful, detailed understanding of what I believe is happening for you — and to share clearly how I think therapy could help. If the approach I suggest feels right to both of us, we move forward together.

Client Portal & Communication

I use the HIPAA-compliant platform SimplePractice for secure messaging and document sharing between sessions. A client portal app is available for iOS, allowing for confidential communication and easy access to shared materials.

Your Background & Pace

Having practiced psychoanalysis for over a decade, I deeply value the role early life experiences play in shaping adult emotional patterns. At the same time, trust is built over time. We move at your pace, with attention to safety, curiosity, and respect for your limits.

A Collaborative Treatment Plan

We’ll work together to create a treatment plan that includes goals and a general timeline. Think of this as a shared map — something we return to occasionally to stay oriented and to give you clarity about what to expect.

Support, Skill-Building & Change

As therapy unfolds, we begin focusing on practical change: building new skills, shifting internal dialogue, and caring for emotions in more sustainable ways. Sessions balance support for what you’re navigating day to day with practices that help you build long-term resilience, self-care, and inspiration.

My Approach

I believe we are healthiest when we feel at home with the many thoughts, emotions, contradictions, and internal voices that make us human.

My approach to self-talk therapy draws from schema therapy, chair work, expressive writing, and parts-based work to support:

Awareness of the different parts and voices that shape your inner experience
Giving those parts space to be heard and validated
Strengthening the part of you that can care for your inner world while setting healthy limits
Developing your own compassionate, effective approach to self-talk through home practice
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help the nervous system process and release stuck traumatic memories, reducing their emotional intensity over time
Internal Family Systems (IFS) to understand and work with the different parts of you with curiosity and compassion, rather than judgment or pressure

I explore this process in depth in my book, and I also integrate CBT-based tools to help manage daily symptoms of anxiety and depression as we address their deeper roots through parts work.

My Story

Hi, I’m Richard (he/him). I’m a clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and writer. I hold anti-oppressive values and affirm BIPOC, kink-positive, neurodiverse, and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and communities.

Although I’m based in San Diego, my path began in Chicago, where I first studied film and became fascinated by how stories shape identity and meaning. This led me to philosophy, literature, and a degree in French, including a year of study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

After returning to Chicago, I volunteered as a French interpreter for psychotherapy with political asylees who were survivors of torture. This work — at the Marjorie Kovler Center — was formative, and it set the course for my career in trauma-informed, anti-oppressive psychotherapy.

In New York City after 9/11, I worked in community organizing with the International Trauma Studies Program and the Downtown Community Resilience Project, while also training with the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture.

Over the years, I’ve worked as:

A community organizing program director
A staff psychotherapist in a Bronx community mental health center
A consultant and evaluator for survivors of torture and asylum applicants

I’ve been in private practice for over a decade.

While my training includes extensive psychoanalytic study, my work has always been guided by a simple question: What actually helps people change?

Licensed Trauma Therapist, Richard Brouillette, LSCW

My approach integrates insight, creativity, kindness, and evidence-based methods — without allegiance to any single dogma.

Creativity, Mindfulness & Values

I hold a Certificate in Novel Writing from San Diego Writers Ink and continue writing fiction. Creative practice deeply informs my therapeutic work — especially in how we reshape narratives and points of view with care.

I practice in the Plum Village tradition of Buddhism, which informs my understanding of mindfulness in mental health, while respecting the distinction between therapeutic mindfulness and spiritual practice. I also support the East Bay Meditation Center.

I continue to work on a low-bono basis with survivors of torture through Survivors of Torture International in San Diego, including providing forensic psychological evaluations for asylum cases.

Professional Background

Education

MSW, Fordham University School of Social Service
BA, University of Illinois at Chicago

National Association of Social Workers
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation

Professional Affiliations

National Association of Social Workers
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
American, New York State, and Los Angeles Psychological Associations (affiliate)
American Psychological Association
Inclusive Therapists
Therapist Neurodiversity Collective