1. What is your name?
   Brittni J. Timmerman, MS, LPCC, NCC, RPT-S
2. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
   I was born and raised in Northern Illinois. I moved to Southwest, Minnesota in 2005, where I completed by undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in social welfare, joined the Army National Guard, met and married my husband, and started a family. After six years in Southwest, Minnesota, while 8.5 months pregnant, I moved to Rochester, Minnesota with my husband and 3-year-old daughter. After being licensed foster parents from 2013 to 2021 in which fourteen children came into our hearts and home, that resulted in the adoption of two of our four children, we decided our family was complete. I currently live in NE Rochester, MN with my multi-generational and transracial family that includes my husband, my four children (13 yrs., 10 yrs. 9 yrs., & 8 yrs.), my mother, and my stepfather. I value and have great pride in all the beautiful hues my family radiates into the world with individuals who identify as Caucasian, Italian, and Black. My family has two beloved rescue dogs, our 11 yr. old, Texan, Chihuahua, Tilly and our 12-week-old New Yorker, American Staffordshire Terrier Mix, Sirona. I enjoy travel, reading, photography, writing, poetry, gardening, cooking, baking, and all things family orientated. I hold strong beliefs and value social advocacy for pertinent social issues. I lead my life with a humanistic perspective. As a Caucasian individual, I am always striving for cultural competencies and cultural humility not from a neither/or perspective but rather a both/and perspective, aspiring for cultural understanding while simultaneously upholding the value of individuals’ autonomy.

   I am a first-time college graduate within my family of origin, who then went on to pursue a graduate degree and several post graduate degree credentials and certifications. For the last fourteen years, I have worked in the mental health field. I have worked in various clinical settings within the mental health field to include in-home treatment aimed at increasing the daily functioning of adults living with mental health and behavioral concerns, a psychiatric unit within a hospital setting with individuals of all ages experiencing a mental health crisis, clinical research within a university setting, and providing therapeutic services in outpatient private practice settings to children, adults, and families. After five years of working as an independent contractor in the Rochester, MN community and surrounding areas in addition to internationally within the mental health field, I knew the children and families receiving services needed something more. In July of 2019, I started the initial phases of establishing Birchlawn Place Counseling Center, INC with the sole purpose of bridging the gap between children and families’ mental health needs and access to holistic and equitable community based mental health services. As the sole owner & founder, I opened Birchlawn Place Counseling Center, INC’s doors to the Rochester, MN community and surrounding areas on January 13th, 2020.

   My personal belief that an integral part of providing holistic and innovative services is dependent on providing a safe place while fostering connections, emotional wellness, healing, and a sense of community within the children and families I work with, are what fuel my personal mission and form the mission of Birchlawn Place Counseling Center, INC. My own journey of healing and working towards self-actualization, has empowered me to chase my dreams as a first-generation college educated female, mother, and small business owner, has helped me learn that I didn’t have to choose between a fulfilling career or motherhood, and aided me in growing and maintaining my humanistic perspective on life. Within my various roles of Founder, Center Director, and Clinical Mental Health Therapist at Birchlawn Place Counseling Center, INC, I strive daily to partner with children and families on their own journeys of healing as they work towards self-actualization.

3. What does “curiosity” mean to you?
   A passion for knowing more, learning more, and never allowing my inquisitive nature to cease.
4. Tell us about a time you felt curious and how it benefitted you.
   I wake up curious every day and live my life embracing my curious nature. My curious nature has benefitted me in countless ways over the course of my life from new friendships, fun filled adventures, learning experiences, and entrepreneurship. Curiosity has aided in me in discovering my true passions that fueled my motivation to peruse higher education and a career within the mental health field.By far the greatest benefit curiosity has brought me was through my own journey of healing and working towards self-actualization, along the way gaining a deeper awareness and appreciation for the innate resilience within all individuals and the depth of felt experiences such as pain, grief, empathy, understanding, love, joy, and forgiveness.
5. What sparks your curiosity? Things, hobbies, topics, etc. Tell us more about that.
   The thing that sparks my curiosity the most is this thing called, life. My curious nature sparks curiosity in me about the intricate workings of the human experience, the human psyche, and why individuals are who they are, and what individuals can do within themselves to change the trajectory of their life and the many generations that will follow them.
6. What do you wish more people were curious about that you could teach them?
   I wish more individuals would be curious about their inner thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Aiding individuals in learning about why they are the way they are, what is within their control, what is not within their control, and how they have the power, strength, and tools within themselves to make any desired or needed changes within themselves, changing the trajectory of their life, collaterally impacting all those they encounter.

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