 |  |  |  |
and tae kwon do in his youth. He was promoted to yondan (fourth
degree black belt) in March of 2010. Brian has participated in the
uchi deshi programs under Pat Hendricks sensei in San Leandro,
CA, and Hitohiro Saito sensei in Iwama, Japan. Brian began
teaching aikido at the Downtown Campus of J. Sargeant Reynolds
Community College in the fall of 2001, and began calling his dojo
River City Aikido in the Spring of 2005.
Brian is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has practiced
psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and their families. He
currently supervises substance abuse therapist at the Bon Air
Juvenile Correctional Center. He holds a bachelor's degree in
psychology from Virginia Wesleyan College and a master's degree
in clinical social work from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Reynolds Community College, before Brian sensei officially started
River City Aikido. She currently hold the rank of ikkyu, and has
been assisting with kids classes since they started in 2005. Julie
was also a co-therapist with Brian sensei at the Virginia Treatment
Center for Children, where they le the Therapeutic Martial Arts
Program groups with the children and adolescents placed in the
Residential Program. This was a program designed to serve
children with emotional and behavioral challenges, in which
practical self-defense is key, but also where self-discipline,
self-control, coping strategies, and safe emotional expression is
fostered.
Julie is a Licenced Child Psychologist, and the Associate Director
of the Center for Child and Family Studies at the Virginia
Treatment Center for Children where she facilitates and actively
pursues her own research in the field of child and family mental
health. She also provides individual and family psychotherapy for
patients, and provides clinical supervision and training within the
psychology training curriculum at VTCC.
