| Published in The Informer February 2000 Montreal West has a new and very necessary family life counselling centre: Viva Consulting. Viva Consulting is owned and operated by psychotherapist Brenda Thomas, a Montreal West resident who has an extensive background in Psychology and Human Relations. Although she began her education and teaching career in Saskatchewan, in 1973 Brenda obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree (Psychology/Sociology) at Sir George Williams University, followed by her Quebec teaching certificate, and her Special Education certificate (McGill). After working full-time and raising her six children, she obtained her Master of Education degree (Educational Psychology and Counselling, McGill), specializing in Family life Education. Brenda Thomas, president and co-founder of Viva Consulting, has an extensive background in Psychology and Human Relations. For the past twenty-two years, Brenda has been a specialist in the Quebec public school system, working with students who have learning disabilities and behaviour problems. This frequently involved not only the diagnosis and remediation of the students themselves, but often family counselling as well. However, academically challenged children were not her only interest. She also has experience at the other end of the educational spectrum. In 1993, her principal asked her to create a TAG (Talented and Gifted ) program, designed to challenge and motivate academically superior students. As well as teaching the students within this program, she also acted as their personal mentor. In 1995, as a result of her ability to counsel students and her success in positively motivating them to change, she was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Award of Teaching Excellence. As well being a leader in the educational sector, Brenda has also played a vital role in the local community. For many years, Brenda and her husband were very active in Rawdon, the community where they had chosen to raise their family of six, (although for secondary school all of the youngest chose to commute daily with their father, in order to attend Royal West Academy). After the loss of her husband in 1995, Brenda made the choice to relocate in Montreal West so that her children (now all teenagers) could continue their lives in the city. In 1997, she helped to establish Montreal’s EXCEL! Minority Youth Group, an organization designed to encourage the mentoring of young people from visible minorities, and as a charter member served EXCEL!’s Board of Directors. Her organizational skills and dedication helped to bring about the EXCEL! Science and Technology Conference in May of 1999 Throughout her career as a parent, an educator, and a Family Life counsellor, Brenda has always been very concerned with the quality of family life and the negative factors that influence our behaviour and affect those who surround us. In recent years, with the legalization of many forms of gambling and its greater public acceptance, a significant number of people are rapidly developing gambling-related problems. Because the symptoms of a gambling addiction are still generally unrecognized yet tend to have such an enormous ripple effect on everyone whose life is touched by the gambler, Brenda foresees that this will continue to have serious ramifications on family life and on society as a whole. Because of this concern, Brenda has allied her skills with Sol Boxenbaum (founder and former Executive Director of the Canadian Foundation on Compulsive Gambling (Sask.) Inc.). Now, in addition to individual and family counselling on any and all life issues, Viva Consulting offers expertise specifically in gambling addiction. Viva Consulting will give educational seminars and workshops to companies,
At Viva Consulting we neither endorse nor oppose social gambling. However, we do feel strongly that the public must be made aware that for some people there is definitely the potential danger of developing a gambling addiction. |
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