Brian M. Simmons, MA, LPC, CH, CCTP-I, CFTP-F, CCTP-TA, CSTSS, CSTSS-ST
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - Individual
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - Family
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - Trauma & Addiction
Certified Stress & Trauma Support Specialist
Certified Stress & Trauma Support Specialist - Sex Trafficking/Instructor
Certified Multichannel Eye Movement Integration Practitioner (MEMI) & Instructor
Certified Psychotraumatologist (IPA)
Certified Hypnotherapist
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) provider
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) provider
Mr. Simmons and his wife (Dr. Stephanie Thurston-Simmons) currently co-own and operate both New Solutions Counseling & Trauma Center and HC Solutions Training and Consulting. Both are located in Southlake, Texas.
Mr. Simmons received a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and History from Southern Methodist University and his Master’s in Professional Counseling from Amberton University. Mr. Simmons completed the majority of his counseling practicum hours @ Burning Tree Ranch, a long-term residential dual diagnosis substance use treatment center specializing in complex cases of addiction. He also obtained practicum hours at the North Texas Suicide and Crisis Center providing remote stabilization and crisis counseling. Mr. Simmons accrued post-graduate hours in both private practice and at Safe Haven of Tarrant County facilitating Batterer Intervention Prevention Program (BIPP) groups and conducting program intake assessments.
Prior to receiving his Master's Degree in 2010 Brian obtained a Texas Peace Officer License in 2001 and served as a full-time law enforcement officer. First with the Dallas Police Department and then with the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office, where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant. During his law enforcement career Brian obtained the following specialized training: Special Weapons and Tactics, Hostage Negotiations, Mental Health Peace Officer, Field Training Officer, TCOLE Instructor, Forensic Hypnosis, and earned a Master Peace Officer Certification due to his years of service. Mr. Simmons was a part of the joint law enforcement and mental health crisis response movement aimed at reducing use of force incidents through increased mental health awareness and standardized training for law enforcement. He created the model for the Kaufman Country Crisis Response Team which focused on bridging the gap between mental health consumers and law enforcement response personnel. Since beginning his counseling career, Mr. Simmons has specialized in trauma & stress-related disorders. Care for first responders, frontline & crisis response personnel, and treating military stress/trauma are also areas of specialization.
Mr. Simmons is a Certified Hypnotherapist, a Certified Multichannel Eye Movement Integration practitioner and instructor, and an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) provider (with specialized training in Feeling State Addiction protocol, Migraine Pain Reduction protocol, and treating dissociative disorders with EMDR). Mr. Simmons is also trained in the Acute Stress Syndrome Stabilization procedures (ASSYST) and EMDR-Integrative Group Treatment Protocol (EMDR-IGTP). Both are utilized for post-critical incident or mass disaster survivor care. Additionally, Mr. Simmons holds a total of six diversified trauma specialized certifications.
As a provider, Mr. Simmons utilizes a mind/body-based treatment approach that combines talk therapy modalities, psychoeducation, mindfulness, and somatic stabilization techniques, with Adaptive Information Processing (AIP), MEMI, and Trauma Informed treatment techniques to address client's presenting symptoms and achieve their treatment goals.
In addition to offering a variety of training courses and consulting services through HC Solutions Training and Consulting, Mr. Simmons and his wife have three popular online training courses: Sex Trafficking and Sex Industry Exploitation (Certified Stress & Trauma Support Specialist), Neurophysiology and The Stress Response, and The Mental Health Needs of Law Enforcement. These online training courses have collectively been used to train mental health professionals and paraprofessionals across the US and in several nations worldwide.
Previously Mr. Simmons and his wife were partnered as instructors with the First Responder Mental Health Alliance and he served as an adjunct instructor at the Arizona Trauma Institute from 2018-2024.
Mr. Simmons has spent several years working in the field of human sex trafficking survivor recovery. Since 2016, Mr. Simmons has worked in varying capacities with four non-profits in the battle against sex slavery: 2019 (Advisory Board Member for SWAT League); 2019-2020 (Director of Operations for Express Missions International); 2016-2017 (Director of Clinical Care for Valiant Hearts); 2017-2019 (assisting an NGO that focused on rescuing women and children from ISIS controlled territory in Iraq & from Boko Haram in Africa). During his time assisting in Iraq, he and his wife also designed a child soldier restoration program for US based non-profit. Brian continues to work with survivors of human trafficking in private practice.