Revive to Thrive Therapies

Revive to Thrive Therapies Provides a Caring, Personal Approach to Mental Health

By Deborah Bostock-Kelley

Debbie Brown, Ph.D., is the founder of the mental health practice Revive to Thrive Therapies. She describes her practice as “mental health therapy that provides therapy grounded in research and perfected in practice. We are all research-based people, but we also have a lot of experience in treating people and individualizing the research to make it relevant for our clients.

“It’s been in the news recently that we are experiencing a mental health crisis. The thing about Covid is we realized through lockdown that while we may love each other, it’s not always easy to live together. Now that we are trying to come out of the pandemic but keeping one foot in lockdown, we are in this really weird place, and people need help navigating it.”

Debbie explained that practice has seen many people with burnout, especially teachers and healthcare professionals. “They are living on fumes. We work to get them recharged.”

Revive to Thrive Therapies has an eight-year-old flagship location in Brandon. This newest location in Eastlake debuted in May 2022 with two therapists, Tanisha Boyd, BSW, MS, and Beth Thomas, MA. Each brings with them more than twenty years of experience helping middle-schoolers with anxiety, adults healing from trauma, and senior citizens learning to embrace a new life. A mom to five, Debbie specializes in helping clients discover and create their most authentic, beautiful life, parenting LGBTQ+ youth, and chronic disease management. Her philosophy is to listen without judgment, show respect, and make everyone feel heard. She wants a tattoo of the Josh Wilson song lyric, “Judge slow, love quick.”

Beth offers therapy for adolescents, couples, and families struggling with anxiety, depression, marriage and family issues, school issues, and trauma. Tanisha provides counseling for abuse, domestic violence, trauma, PTSD, and those struggling with complex diagnoses and major life changes.

In addition to offering a variety of evidence-based approaches to counseling, the practice also provides two drug-free treatments, EMDR and Accelerated Resolution Therapies. Both are proven helpful with PTSD and trauma to learn to reprocess the events and feelings in a healthy way to heal from them.

The practice also helps couples, people going through divorce, breakups, and families struggling.

A volunteer with the Trevor Project crisis line and Equality Now, Debbie spends a lot of time helping LGBTQ+ youth and their families. “There is a lot to unpack, many questions - especially if a religious component is involved. I try to help families navigate that and find their way back to love. It’s been there all along, and it just gets buried by fear. I help families excavate it.”

Debbie is concerned about Florida’s newest bill targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

“The new, heartbreaking, ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill scares me. My biggest fear is that this will cause serious and life-threatening mental health issues for our youth. They need a safe space where they can discuss what they are feeling – what they are thinking. They shouldn’t have to go through this alone – they need to TALK.

I’m trying to get the word out that we are here; we are a safe place for youth and their families to discuss these issues. And even though we do take most insurance, I offer scholarships for members of the LGBTQ+ community that need therapy but are without the means to afford it.”

Debbie stressed the importance of getting help.

“Just please, don’t suffer in silence – no matter what you struggle with – we have a group of highly educated and exceptionally caring people close by who can help. Just call us. You aren’t alone,” she said. “Opening this practice has been a passion project for me. I’ve been a professor for 17 years. Teens and twenties are my people. I just love them and want to help them, let them know that they don’t need to be fixed; they are perfect as they are. So I created my practice with them and their families in mind.”

The suite in Eastlake is the antithesis of the standard cream or white sterile clinical doctor’s office. Bright, cheerful, colorful walls are adorned with artwork by local artists, including patients of the practice.

“Our practice feels like you’re walking into somebody’s living room,” she describes. “We have three offices, and each is decorated to reflect the distinct personality of the therapist. We want you to come in and feel welcomed, loved, and appreciated.” While Tanisha’s office showcases warm colors, a leather sofa, and giraffes with an African motif, Beth’s is more boho with flowers, plants, Squishmallow stuffed animals, and a swinging rattan chair. Debbie’s office showcases her love for art and passion for rainbows.

Revive to Thrive counselors will stock their fridge, buying the patient’s favorite candy, snack, or beverage to make them feel at home during their visit.

“I treat my patients like my kids because I’m a mom, and I know what works to make them feel like part of a community. Feeling that sense of belonging is so important. With my practice, I intentionally build community. I go out of my way to make people feel welcome, involved, and loved because they are. Each of our therapists plays to their strengths. Mine is mom-ing people. We are blessed to do what we love.”

Revive to Thrive takes most insurances. To learn more or set an appointment, visit revivetothrivetherapies. com or call 727-238-5821.