Patrice Brown (submitted photo)
Patrice Brown of Henderson, a graduate of Vance-Granville Community College’s Human Services Technology program, is celebrating milestones this summer. She recently opened her own mental health agency, and she is about to graduate with a master’s degree. Brown credits her education at VGCC with starting her down the path toward these successes.
A single mother of two children, Brown said recently that she “has reached for the stars of success” since she graduated from Northern Vance High School in 2003. She has been working in the mental health field ever since, starting off as a paraprofessional, working with clients in the Durham area. “I think I was a success on the job with clients that were impoverished because I struggled with the same issues myself, growing up in a single-parent home,” Brown recalled. To advance in her chosen field, she eventually enrolled in the Human Services program, based at VGCC’s South Campus in Creedmoor, while she continued to work. “I believe that if I had not come back home and attended VGCC, I would never have learned the necessary counseling skills to treat the clients I enjoyed working with each day,” Brown said. She also appreciated that program head/instructor Tracy Wallace incorporated “humor and excitement” in class. “Everything I was taught, from the theoretical counseling perspectives to role playing, always stayed with me,” Brown said. “Once I graduated from VGCC, I moved up the mental health ladder as an Associate Professional and I continued my education with Argosy University.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Organizational Management, in 2010, and then decided to continue her education. In August, she is set to graduate from Argosy with her M.A. in Forensic Psychology.
Her new Creedmoor-based business, Restoring Bodies and Minds, LLC, is a psychosocial rehabilitation agency that serves area adults with mental health or substance abuse issues. The agency seeks to improve the quality of clients’ lives through education, employment, volunteer opportunities, developing social interactions, participation in hobbies or pursuing the arts. “Much of my success comes from the skills and training that I received from the instructors at VGCC such as Mr. Wallace, Mrs. Terry, Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Gardner,” Brown said. “These instructors were more than dedicated to their jobs; they were dedicated to the students.” Now, she is seeking to emulate that level of dedication in order to help her clients.
For more information about the Human Services Technology program, contact program head Tracy Wallace at (252) 738-3519 or (919) 528-4737, ext. 3519.