About Brian
Brian Farr is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Portland, Oregon. His professional work includes psychotherapy with individuals and couples, presentations and workshops for professional audiences across the United States, and written publications.
He has helped hundreds of individuals and couples explore their relationship with money, and develop new awareness and healthy habits with personal finances. He uses a wide variety of therapeutic and financial techniques to assist people in recognizing the patterns behind their actions, and then develops clear strategies for resolving financial problems.
Brian is also known for his expertise in working with people who are in the process of recovering from addiction. His extensive clinical experience with drug and alcohol issues, problem gambling and other compulsive behaviors guide his work and contribute to his successful interactions with individuals at all stages of recovery.
His training as a public speaker, years of education and broad clinical knowledge provide an excellent foundation for his national presentations to mental health professionals. On the topic of Financial Therapy, he provides audiences with an overview of the role and meaning of money in contemporary culture, and examines the impact of money on personal values, self-concept and sense of safety. Brian encourages mental health counselors to expand their awareness of their own relationship with money, thereby enriching their clinical work with clients facing financial difficulties.
Brian has worked with financial service professionals as a consultant, co-facilitator of client meetings and workshop presenter. Given his experience in the investment management business, he is able to communicate effectively about the tangible reality of financial data, as well as the less tangible reality of emotions and personal dreams that are inevitably woven into the financial planning process.
Brian's interactions with audience members and clinical clients are enriched by his successful career in the world of business. During the 25 years prior to becoming a professional counselor, he was a founding partner of an investment management firm, owner/manager of a personnel agency and member/broker at the Chicago Board of Trade. Brian has a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Lewis & Clark College and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Stanford University. He is an AFCPE Certified Financial Counselor (AFC) and a Nationally Certified Gambling Counselor (NCGC-II).
Brian's professional affiliations include:
- American Counseling Association/Oregon Counseling Association
- Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education
- American Mental Health Alliance – Oregon
- National Council on Problem Gambling
- Financial Planning Association
- Financial Therapy Association