Brandon Gwilliam
keynote presenter
Brandon Gwilliam is a Licensed Clinical Social
l Worker (LCSW). He was raised in Sandy, UT, with 1 brother and 2 sisters, with a mother who has tons of real empathy. Both he and his sisters were adopted. He served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints in Oregon Portland mission. He has 7 years of both paid and volunteer experiences teaching seminary and institute for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in the United States Army from 2002 to 2006 with tours to Iraq in 2003 and 2005. He earned a bachelors degree in mass communications from the University of Utah. He earned his masters degree in social work from the University of Kansas. The past 20 years working in the mental health field he spent one year working with children who have PTSD,
and 19 years working with active duty military and veterans who have PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, addiction, and suicidality. He has been a couples therapist since 2004. He is trained in evidence-based therapy for PTSD, addiction, schizophrenia, and couples therapy. He is well-versed on recovery from narcissistic abuse, addiction, grief and loss, and PTSD. His passion is attachment theory which he lectured on weekly for 7 years at the VA hospital. Another passion is helping people overcome suicidality. He was the program coordinator, clinical Director, at the Salt Lake VA hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit for 9 years. He is currently a VA outpatient therapist at the Orem clinic. Gospel teaching has served as a center in his life for 27 years. He has been involved in firesides since the late 1990s. As a landlord, he also owns and rents a few properties. He is the father of three boys and one daughter. His daughter died from Leukemia. His oldest son just got home from a mission in Peru. His 18 year old is turning in mission papers soon. He enjoys theme parks, tennis, pickleball, snow skiing, Lake Powell, and any backyard sport with his children, including Wiffleball and basketball. He currently resides in Lehi, Utah.
Synopsis:
Do you know yourself well enough to be dating? How do you get to know yourself well enough to be courageous to make good dating choices? Do you know how to change your unhealthy cycles and patterns? Why are you attracted to the types you are attracted to? How do you increase your confidence that your next relationship will be your most successful one? Come learn about these things all with a framework of attachment theory.
Steph has been an English teacher for 6 years, with a small stint as an art teacher, and a four year stint as a substitute. She got into teaching because she was obsessed with writing (she has over 45 completed personal journals) and wanted to help students use the written word as a way of personal expression. Her soul was dying a bit in the public school system so she decided to graduate from BYU with a masters of art education. Her thesis explored the emotional state of males and methods that can help males reconnect with their suppressed emotional selves regardless of societal expectations–including art, emotional vocabulary, and writing. So far her plans are to continue her research and education in this realm. Because Steph is a closet hippy with a dry sense of humor, she enjoys things such as kundalini yoga in the foothills, hunting for quality vegetables at farmers markets and then roasting them to sheer perfection, and creating scavenger hunts for her loved ones on special occasions. She also loves riveting nonfiction books about things such as world statistics or economics, outings to plays or the opera, and eating sushi with ginger ale. She was officially diagnosed with ADHD at the onset of 2024, so it comes as no surprise that she is the lead singer in her school’s teacher band, while also taking acting classes on a semi-regular basis. Her two children, a daughter and a son, are quite savvy and enjoy conversations with adults on their good days.
