LANGUAGE OF BEHAVIOR

Former Tiger cornerback Joe Brumfield ’07 has more than 10 years of experience treating mental illness and substance use disorders, one reason Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Brumfield to the Ohio Parole Board.

WRITTEN BY Edward Weinman

“Behavior is like language,” said Joe Brumfield who, in addition to his private therapy practice, serves on the Ohio Parole Board.

The former Wittenberg cornerback explains it this way: if it’s sunny and warm, we can walk outside in a T-shirt, but if it’s raining out, we put on a jacket. We learn to adjust.

“People can change behaviors when they are uncomfortable,” Brumfield said.

The power to moderate our behavior and choose a different path forward lies at the heart of Brumfield’s core belief that all of us can find redemption, or to use a phrase in tune with his department of corrections work — be rehabilitated.

The certain things that have to happen sometimes occur with maturity. Age can abate impulsivity when the brain’s frontal lobe, which controls impulses, fully develops. Brumfield calls them our “stop and think alerts.”

Brumfield has more than 10 years of experience assessing and treating mental illness and substance use disorders in children and adults, with a mental health counseling license. This work is one reason Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Brumfield to the Parole Board, a job he views as a service to his community.

“I have a job as a councilor to promote safety,” Brumfield said. “As a mental health professional, we ensure the health of our clients and those in our clients’ lives. We have a duty to protect and identify risk factors of our clients coming into practice. So that’s not easy, but with my training, it was easier for me to relate to the purpose of a parole board member.”

Safeguarding Springfield (and the state of Ohio) is personal to Brumfield because Wittenberg was essentially in his neighborhood growing up.

“I grew up going to Wittenberg games, both basketball and football. It’s basically in my backyard,” he said.

It was his experience as an athlete that gave Brumfield a sense of direction, a purpose that was bigger than himself.

“Athletics kept me on track. It helped me remain focused. It was the line in the sand,” he said.

Football taught him another important lesson: “Things won’t always go your way, but with hard work you can overcome them.”

This informs his view of behavior, going back to change stemming from the need to move from discomfort to comfort. If on the field or in the classroom one is uncomfortable, one practices harder, or studies longer. One changes position.

Brumfield was actually recruited to Wittenberg to play running back, but that didn’t work out because running back Tristan Murray ’06 transferred from Brown University to become one

of the best players in Wittenberg’s history. Therefore, Brumfield literally switched positions to cornerback and had to learn an entirely new way to play football.

“We can change our position in a positive way,” he said. “We have thousands of thoughts in a day but that doesn’t mean we have to land on something negative.” As this relates to treating his clients, he says “therapy isn’t about changing our feelings. We feel how we feel. It’s about changing what we think. Positive thoughts lead to positive behaviors, and vice versa.”

Aside from his two day jobs, Brumfield evaluates potential hires for local police and fire departments, and is a deacon in his church. He’s not only busy, but he’s busy serving others.

This service to the community wasn’t at the forefront of his mind when he was at Wittenberg. Like many first-year students, he was uncertain about his future. In fact, his sophomore year he hadn’t yet declared his major. He was “chipping away” at the general education requirements until he sat down with Professor of Psychology Mary Jo Zembar.

“I remember telling her that I didn’t have a major, and she looked at me as if I had four eyes,” Brumfield laughs.

Following his graduation from Wittenberg, Brumfield stayed local in Ohio, and earned his Master of Science at Wright State. His clinical skills have been tested during a pandemic that has driven people into isolation with lockdowns and social distancing. After all, no person is an island. We all crave connections.

To fight against these negative thoughts or to stave off the rumination that can drive us to a blindhead, Brumfield suggests we allow ourselves to experience the moment.

“It’s okay for us not to be okay,” he said.

A key to finding a balance through trauma is opening ourselves up to change. If we’re not changing, Brumfield doesn’t think we’re living.

Brumfield listens to his clients’ stories. He does so unconditionally, not with judgment, because he understands that all of us come from a different set of experiences. We all have stories.

Brumfield’s story is both complicated and simple.