EXPERIENCE
Bradford has worked with many different populations as a Registered Drama Therapist and as a Marriage and Family Therapist.
Here is a partial list of his job sites:
HOAG HOSPITAL
With adults in recovery from substance abuse – on-going weekly program.
HUMAN OPTIONS
Battered women and their children on a weekly basis.
WTLC (Women’s Transitional Living Center)
Battered women on a weekly basis.
LAURA’S HOUSE
Battered women – weekly program.
CHOC (Children’s Hospital of Orange County)
Children suffering from chronic and/or terminal illness – weekly program.
ST. ANNE’S CHARTER SCHOOL
Working with at risk high school girls.
VERDUGO MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC
Individual, Family and Couples Counseling. Ran the Sober Living Program using Music Therapy as therapeutic tool.
POSITIVE DIRECTIONS
Facilitating two group therapies for the Prop 36 program and running their PC1000 program for outpatient participants.
KLEAN CENTER West Hollywood
Individual/group and family work with folks in recovery.
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Facilitating groups of post-doc candidates in the use of Creative Arts Therapy.
GREEHOUSE THERAPY CENTER
Facilitating staff in the use of Creative Arts Therapy.
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ARTS
Facilitating groups of students using Drama Therapy to look at the dangers of drug and alcohol use in the entertainment industry.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BRADFORD BANCROFT
“In all instances I have found Mr. Bancroft to be a wonderfully talented, bright, engaging, and thoughtful individual. Mr. Bancroft brings a profound level of integrity to all of his endeavors. I rate Mr. Bancroft among the top two percent of all students I have worked with in my nearly three decades of teaching undergraduates and graduate students in psychology.”
-Jeffrey Marsh, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor at Antioch University
Licensed Psychologist in private practice
“Bradford’s work at Positive Directions takes him into the thick of deplorable social injustices and cultural pathologies. Bradford is insistent on working forcefully and tirelessly to identify suppressed human potentials and facilitate their creative expression. Bradford is able to model the kind of fearlessness and personal vulnerability that he is asking of his clients, and thereby make it possible for them to take similar courageous risks in the service of genuine change.”
-Dr. Gary Pearle, Ph.D., M.F.T.
“Bradford has worked with a broad range of problems, client populations, and ethnic groups (many Armenian and Latino clients) and excelled with them all. He is a dynamic, creative group leader as well as a hardworking, deeply empathetic individual therapist. He is acutely intuitive and his intelligence, skill, and devotion make him an exceptionally gifted therapist.”
-Deborah McColl, M.A., M.F.T., C.A.D.C.
Program Director, Positive Directions Counseling Center
AS A DRAMA THERAPIST
“Bradford has had a long-standing association with STOP-GAP. STOP-GAP is an interactive theatre company delivering 1000 educational and therapeutic programs to those at-risk and in-need each year. Following on three years as a member of the STOP-GAP Board of Directors, Bradford decided to become a Registered Drama Therapist through the STOP-GAP Institute.”
-Fionnuala Kenny
Artistic Director, STOP-GAP
“Bradford has an engaging manner and an ability to use humor to lighten a difficult situation and elicit joyful responses without compromising the seriousness of the work at hand. Diligent and respectful to the clients, he has proven himself to be an excellent listener, with a capacity to synthesize the main themes of the discourse and to reflect these back to the group. He is skilled at eliciting suggestions from the group as to how they might use alternative strategies to secure more positive outcomes in their life scripts.”
–Don R. Laffoon
Executive Director and Founder, STOP-GAP
AS A TEACHER
“It gives me a great deal of pleasure to be able to talk about the work that Bradford Bancroft did with my Literature and Drama class at Florida State University during the fall semester, 2010. I asked Bradford to Skype in and talk about his work as a drama therapist so that my students could get a feel for the power of using drama in the classroom.
“Bradford spoke with eloquence about some of the people he has worked with and how it affected his life as well as those of his clients. The students in my class were mesmerized. It was a powerful message for them. Here is a person that has taken his considerable talents and has devoted them to working with others a lot less fortunate. He inspired them to want to be better teachers – he inspired us all to want to be better teachers.
“I have been a teacher for 38 years and every time I can tap into the kinds of things Bradford talked about, I feel empowered to do more in my classroom. I know these future teachers felt the same way. His dedication to the talents in us all, to the humanity in us all humbles us indeed.”
-Kathy S. Froelich, Ph.D.
AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE
“Bradford Bancroft was a guest lecturer during one of the filmmaking workshops I teach. I’ve had many guest lecturers over the years, but I was repeatedly thanked after Bradford’s presentation. The students came away from several interactive exercises inspired and moved by what they had learned. The work was immediately followed by an involved and energetic dialogue that is continually referenced throughout the process. I speak on behalf of my students when I say that Bradford is a gift and rarity in the profound work he introduces.”
Warmly,
Karrin Nissom
AFI Director
St. ANNE’S NEW VILLAGE CHARTER SCHOOL
“Bradford Bancroft has the ability to make teenagers feel safe and heard. He demonstrated empathy and pure love when working with the pregnant and parenting teens at New Village Charter School. He was flexible and met the girls where they were. His patience, kindness, and skill allows everyone to feel at ease and comfortable doing very deep work. I highly recommend him to lead workshops and sessions with ANY youth.”
-Kelly Kagan, Ph.d. MFT 41666
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ARTS
“I have known Bradford Bancroft for several years due to our mutual association at Verdugo Mental Health in Glendale, CA. For the last 3 years, Bradford has presented “Drugs and Alcohol: An Actor’s Perspective” to our students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. We are a two-year acting conservatory with a student body of over 250 students.
The artistic life comes with many challenges. Often young artists turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. At the Academy, we seek to help our students pursue and lead an artistic life that is healthy, professional, creative, and joyful. Bradford’s presentations have been a most productive means to this end.
In his presentations, Bradford begins with introducing his own experiences as actor, healer, and teacher. He then asks the students their opinions, experiences, and attitudes about being an actor. In this way he connects with the students with their needs as the primary focus. He then uses questioning, improv, and other “on your feet” techniques and exercises to assist students in re-enacting their stated difficult life events that include loss, rejection, the temptation to use drugs and alcohol, and self-criticism. Students who participate in and observe these enactments come away with deeper awareness, a sense of camaraderie, and tools to increase self-esteem.
Because each set of students present with their own unique issues, Bradford artfully responds to each group. Therefore his presentations are unique, at times unpredictable, but always healing, enlightening, and exciting. Bradford has touched and helped the students who have been fortunate to experience his work, expertise, and open heart.
The Academy is grateful to him for his work and his sharing it with us.”
-Linda Brennan
Student Advisor/Voice and Speech Dept. Chair
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts
“Last year, I gratefully participated in Bradford Bancroft’s Workshop on “Substance Abuse and the Actor” at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Mr. Bancroft’s approach to the issue of substance abuse in the field of the arts is imperative to anyone beginning a career in the fine arts. It showed us essential pivotal points in our growth process as human beings and as artists. Not only was this workshop informative, but Mr. Bancroft took a unique and personal approach to the subject. As opposed to being forced to focus on a lecture being drilled into our minds, such as the “Drugs are bad. Alcohol is bad” – mottoes we have been hammered with for most of our adolescent lives, we were given the opportunity to participate in and learn from this workshop on a personal level.
We students were given a few very interesting and fun improvisations to enact. It was great to be freely a part of an activity that involved important aspects to the actor’s career and in turn the things that can be hindered with the use of substances if they become a priority in our lives over our craft. By participating like this we were, in fact, teaching ourselves, and discovering rather than being told what not to do.
Bradford Bancroft has a very unique and interactive approach to educating the future of fine arts, and I believe that it is routed in a deep, invested passion for the actor, the craft, and the human being.
In this actor’s opinion, it would be wise to invest some of your time and attention to this man.”
Very Respectfully,
-JDOC Farrow
Iraqi War Veteran
DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN’S AFFAIRS, June 2012
“Mr. Bancroft has been a wonderful addition to our program at the PRRC in West Los Angeles. He has been volunteering for over a year. He comes in every week to help our veterans who suffer from mental illness. Mr. Bancroft brings joyful music and singing to our program. The veterans truly enjoy his classes and all leave with smiles on their faces. They gain social skills and overcome shyness in a nonthreatening environment where everyone can sing dance and have fun in his joyful classes. We have been so fortunate to have Mr. Bancroft volunteering in our program. I highly recommend him to future positions where you can bring this joyous creative outlet to patients with mental illness.”
Sincerely,
Dr. Donna Ames
Program Leader, Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center
Professor in Residence, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
“On behalf of the Physical Medicine Rehabilitation Service and PRRC out patient program staff and veterans, I would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Bradford Bancroft for his dedication and hard work in helping the veterans have a better outlook on life. His Music Therapy Program contributes to the well-being and progress of the veterans. We appreciate your continued dedication and support of improving the life of our veterans.”
Respectfully,
Mirian Franklin
Recreation Therapist (117R)
SOME COMMENTS FROM BRADFORD’S WORKSHOPS
“If I were to reference Webster’s Dictionary for “authentic”, it would probably say, “see Bradford.” The same would be true if I looked up “genuine,” “sincere,” “honest,” and “grounded.”
“He listens so well and has wonderful recall ability. I admire that greatly. He gives me a great sense of pride to know him, simply because of his dedication. What a giver!! It is precisely this – he expends so much energy to improve the lives of those he cares for. He possess a giant magnet inside of himself and knows how to use it.” –R. S.
“Bradford’s gift is empathy and the expression of language. He never ceases to amaze me with his memory as well (or his journaling skills). It seems at times that he is not really paying much attention, then out of his magic hat, he pulls a rabbit of truth and wisdom. He also articulates it so well. I feel that the hardships he has endured as a youth have really made him feel and listen to what a person is saying. He epitomizes the word empathy.” -C. M.
“Bradford has an unusually winning persona that appeals to me on several levels. I always look forward to what he is going to say. He is very articulate but also has an almost strangely comforting verbal delivery. His speech is measured and clear, honest in purpose and carries a deliberate quality that I thoroughly enjoy. I like the natural strength that underlies what he says and the way he says it. His observations are always tempered with just the right touch of humor.
“I think when one is truly honest with himself, the self-consciousness born in the fear of not looking good falls away entirely, and what remains is pure personhood, and the resultant warmth that emanates from you, Bradford, when you enter a room and when you share who you are, is a measure both of the artist and the man.” -J.M.
“I want to thank you the most for your bravery to show the light each and every day! I am so thankful the universe has directed me to you for I do not know where I would be without your guidance and light! I hesitate to use thankful and thank you so much because I feel there should be a greater word but just one last one won’t hurt. 🙂 I thank you for being so patient with me and letting me grow within your light. I can’t wait to speak with you so soon! And give you a huge big guy hug!” -A.G.
REHEARSE FOR LIFE: A Client’s Testimony by A.K.
Before I started my path with Brad, I was closed off from the world; I had a very harsh exterior, I pushed people away, I felt unworthy of love, self-doubtful, I hated myself. I hated myself so much, that I would take “Oxycotin” recreationally. I had no boundaries, too much was never enough; I drank like a mad man and acted like a complete asshole. My family and friends did not respect me, because I did not respect myself.
On my first meeting with Brad, he asked me to close my eyes and breathe. I told him, “I can’t breathe, I can’t do that.”
One breath at a time, day by day, my life changed; and continues to change. I owe all of my improvement to this wonderful and loving man. When I thank him for all he has done for me, he accepts my gratitude, and in turn, he tells me that I should thank myself for I choose how far I want to go down the rabbit hole. This is important because I agree that it is one’s choice to dive deep within the self to clean out the wreckage.
What I like about Brad’s methods is that he helps me find my light before I face the darkness. There is no need to face my demons without finding my inner strength first. That is how I have managed to maintain positive living. I have learned to be centered, to love myself—this mentality keeps me from reaching to the outside world for support. Why reach outside when I can reach inside? All we ever need to know is inside us already. Through the tools and exercises fused by creative work, Brad and I excavate through the skull and bones of my fears to rediscover my true essence, my beauty, my power. It is what guides me today; it is what drives me forward with strength and courage. I cannot thank Brad enough for this priceless gem.
One of the exercises that we have practiced is to physically release the negative feeling from the diaphragm, chest, and soul. The process begins when one is crouched like an embryo, I begin to think and feel the negativity as my body rises to my feet. There is clawing and stomping and yelling all embodied on my vision of what the feeling looks like. Sometimes it’s a juggernaut- like figure with bulky hands and feet, other times it’s an animal like a bird or raven.
After the release, there may be a moment of crying, which is the beginning of the healing process. Then Brad asks me to breathe and picture where I want to be in my mind, I am then aligned, centered, and open to the free flowing wonder of life. I let the energy flow through me in each magnificent second. No drug can compare to this moment of release.
In my experience with Brad, I have learned a valuable lesson: Drugs suppress emotions to feel good temporarily, while Brad’s methods release emotions to feel good permanently.
Another method is role-playing. We stage two to three chairs face-to-face. The goal is to dissect the tangled up emotional blocks by separating them into one chair and myself in another. I then proceed by talking to this person; the deep down emotional wounds speak when I open my mouth. I then sit in the other chair and say what I think the other person, thing or problem might say.
This is very important because in reality, it doesn’t matter what that person would say, the only thing that matters is how we feel about what they would say. Brad and I simulate a conversation to recreate a new experience; therefore, it plants a positive seed about the problem in our minds. Once the dialogue is resolved, there is now a positive inflection underlying the problem in my mind—which makes the problem not a problem anymore!
Sometimes I role play about myself where I divide three parts of me and have them communicate, sometimes it’s an addiction, or sometimes it’s an actual person that I am bothered by. The resolve of communication is the key ingredient because we can only control how we feel about things; we can’t control how things are outside of ourselves.
I am looking forward to my next adventure. When I go to Brad’s office, so much love and energy emanates from his soul and fills the room. When he asks me to breathe now, I feel the universe vibrating through me. My lungs expand with each breath, and I appreciate every second that I am alive.
Thank you Brad for all that you do. -A. K.
