Practice

My practice is based on real human interaction in real time. This might seem funny or obvious to you but let me explain.

How much of our day is spent alone communicating through a keyboard, a smart phone (or our imaginary conversations); texting, emailing, googling? Having no real contact with people except through digital means?

My practice is all about human real-time contact. This is why I call my work Rehearse For Life.

In the safety of my office we can practice what it’s like to have real conversation, real feedback, and look at the many choices you have facing you in the confrontations you are looking at in your life. There is no guessing here. We can be real with each other about what is going on in your life, because we can look at your life here without guilt, without shame, and without judgement.

I see individuals, families, and a lot of couples who come to me as an honest facilitator to bridge the communication gap between them. Folks have responded so well to my exercises and creative approaches to mending the fences within their family. Whether the problems arise out of drug and alcohol addiction, fear of communicating the wrong thing at the wrong time (and therefore learning not to communicate at all), or simply figuring out how to restructure our behavior as we look at how you are thinking about yourself and others, we can see all of the choices you have before you which will allow you to make healthier decisions. Scary? Yes but ultimately so worth it for you and your loved ones.

My How The Times Have Changed

 

I have been amazed to see the changes in communication just in my lifetime alone (having been born in the 50’s). I still remember rotary dials on the phone, letter writing in order to communicate, getting my first electric typewriter (much less auto erasing white tape – mind blowing), and having the first computer introduced to our school in 1968; one that took up an entire small room, and seemed like something only an astronaut could navigate, true indeed.

Now, as a therapist in the 21st-century, I am witnessing the erosion of face to face communication. Kids I see in my practice don’t even know how to verbally converse anymore (I am slightly exaggerating) but, really, kids these days are doing all of their communicating through text. They are “hooking up,” “breaking up,” “freaking out,” and “dropping out” all in the fantasy world of online communicating where mind reading is their only form of getting communication clues. Are we adults that much different?

When I recently suggested to a young man that he begin to journal his experiences (as a creative first step towards discussing and processing them with me) he immediately began “texting” his story to me, his fingers moving at laser speed, often not looking at the tiny keyboard at all.

My how the times have changed.

 

COMMUNICATING

So my practice, in the tradition of Carl Rogers’ client-centered therapy and Fritz Perls’, et al. Gestalt Therapy is all about the here and now experience of us in the room together, exploring what is happening to you, to your partner or family (in the case of couple and group work), to me, between us, as we are experiencing it.

As we look at the anxiety of what to communicate, how to communicate, and what choices you have before you, we can feel the energy of real human interaction between us. You will receive real, honest and loving feedback. Experience real contact, rather than the secondhand guessing and mind reading we are asked to do when communicating superficially through modern-day digital means.

I’d like you to be able to feel what you feel, express what you are feeling, and learn techniques to then communicate what you want and need to the people who matter to you. Or, conversely, learn to soothe yourself in the healthiest way possible so as to not carry your anxiety and your issues into your most beloved relationships.

 

DO I HAVE A MODALITY?

Not really. While I have enjoyed studying the modalities and techniques of the early practitioners of psychology, the teachers and shamans who preceded us, I must admit that I do not have one school of thought or behavior that I adhere to.

My taste, as well as my practice, is eclectic and so are the vast numbers of my clients, each of whom have come in and challenged me to be real with them, not treat them as a cookie-cutter diagnosis.

In fact, years ago when I was working in hospitals and clinics, I wouldn’t refer to other clinician’s previous analyses until I had some one-on-one time with the patient; listening to them and feeling their energy before being swayed by someone else’s opinions.

This has served me well over the years.

I love this work, and I love listening to people’s narratives, helping them to find the most positive healthiest way forward in their often turbulent lives.

Finally, I will say that the practice of Positive Psychology and Mindfulness is one which I very much believe in. This e.e. cumming’s poem resonates for me and beautifully supports my mission as we Rehearse for Life.

“We do not believe in ourselves
until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable,
worth listening to,
worthy of our trust,
sacred to our touch.

Once we believe in ourselves,
we can risk curiosity,
wonder,
spontaneous delight
or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
-e.e. cummings

I am here for you.

So come on in and let’s meet knowing I am seeing you as a unique and interesting human being all your own.

The first thing I want you to do is breathe…

-Bradford

 

Please click here to contact me and schedule a complimentary 20-minute introductory session.

 

“Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – MARK TWAIN

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” – JOHN WOODEN