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Medical Director & Staff
The Drake Institute of Behavioral Medicine and Medical Associates is a medical
facility.
The Drake Institute’s diverse treatment team includes caring professionals
from a variety of mental health, educational, and medical backgrounds. This
group works not just with the patient but also with parents, teachers, siblings
and other influential members in the patient’s world to ensure success.
They all support and reinforce the new patterns as they emerge from the patient.
Each team member has his or her own significant role.
Medical Director
David F. Velkoff, M.D., our Medical Director and co-founder, supervises all
evaluation procedures and treatment programs.
Dr. Velkoff earned his Masters degree in Psychology from the California State
University at Los Angeles in 1975, and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Emory
University School of Medicine in Atlanta in 1976. Dr. Velkoff completed his
postgraduate work on Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California
Medical Center in Irvine. He then shifted his specialty to Behavioral Medicine
and attended Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas to learn biofeedback technology.
In 1980, he co-founded the Drake Institute of Behavioral Medicine.
Seeking to better understand the link between illness and the mind, Dr. Velkoff
served as the clinical director of an international research study on psychoneuroimmunology
with the UCLA Medical School Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and
the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
More recently, Dr. Velkoff was named associated editor of the scientific publication,
Journal of Neurotherapy.
The Neurophysical Trainer (NPT)
We carefully choose, train, and certify our NPT’s with the knowledge
that they are our first line of care and pride ourselves on these special team
members.
They are all very familiar, at a personal level, with the brain patterns our
patients are seeking to strengthen. Their knowledge of training technique and
their empathy keep them at our patient’s side and supporting their efforts
every step of the way.
The Program Coordinator
In the world of therapy, never before has timing been more significant with
the Drake treatment program. These team members are trained by Drake to make
the most of the Full Care concept and to ensure the best overall results. Every
time a new step is ready to be made in treatment, it is made by the program
coordinator, along with the rest of the clinical team members. They are Drake
trained because our program is unique and the elements of synergy present us
with better than expected results. Your Program Coordinator will be with you
all through care and beyond. They will continue to contact patients post care
to ensure their integration over time.
The Therapist
Drake’s educated and licensed therapists have the skills and experience
to best apply the Drake treatment. Our therapy programs operate on the assumption
that our patients are neurologically correcting their condition and they will
have to learn how to integrate this new information into the family, the classroom
and the world in general. In many cases the damage that has been done to the
family must be addressed, and certain skill areas need attention. Drake therapists
are aware of the elements that support the best possible results and help our
patients do so.
The Neuropsychologist
After your initial Drake intake, there are often questions raised about whether
the patient’s overall difficulties are solely the result of their present
diagnosis, or if there is another deficit impacting their performance. At that
time, the Neuropsychologist will become part of the clinical team for this individual.
Two different types of assessment may be administered, depending on the needs
of the patient. Two different types of assessment may be administered, depending
on the needs of the patient. They include:
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Psychoeducational Assessment: The Neuropsychologist administers
Measures of Intelligence and Achievement and reviews IQ and Academic scores,
as well as age and grade levels of current academic performance. An interpretive
report documents results, and can be used to determine the strengths and
weaknesses, as well as the treatment needs, of the patient.
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Neuropsychological Assessment: The Neuropsychologist administers
Measures of Intelligence, Achievement, Attention, Memory and Learning, Executive
Functioning, Language Skills, Sensory Motor Skills, Visual Perceptual and
Visual Motor Skills, and Emotional and Behavioral Skills.
The Neuropsychologist provides a comprehensive interpretive report determining
strengths and weaknesses in neuropsychological functioning, and makes recommendations
for treatment, as well as improved functioning in the home and school environments.
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