Drake Institute History

Drake Institute was founded in 1980 with one question in mind: what role does the brain take in the healing process? Knowing the mind can make the body sick, we thought it should follow that it can also make it well.

For over 35 years, we have treated over 10,000 patients, and 80% of them have been enormously symptom relieved and have moved on with their improved lives due to the success of their treatment at the Drake institute.

Since we saw our first patient in 1980, Drake’s practitioners have continually learned and improved care.

The 12,000 individuals we’ve helped have also taught us. Our success rates have grown consistently higher in the treatment of ADD/ADHD, Stress, Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. Alongside these improvements in treatment, we’ve also increased our understanding of the dynamics of care.

1980: Stress Disorders

The Drake Institute’s first concentration when it opened was the treatment of stress disorders.

We’ve treated 4,000 patients with these disorders and the impact of the institute proved to be profound on their lives. We worked closely with organizations including the UCLA School of Medicine, the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles City Council on studies and treatments. Focuses included reducing the occurrence of stress-related injuries in police officers and strengthening the immune system through stress treatment.

1992: Treatment for ADHD, ADD and Learning Disorders

After more than a decade of tremendous success in treating stress disorders, in 1992 we began using our methodology to treat a different brain function: attention.

We began to look at the ability of this treatment to create new neural pathways to correct the lack of this capacity in the brains of ADHD and ADD patients. About 6,000 patient cases later, we have succeeded in developing what many consider to be the world’s leading program. Our drug-free treatment resolves – not just sometimes manages, as some drugs do – the core symptoms of ADHD, ADD and learning disorders.

2004: Treatment for Autism and Asperger’s Disorder

In 2004, we began our clinical program for Autism and Asperger’s Disorder. To date we have treated over 250 patients with both surprising and very gratifying results – the treatment has proven to be highly effective with the core symptoms of Autism and Asperger’s disorder. We not only transform our patients’ lives for the better, but also the lives of their families. To date, Drake has provided the very first documented successful treatment system for Asperger’s disorder and high functioning Autism. And for that we are very proud.

Many events and public presentations over time have supported and presented our efforts; however there has been no greater satisfaction than the impact that our treatment has had on the lives of our patients and their families who have attended the Drake Institute.

 

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dr david velkoff headshot

“David F. Velkoff, M.D., our Medical Director and co-founder, supervises all evaluation procedures and treatment programs. He is recognized as a physician pioneer in using biofeedback, qEEG brain mapping, neurofeedback, and neuromodulation in the treatment of ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and stress related illnesses including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and high blood pressure. Dr. David Velkoff earned his Master’s 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. This was followed by Dr. Velkoff completing his internship in Obstetrics and Gynecology with an elective in Neurology at the University of California Medical Center in Irvine. He then shifted his specialty to Neurophysical Medicine and received his initial training in biofeedback/neurofeedback in Neurophysical Medicine from the leading doctors in the world in biofeedback at the renown Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. In 1980, he co-founded the Drake Institute of Neurophysical 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 School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. This was a follow-up study to an earlier clinical collaborative effort with UCLA School of Medicine demonstrating how the Drake Institute's stress treatment resulted in improved immune functioning of natural killer cell activity. Dr. Velkoff served as one of the founding associate editors of the scientific publication, Journal of Neurotherapy. He has been an invited guest lecturer at Los Angeles Children's Hospital, UCLA, Cedars Sinai Medical Center-Thalians Mental Health Center, St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, and CHADD. He has been a medical consultant in Neurophysical Medicine to CNN, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Univision, and PBS.”

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