Tom Bratter, PhD, 1939–2012

Abstract

Tom Bratter, our longtime board member and colleague, died on August 3, 2012. We're going to miss his steadfast and clear conviction to take no prisoners in our battle against biopsychiatry. Tom wasn't one for retreat or prevarication. He could be counted on to resist all moves toward dissembling, opening the tent injudiciously, retreating, or consorting with the enemy.He'll also be missed by the residents, staff, and supporters of the John Dewey Academy (JDA) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. JDA is a school for children who have reached the end of the line and given up on themselves. Through a combination of love, caring, support, and brutal accountability, Tom and his staffare able to help these children get on a path toward health and life. Tom took great pride in helping them get into the best colleges in the land. He was fond of reminding us that every child that got with the program eventually was admitted to college.Following are testimonials from some who knew Tom well.From Ken Steiner who worked with Tom at the academy for 23 years and is the new head of the school:Tom was born in New York on May 18, 1939. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College in 1962, two masters' degrees, and a degree in doctor of education in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College of Columbia University. He did postgraduate work at the New York Center for Mental Health and received an "Addiction Specialist Certificate." In 1974, he wrote his dissertation on group psychotherapy and the use of confrontation with alienated adolescent drug abusers.Before starting the JDA in 1985, in addition to an active private practice, Tom was the director of numerous programs in Westchester County, including City Island Methadone Clinic, Village Project for Youth, CAGE Prevention project, Mount Vernon Youth Board, and East View Neighborhood Center. He also served as a consultant around the world including programs in Italy and Canada as well as with police departments in New York and Florida, several high schools and community-based programs including the Port Chester Citizens Anti-Poverty Association and the Urban League of Westchester. He has been on the faculty at Harvard University, Columbia University, Union Institute, and College of New Rochelle and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of Reality Therapy, Journal of Mental Health Counseling, Journal for Specialists in Group Work, and The Addiction Therapist. He also wrote four books, several hundred articles, and delivered papers at more than 100 conferences and workshops.As an expert in reality therapy, group work, addiction, and general psychotherapy, Tom Bratter had focused for more than half a century on alienated, unmotivated, self-destructive adolescents. His passionate commitment was to approach lost adolescents with the respect of direct honesty and high expectations, rather than with what he considered the demeaning approach of labeling with a mental illness diagnosis and medicating with psychotropic drugs that can be as addictive and destructive as the street drugs against which he had waged war. Through his "larger than life" presence (and scatological language), he could not be ignored, and there are many that have cubbyholed him as bellicose, harsh, alienating, and obnoxious. That, like any simple summary of Tom, is too easy. Tom believed in the need for different perspectives and disagreement-as he said, "being in the struggle together." And no matter what people thought of him, no one involved in helping youth should lose sight of the important voice he contributed to the dialogue and an alternative paradigm to the medical model in dealing with the struggles of adolescence.From fellow board member and longtime friend Lloyd Ross:How Tom founded the JDA for acting out, drug-involved adolescents is quite interesting. In the 1880s, he drove a big Buick that began to break down. …