Bronwyn's "social service arts"

In addition to her performing and visual arts, Bronwyn was frequently engaged as a guest artist, consultant and trainer for her innovative work in “social service arts.”  As an LCSW, she provided Teen Relationship Abuse trainings throughout and beyond New York, for social workers, educators, police officers, teens, and shelter residents. These included George Westinghouse Vocational Training High School, St Mary’s College, NYC HRA Domestic Violence Conference, Manhattan Borough Community College, Hunter College School of Social Work, Brooklyn’s 78th Police Precinct, Red Hook Public Safety Corps, Northern Westchester Shelter, Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), and the New York Health Science Center (CUNY) among others.

She served as Art Recreation Coordinator at Peter’s Place (2003 to 2006), a drop-in center for homeless senior citizens, a program of the Partnership for the Homeless. Here she developed a group work program utilizing creative art therapies (visual arts, music, and theatre), as well as Group Case Management, Bereavement, Substance Abuse, and Theatre and Visual Art programs, and provided individual case management, supportive counsel, and supervision to graduate and undergraduate social work interns and staff.  At the John Heuss House (2000 to 2003) she served as  Art Therapist, developed group work services for mentally-ill homeless. Groups included anger management, substance abuse, job training, relationship abuse, domestic violence, coping with depression and community service. At the New Hope Guild in East New York (1996 to 1999), she served as Group and Individual Psychotherapist, working with teens, children, and parents of Public School 13, and as transition to Junior High group therapist, after school programs, New Hope Guild's School-Based Initiative, and theatre and art/conflict resolution programs.  She served as Group Therapist at the Union Settlement/Johnson Counseling Center (1997) working with ages 8-13 as ESL instructor (Rassias Method) and special education students. She served as Theatre Director and Teen Therapist at the Hamilton Madison Settlement House (1997) and was (1998) Adjunct Professor in the Human Services Department (Group Dynamics) at New York City Technical College, City University of New York.  

Bronwyn was the recipient of a ‘Women of Influence” Award by the Brooklyn YWCA (1992), Honoree of the Office of New York City Comptroller for her violence prevention work 1998) and was included “Who's Who in American Women” (1999-2000). At the Brooklyn Hospital Center, she served as consultant/trainer (1993-95) in Discharge Planning, was Medical/Surgical Social Worker in the Intensive, Cardiac Care Units, Surgical and Medical units (MICU/SICU/CSCU/CCU), served as Community Liaison handling referrals for patients to other community organizations, linking continuing services, after-care, rehab, counseling and physical therapy. In the Community Affairs Department (1993) she was consultant for the Health Advocates and ran theatre workshops and presentations on health-related issues, education and prevention for drug and alcohol addiction, women’s health issues, violence prevention and HIV/AIDS. Also, at The Brooklyn Hospital Center she handled Discharge Planning (2006 -2007) and served as Palliative Care Social Worker (2007 to 2019) and developed the Palliative Consulting Service, which included family conferences with MDs, and patient and families on end-of-life issues, physician and staff education on palliative care issues, and individual and group counseling. 

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Meltdown Inc., social service arts organization (1983 to 2003), Bronwyn designed and implemented health education and violence prevention programs for seniors, teens, women, and children, was supervisor for teens, volunteers, and graduate interns; in addition to running performing arts and special programs, such as Creative Arts Prime Time, Groups for Alzheimer/Senior (Pittsburgh, PA) and Voices of the Armory (1993-99), a weekly women's group that utilized theatre as an empowerment and organizing technique, comprised of women from the Park Slope community and residents of the shelter to further the understanding of community residents regarding homeless people. This Meltdown -related work also included Job Training counseling, Teen Leadership and Drama programs, group and casework for teens and parents, community organizing training young people in leadership techniques as they present theatre to their peers and lead community forums addressing issues of racism and sexism, and the “Master’s Program,” professional training for individuals in other Meltdown Programs who are committed to the mission of “social service arts.”

Health-related articles Bronwyn authored include Discussing Advance Care Planning and Directives with Well Patients (co-author, Pascal J.de Caprariis, MD, Claudia Lyon, D.O.), published in The Southern Medical Journal (2017); Practicing End-of-Life Conversations: Physician Communication Training Program in Palliative Care (co-author, David Browning), published on Taylor & Francis Online and in Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care (2011-2013). She is the author of Teenscenes, a peer educator/theatre training manual on relationship violence based on improvisations of the Meltdown Teen Drama Program participants on racism and sexism; the publication was funded through the Mayor’s Stop the Violence Fund and was utilized in the Public School system and by nonprofit organizations. Her professional affiliations for this work included the Hunter School of Social Work, MSW Social Work (1993), National Association of Social Workers, Zelda Foster Palliative Care Post Graduate Fellowship, and SIFI (2000).

Bronwyn was invited by the Albert Einstein School of Medicine to be the Dr. Harold Diner Memorial Lecturer in May 1999, which took place at Wave Hill in the Bronx. She introduced her work with Meltdown, social work and the arts, addressed challenges and presented findings.