Things have changed in 2020 for many people and many businesses.  The year’s stresses have magnified pre-existing problems and brought out new levels of stress for so many.  For me, this has resulted in an increasing number of people who are reaching out to inquire about neurofeedback for their entire family.

I’ve always worked with families, but it used to look a little different. Usually, one person would come for brain training, and as they progressed toward their goals, other family members would notice and want it for themselves, too. Occasionally, a parent would choose to train at the same time for moral support and be surprised to get equivalent or even greater benefit than the child.

Now, though, people are wanting multiple family members to come in at the same time. As a result, I have adapted how I work to accommodate simultaneous family work for those who want it.  Here’s how that looks different:

My typical approach is to work one-on-one with each trainee. I observe that person’s training carefully while they are training and often tweak what is happening during training. Each session lasts an hour, and we use every minute of it productively.

Now, though, I have a second station set up in the conference room where I used to teach aspiring practitioners and home trainers from around the country. In this room, I can train a second person at approximately the same time as a family member is training.  During training, I bounce back and forth between the two rooms to ensure that everything is going smoothly and nothing needs adjusted. I ensure that both trainees receive some one-on-one time with me and that their system is set up and adjusted to optimize their training time.

When it works, this is an excellent way to be efficient in terms of time and money.  It takes longer per session—90 minutes instead of 60, but getting two people trained at once means saving time overall—90 minutes instead of the two hours it takes for individual sessions.  In addition, it is a cost savings, because you’re paying less than the price of two individual sessions.

There are drawbacks, too. If you have more than two people who want to train, I will not train three at once. I insist upon offering personalized training, and more than two people dilutes that too much (and, because I do not adopt a clinical model, I do not hire technicians). If you have three who wish to come for training, that will require two separate appointments, although those can be back-to-back.

For best results, some people require one-on-one work, which means this approach does not work for all families.  This is one reason why an initial consultation is important to determine the parameters for your family’s individual needs.

If you’re considering a fresh start for your family in the new year and want to consider the time and cost savings of family training, give me a call or email me at Tamera @ BrainShapeLLC.com.