Earlier today, I received a call from someone who asked me my philosophy of practice.  It occurred to me that somewhere in the process of maintaining my website, I’d deleted this information and ought to clarify it. So, here it is in blog form, and I have also given it a place on the website.

It’s really quite simple and boils down to just a few key points:

You are an individual, not a disease or diagnosis. Every person’s brain is a one-of-a-kind creation based on genetics and how the brain has responded to its environment and life events.  Therefore, when you come in for training, I consider your brain to be unique and adjust my training accordingly.

I train to YOUR brain’s patterns.  I look at what’s actually happening inside your brain using an assessment tool called the Trainers’ QEEG. This snapshot in time gives me a sense of your brain’s electrical energy habits and informs me better than any label or diagnosis. It’s unique to you.

I train toward optimal.  Research has shown a myriad of ways in which a person’s brain can create unhelpful patterns.  However, optimal brains share certain characteristics in their energy patterns. I believe in training each person to have more optimal functioning. What that means in practical terms is that I am philosophically not in alignment with training to a diagnosis.  (Besides, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for mental health conditions is a committee-created document based on checklists of symptoms.  Although the psychiatrists who create it have attempted in recent years to update it according to brain science, it still does not reflect what is happening electrically in the brain. This makes training based on diagnoses a hit or miss proposition.)

I do NOT believe you are secretly broken. It doesn’t matter that you have had developmental trauma or abuse, can’t sleep at night, or are having trouble functioning in life. Your brain has responded to the world around you in ways that were intended to help you survive. If you think about it, that is magnificent. It’s not a personality or character flaw, and we can work to help you re-regulate your own brain to serve you better in the here-and-now.

I am client-led. This means that I do my best to listen to you, your goals, and how your body responds to training. This is especially important when working with children or teens.

I believe in partnering.  I love numbers and graphs, but the brain map (another name for the Trainers’ QEEG) is only part of the process. The other part is focusing on your goals. What you want to achieve from neurofeedback is a big part of deciding where and how to train.  We will work together as a trainer/trainee team to tweak the feedback so that you get as much as you can from your work with me.

I am a team player. Neurofeedback is an amazing, powerful, and gentle tool. However, it is not a magic wand that one can wave and fix everything. If it appears that you would benefit from the services of another provider, I will suggest that. If you already have a team of caregivers, I will communicate with those other providers when it is appropriate to do so (and, of course, only with written permission).

If this approach to neurofeedback interests you, please give me a call or fill out the email contact form here.