When my son, was 11 yrs old, I had been remarried for a few years and my husband and I were preparing to start a college fund for him.  A few years earlier my son had been diagnosed with ADHD and was taking medications which were only moderately successful.  At this same time I was struggling with my son’s father’s lack of willingness to give ADHD medications during visitations and was being pushed for “alternative treatments”.  At the time I was a Professional Counselor doing home-based therapy for Devereux, and while attending  one of my regular continuing education seminars (on anger management of all things)  the speaker talked about this new “treatment” being used at the Menninger Clinic called “Neurofeedback” and how they were having good success using this treatment with ADHD.  Well, I went straight home, got on the internet, and started researching this new thing called Neurofeedback.  After extensively searching and reading, I found a practitioner to take may son to.  But there was one thing in the way:  the cost.  The ensuing conversation with my husband was pretty simple as we both quickly reasoned, regarding the proposed college fund, that if we didn’t go forward with the Neurofeedback treatment to resolve my son’s ADHD, then we weren’t going to have use for a college fund.  And so we made the decision to use what would have been the start of the college fund to fund the Neurofeedback.

While I may have been a Professional Counselor, Neurofeedback was still new to me; but I was eager to learn all I could – and learn I did. The clinician I took my son to used a model where the clinician does not stay in the room with the client at all times; and so I opted to stay with my son during sessions and figure out how best to keep him focused during the sessions to get the most from the experience.  Since this was traditional Neurofeedback, we had been prepared for the need for at least 40 sessions to gain success and sufficient symptom resolution, and that we might not see the start of improvement in symptoms until around 20 sessions.  Well, session 20 came and went, then session 21, and we really had not seen much of anything with a change in symptoms.  To be honest, I was beginning to wonder if we had wasted a lot of money and time; and I remember thinking, “Oh my, what have we done?”  But at exactly session number 23, suddenly it all started to click – we started seeing evidence of the treatment starting to work!   Then soon after we started reducing his medications, and before long my son was medication free.  We continued on to the 40 session point, and then opted for some additional training via a home-training platform.

At this point, I was next in line for consideration for Neurofeedback.  A long-standing post-partum and seasonal affective depression had not responded well to medication; and so it made since to consider Neurofeedback for myself as well.  However, since I was already a licensed clinician, I had the necessary foundation credentials to enter this field; and so I reasoned I could get the necessary training and equipment for the same cost as paying for my own treatment – and I might end up with an addition to my private practice.  Within a few months, I too was medication free; and after 12 years I’ve never looked back.  During the process of becoming a Board Certified Neurofeedback therapist, a requirement was to be a client for a specified number of sessions; and so I also have a personal understanding of what it means to be a Neurofeedback client.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what ever happened to that college fund?  As it turns out we didn’t need it after all, but for a good reason; when he’s ready, college will be paid for by the new GI Bill.  My son decided during high school that he wanted to serve in the military and after graduation enlisted in the US Navy.  And so today, thanks to Neurofeedback, I am very proud Navy-mom.  Why do I say “thanks to Neurofeedback”?  That will have to be the topic for another blog post…….

But in summary, the main point of this post is to share how I have been where all of my clients start and how I am a “mom” as much as I am a Neurofeedback clinician.  I know what it’s like to be the client and/or the mother of a child client.  My early experience is something I will never forget and in turn underlies all that I do for my clients.  It drives my unyielding commitment to personal, caring, and honest treatment, to provide the highest quality service in the fewest amount of sessions, and my promise of financial value.  In short, I have a unique perspective to walk with you through this process, because I’ve been there too.