Oftentimes, when someone is recommended neurofeedback, she has never heard of it before, and so she embarks on an educational journey to understand how and whether it works, and to discover costs and training options. Throughout our years of offering neurofeedback at our centers and home rental kits, we have found that educated customers are the happiest and get the most from their brain training.
To help customers during the educational stage, I asked our certified NeurOptimal® trainer, Kate Linsley, who has run our Denver neurofeedback home rental program since 2012, to share her advice and brain training tips.
Kate: At any given moment, I have close to 20 neurofeedback rentals, so I probably handle around 25 different renters each month. Some are in Denver and Boulder, while others are scattered around the mid-west, Nevada, Ohio and Texas. Now we're seeing more renters in Utah, where there are no NeurOptimal® trainers. Oddly, I rarely get renters in Colorado Springs!
But when people rent, regardless of whether they are picking up their home neurofeedback kit or I am shipping it to them, I walk them through choosing their rental plan depending on how many family members are training, and explain the manual and supports available to them on our website.
I make sure they understand that this is training, not treatment. And that they can run as many sessions as they feel bring them benefit. They don't have to use the number of sessions to determine success but instead they can use a much better tool to track the changes: our self-report checklist.
I will make sure they complete it every 10 sessions, and that they don't peak at the previous one until the next one is done.
It's very rewarding to see those "9s" turn into "6s" and then "3s" over the months. [On the checklist clients rate their issues on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst.]
Kate: The first changes people tend to report are better, more restful sleep, less overall worry and stress and improved patience -- especially with partners and kids!
With children brain training for school performance, those shifts happen after a week or two when parents generally report the kids having better management of their emotions, are generally calmer, and struggle less getting their homework done.
And make yourself a schedule!
Like, Monday/Thursday/Saturday before bed, or Monday/Thursday get up 45 mins early and do it before leaving for work. Something like that.
The more you are able to stick to a training schedule--say 2-3 times per week--the more you will gain from your rental and the more cost effective it becomes.
My recommendation is: don't let it sit unused while you're renting! A common remark I hear is, "I loved the neurofeedback, I just wish I'd done it more while I had the system."
With some clients, when I check in with them at the two-week mark, they confess that they haven't started training. I challenge them to the "5-sessions-in-five-days" and that usually gets them on a good track.
Who Can Benefit from Neurofeedback?
Kate: I would recommend going to someone in Boulder or Denver for a NeurOptimal® session or two if they're feeling anxious about setting up the equipment themselves. Some people need to see the NeurOptimal® system and see how easy it is to use before they feel confident they can successfully set up the neurofeedback home kit.
An office session can also give them the opportunity to see how straightforward it is and get a sense of the benefits and go into their rental more confident that they are going to get results.
The parents feel unsure of what changes are happening for their children and often also struggle to get their kids to train. When parents and kids both take advantage of the rental program, I see much better results all around and faster ones, too.
When parents are also brain training, (and they could be doing once a week and the child twice a week. It doesn't need to be as frequent), they really understand what is shifting for their kids, and are able to recognize the subtle changes faster and also support the changes, because they themselves are going through it. There is also a more calming attunement between the parent and kids.
I've also found that the parents who train are much more successful in helping their kids feel comfortable with the training. I'd say that is, at least in part, due to the fact that seeing your parents training gives you confidence in the value of the training, as well as making it seem less intimidating.
Kate: How am I NOT different as a parent when I'm training regularly?! When I get regular training in, I find that I am much closer to the parent I want to be: patient, clear, calm, less frazzled, less irritable and more able to remember the long view.
Kate: Sometimes neurofeedback renters don't share with me why they are training and that's fine. They don't have to in order for the training to work. I love that about NeurOptimal®.
Because of stigma of not being at our best emotionally, there can be a feeling of embarrassment or shame for people. They don't have to even give us their tracking progress checklist to review.
They can monitor those themselves and notice the improvements. So there's a built-in privacy, which I think makes it easier for them to take action to help themselves.
But with those who do share their neurofeedback results, at the first check-in we have with them, they tend to report feeling calmer and perhaps a bit more focused. Usually it is the second check-in, mid-way into their rental, where they report to me that their mood is shifting and they're feeling better overall: sleep is improving, they're less irritable, and less stressed-out.
It is safe to use, so the only harm I would say is financial. They rent a system and don't use it enough.
Of course, some clients aren't a good candidate for a renting a neurofeedback home kit, especially if they can't motivate themselves to train twice a week. I try to assess how realistic it is that they will do the sessions before encouraging someone to rent.
So I guess "non-compliance" would be the biggest hurdle.
If they can motivate themselves to do it, they do feel better. They usually rent for 2-3 months, and sometimes for as long as five months! Some will also buy the equipment.
One guy said to me after his first month's rental, "This has to be part of my weekly regime for the rest of my life, but that's OK. I'm actually relieved to know it's there when I want it."
Thanks Kate, for sharing your experience with our readers!