Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed and stressed?

Do you struggle with focus and concentration?

Here at Forward Counseling, we lend a hand to enhance your cognitive performance, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being through Neurofeedback, helping you reach your full potential.

Heather Brooke, LPC, one of our Forward Counseling Jackson providers, shares her personal journey of healing and growth through Neurofeedback. As a licensed professional counselor, life coach, and neurofeedback specialist, Heather has dedicated her career to helping individuals overcome challenges and reach their full potential. Through her own experiences with trichotillomania, she understands the profound impact of mental health conditions and the power of holistic healing.

In this insightful interview, Heather delves into the world of Neurofeedback, explaining how it has transformed her life and the lives of her clients. She discusses the science behind Neurofeedback, its effectiveness in addressing various mental health issues, and how it can complement traditional therapy and medication.

Heather also shares practical advice on how to choose a qualified Neurofeedback provider, the number of sessions typically needed, and the potential side effects. She emphasizes the importance of a personalized approach, tailoring treatment plans to each individual's specific needs.

Join us for a Q&A session with Heather about her expertise in Neurofeedback and how she can help you achieve your well-being goals.

1. Did Neurofeedback help you personally? How do you integrate that understanding into your practice with clients?

Yes, I have used neurofeedback personally for anxiety and migraines. My oldest daughter was a competitive basketball player and received a number of concussions. When this would happen, I would train her for 30-60 minutes and she never had concussion symptom. I share my personal experiences with neurofeedback with clients, but also let them know that everyone's results will vary because all of our brains function differently because we all have different lived experiences.

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2. As a therapist and life coach, how do you integrate Neurofeedback into a holistic approach to mental health and well-being?

I believe that there is no one who cannot benefit from neurofeedback and I therefore offer it to all of my in-person clients and as neurofeedback intensives independent of therapy and coaching. Neurofeedback has been proven by research to help with academic performance enhancement, physical/athletic performance enhancement, mental health issues, and physical health issues, which makes it a great tool for anyone who is looking to improve their mental, physical, or performance holistically.

3. For clients struggling with anxiety, depression, or trauma, how can Neurofeedback complement traditional therapy and medication?

Neurofeedback helps to calm the central nervous system and therefore helps to decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD, which in turn allows the client to be able to better utilize skills and tools learned in sessions. Neurofeedback also helps clients to reprocess their trauma without having to necessarily talk about it or verbally process it, as talk therapy and EMDR often require. This is a great tool for clients with repressed trauma because they don't have to remember the trauma to see improvements.

4. How do you tailor Neurofeedback treatment plans for children and adolescents, especially those with developmental or behavioral challenges?

Neurofeedback is tailored to each individual client based on the symptoms they are bringing into session. I use a standard protocol in regard to which areas of the brain are trained first and how I add in other locations; however, how many sessions are required, what frequency we train at and how long we stay at one location varies from client to client based on symptoms and improvement of symptoms. While neurofeedback can be used at almost any age, I don't personally recommend it on children under the age of 4, due to their inability to sit still long enough to get benefit from it.

5. What are some of the most common misconceptions about Neurofeedback, and how do you address them with clients?

I think we often look for "quick fixes," and people often see neurofeedback as that. However, it is not a quick fix and there is no guarantee that what the client is specifically coming in for will be "fixed" or "cured".

Neurofeedback addresses symptoms that live in specific areas of the brain and while we are training based on symptoms, there are a number of emotional, physical, intellectual symptoms that leave in each of those areas, so when we're training for anxiety, we're training the symptoms of anxiety, but also all the physical and intellectual symptoms that live there as well, so every person can get a different result in a different amount of time.

This is not a "quick fix" or a "cure". It is a tool that helps you manage and improve your symptoms, but clients will still need tools and resources to use in their lives in addition to neurofeedback.

Another misconception is that once you start neurofeedback, you have to always do it. That's not the case. A typical "dose" is about 40 sessions. However, I've had clients do far less and others exceed that amount. This again varies from client to client depending on their symptoms and how/when they see improvements.

Booster sessions can always be helpful in the event there is a negative life experience after neurofeedback; however, it is not always necessary.

6. How do you measure the effectiveness of Neurofeedback, and what kind of outcomes can clients expect?

Effectiveness is measured client by client based on the symptoms they bring into session and how we see those symptoms decrease over time. We monitor this by using a symptom checklist before each session, and then we monitor the changes (improvements and worsening issues) week to week in order to see patterns of improvement.

Symptoms we most often see in clients includes:
-decreased anxiety symptoms (obsessive worry, overthinking, physical symptoms),
-decreased depression symptoms, improved sleep,
-decreased nightmares, increased motivation,
-increased attention and focus,
-a decrease in addictive behaviors,
-reduction of headaches,
-increased memory,
-decrease in concussion/TBI symptoms, and more.

7. Can Neurofeedback be helpful for individuals seeking to enhance cognitive performance, such as students, athletes, or professionals?

Yes. Neurofeedback impacts the neuromarkers in the brain that are responsible for things such as auditory/visual learning, learning disabilities, physical attributes such as body coordination and more. This can result in better focus and attention in school, better grades and better athletic performance for students and professionals.

8. How do you incorporate mindfulness and meditation techniques into your Neurofeedback practice to promote overall well-being?

Mindfulness and meditation is often incorporated into many therapy sessions as a tool to use between sessions when a client is feeling triggered to bring them back to the present and decrease trigger symptoms. These techniques are still taught in sessions with neurofeedback and encouraged to be used between sessions, as it is a technique that will benefit them in many areas of their lives and long after they stop neurofeedback.

9. What role does Neurofeedback play in addressing the root causes of mental health issues, rather than just managing symptoms?

All of our brains function on frequencies. There is a frequency range in which all our brains are intended to function within; however, when we experience negative life experiences such as trauma, physical health issues, learning disabilities, etc, the frequency at which our brain functions changes and instead of having brain function in waves (imagine an ocean wave coming in and out smoothly), we have a roller coaster with high increases in frequency and/or extremely low drops in frequency. When this happens, that's when we have negative symptoms. Neurofeedback addresses the frequency and trains the brain based on a reward system to stay functioning within the intended frequency range, which impacts the client on a deeper level than just managing the symptoms and putting a band aid on a wound. It addresses the wound at it's core instead of on the surface.

10. As a writer and public speaker, how do you use your platform to educate and advocate for mental health, including the benefits of Neurofeedback?

I often share my own personal experience with counseling, neurofeedback and my faith. I believe that our mental, physical and spiritual health are all in alignment and when any one of those areas are out of "frequency", all the areas are going to be out of frequency. I speak on how I've personally used all of these things over the course of my life to improve my emotional, physical and spiritual health and God gave my pain purpose by using my own personal experiences to draw from in sessions. This allows me to connect with my clients in a way some other clinicians may not be able to.

Are you feeling overwhelmed or struggling to focus?

Heather Brooke, a seasoned mental health professional and Neurofeedback specialist, shares her personal experiences with the therapy and discusses its benefits. Neurofeedback can help address various mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD, as well as physical conditions like migraines and concussions. It works by training the brain to function optimally, improving focus, reducing stress, and overall well-being.

Book a session with heather now

Forward Counseling offers Neurofeedback, a cutting-edge treatment that can help improve your cognitive performance and reduce stress. We offer in-person Neurofeedback sessions in Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee.