Dr. Trish Leigh, a cognitive neuroscientist, has been helping people manage anxiety, attention issues, and addictions through neurotherapy, specifically neurofeedback, and biofeedback training for decades.
However, her practice, Trish Leigh & Co., grew rapidly after introducing at-home services.
Nowadays, she works with clients globally, scaling her already thriving business.
In order to find out which strategies helped her the most, we sat down with Dr. Leigh and discussed:
The advantages of neurofeedback for practices
Neurofeedback is a type of neurotherapy that focuses on helping brainwaves reach optimal performance. By setting appropriate goals individualized for each client, this type of brain training can reduce specific psychological symptoms and enhance cognitive performance.
For instance, it has been found beneficial in reducing symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and sleep issues, as well as helping people achieve peak performance.
So, it's no wonder that many mental health professionals have been adding neurotherapy to their toolkit.
"When people have maxed out on the talking piece of therapy, which is very important for many, but you can't regulate your brain entirely through talk most of the time. So, when you're using technology to create that shift, it can just be a game-changer", explains dr. Leigh.
According to Dr. Leigh, adding at-home neurofeedback to her practice enabled her to work with people from all over the country and the world without leaving her home. But how did she get to this point?
Getting started
Professionals from various backgrounds, including therapists, coaches, neuroscientists, teachers, psychologists, and doctors, are entering the neurofeedback field, but many share one common experience: they've all tried brain training themselves first.
"I always tell people: I will encourage you to use things that I myself would use. I would never tell anybody to pay for something and use it unless I found the value in it and I thought it actually worked", says Dr. Leigh.
While building her in-clinic practice, she discovered one of her five kids was struggling in school.
"Kind of as all of this was developing, in congruent pathways, professionally and personally, I ended up buying the system and using it at home. I put all my kids and myself on it because I was like, okay, we're all going to brain train. And honestly, I saw his brain change so much, and currently, he's almost 21 years old, in college for computer engineering, an Eagle Scout, and had straight A's. I promise you that would not have been his trajectory without neurofeedback", adds Dr. Leigh.
To become certified in neurofeedback, you can obtain BCIA certification by completing one of the accredited programs that offer 36 hours of educational content to meet the didactic requirements for certification. Learn more about the process here.
Factors to weigh in your at-home neurofeedback system choice
When choosing the right at-home system, it's important to tailor training plans based on individual brain profiles, acquire reliable data, and ensure the platform is engaging and easy to use.
Dr. Leigh states that Myndlift was her obvious choice because it has all these qualities.
"It's affordable, and what I like about that is that it goes back to the word value. I want people to know that being affordable doesn't always mean being cheap; what it means is that when you invest in something, you're getting your return on investment. Whereas, with a lot of other systems, even if they were at the same price point, I didn't see the value", says Dr. Leigh.
According to Dr. Leigh, most other systems were either expensive and chunky or didn't provide the level of data and flexibility to set protocols.
"For me, it's very important when I'm looking my clients in the eyes that I absolutely know where their brain is in the process of regulation. Myndlift has a very high-level brain map. Then, I can set the protocols. I can easily see the progress the client is making within and across sessions. I can adapt the protocols if I need to based on the data and what the client is reporting", adds Dr. Leigh.
About the author:
Dubravka Rebic
Dubravka Rebic puts a lot of time and energy into researching and writing in order to help create awareness and positive change in the mental health space. From poring over scientific studies to reading entire books in order to write a single content piece, she puts in the hard work to ensure her content is of the highest quality and provides maximum value.
