CT Mind Training – How We Help
We help our clients by training their brains to function at the highest possible capacity. Our clients range from young children struggling in school to business executives, and elite athletes to the elderly, but they all share the unifying factor of understanding that maximizing brain power is the key to unlocking their full potential.
Sharing a typical client experience is probably the best way to help you understand how we can improve your brain function, and therefore, your quality of life and ability to reach your goals.
At the Fenton River Center, our focus has always been entirely on serving our clients. As a result, we don’t treat “disorders” with off-the-shelf treatments, we help people achieve their goals in the best way possible, with a therapy program customized for their needs. To put together the treatment map, we first need to determine where you are looking to go, which starts with getting to know you…
Step 1 – Introductory assessment:
At the CT Mind Gym, new clients meet with our staff and discuss their goals, challenges, past therapies and courses of treatment.
Some of our clients come to us with a diagnosed disorder, and while we prefer to avoid “labeling” people, this diagnosis can often provide a useful framework around which we can build a personalized solution. More important than any “label” though, is the clear understanding of where our client is today, where they want to be in 6-months, and the step by step plan which we will use to get them there.
Other clients come to us from outside this “medical diagnosis” framework because, while they are considered “healthy” in a medical sense, they have felt that they could be achieving so much more if only they could strengthen their weakest cognitive or emotional links.
People come to us for many reasons but, more often than not, it is because they have found that more common therapies were insufficient in helping them overcome their challenges, or carried intolerable side effects. Some clients come to us because they are hoping to supplement, or reduce, a drug therapy, while others are looking for a way to stop or avoid starting drug therapy altogether. Also, many people come to us because they are interested in using several modalities or types of treatment, and want a “one stop shop”. At the Fenton River Center, we offer the high tech and innovative neurofeedback therapy, as well as more traditional psychotherapy, couples counseling, and EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).
After thoroughly discussing the a new client’s situation, we may suggest some additional brain function testing, especially in cases where the exact location of weak links in a client’s neural chain are somewhat unclear. Testing of this sort usually takes the form of a computerized Cognitive Assessment and/or a qEEG. The former includes a computerized cognitive battery of tests for assessing some combination of attention, language, memory, executive function, sensory motor processing and spatial testing. This provides a good functional baseline and periodic retesting can then provide an objective measure to assess progress, which offers a good compliment to progress reports from the client and their family, or teachers. The latter test is a comprehensive scan of EEG activity across various independent brain regions, and their functional relationships as a whole. This can provide further insight into particularly complex cases, when there are many comorbid conditions.
Let’s take the common example of a grade school student diagnosed with ADHD.
Based on the information shared in the interview and provided by any additional testing, we go over common health conditions which may play a role in the client’s challenges, to determine if the client has previously explored and ruled out other possible causes for their symptoms with their physician. We pay extremely close attention to see if they may have an overlooked issue (dietary deficiency, allergy, etc…) which may be the cause of their problem, as some new research has shown that many people who have trouble paying attention don’t have “true” ADHD at all, and instead are exhibiting a lack of focus caused by some other underlying problem. If anything seems like it may have been overlooked, we will suggest further exploration with their physician, a nutritionist, or other appropriate health care practitioner.
Assuming no other issues are identified, we will then discuss how computer aided brain training programs could prove helpful to them, and discuss various treatment programs and protocols that would be appropriate for their particular condition. At this point, we move into phase two of the client experience.
Step 2 – Training sessions:
Training schedules are determined based on a variety of factors, including the severity of the situation, progress achieved, and the client’s goals and availability.
On average, new clients train once or preferably twice per week at the outset, if training “in-office”, and may scale back gradually over time. Some clients, depending on the complexity of their condition, can be treated with a “take-home” neurofeedback system, which is then remotely monitored by our therapists. This has the advantage of allowing for more frequent and convenient training sessions, only necessitating, on average, a monthly or semimonthly Reassessment/Evaluation office visit for progress management, once the introductory “in-office” sessions are completed.
As the training takes strong effect (which can be almost immediate for fast responders, but on average takes about 20- 40 sessions), and the client’s attention, focus, calmness, and clarity improve, we will continue to increase the challenge level of the training sessions, to elicit further improvement. Once initial goals are achieved, new ones can be identified, either furthering the progress already made, or targeting other differing challenges that the client would like to improve (i.e, switching from improving sustained attention to reducing anxiety). If all goals have been achieved, the client can then be moved onto “Step 3″.
Step 3 – Maintenance Phase:
Once the client is satisfied that all of their goals have been achieved, often in under 6-months, they will then cut back to what we call a “maintenance” program, with “tune- up” training sessions scheduled monthly or less, with the simple goal of preventing backsliding or reversion to previous dysfunctional states. If the client has been using one of our “home-training” systems, they will often choose to continue to train more frequently to further optimize their brain function, as in-home training is so convenient that there is little reason to cut back (after all, even Lance Armstrong has a little room for improvement).
Step 4 – Life without limits:
Activities that were once avoided can now be approached with enthusiasm, and what were once impossible dreams now seem like achievable challenges. Our mission is to deliver our clients nothing less than that level of empowerment….