Recently Ellen Shaw-Smith, co-founder of the Attuned Neurofeedback model of neurofeedback, interviewed me about our upcoming October conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Trauma24: Neurofeedback and Deep Brain Reorienting. With Sebern Fisher, MA, BCN as our keynote speaker,
we will be delving deeply into the evolving realities of two powerful, brain based treatments for trauma.
The primary goal of Trauma24 is to update therapists from around the world about the powerful efficacy of this new frontier of treatment for the remediation of early and ongoing trauma. Our conference is dedicated to the untold number of therapists working with the millions of people in our world held captive by trauma. Most especially to those who find themselves exhausted and depleted in their continual search for successful outcomes that can so often elude even the most committed therapeutic processes.
Sebern Fisher, along with Drs. Frank Corrigan and Ruth Lanius, and other Trauma24 presenters bring us a welcome message that hope returns when we understand how the brain holds the key to unlocking and resolving the pervasive realities of ongoing trauma. For those who know Sebern, you will recognize her as the perfect representative to lead us in a comprehensive exploration of the new outcomes being achieved for traumatized patients and the dedicated therapists accompanying them on their journey. What a daunting venture it’s been to represent this message and envision the best way to communicate about these powerful and evolving modalities.
The Trauma24 conference has arisen in its present form due to Sebern’s gentle and wise guidance in helping me structure this most essential conversation. As she so aptly identified in her book, Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the Fear Driven Brain, it is the brain locked in a fundamental organization of fear that drives and maintains the mechanisms of complex trauma. And it is here we must work to alleviate suffering for all of those whose lives are constrained by this oppressive condition.
Although Trauma 24 focuses on both neurofeedback and DBR, the April interview left me deeply thoughtful and ultimately compelled to speak about my own neurofeedback journey. With my experience in implementing a variety of neurofeedback approaches I know first hand not all approaches are created equal. Because of this I’d like to share how I came to embrace Sebern’s approach to neurofeedback as essential to successful outcomes when working with all those experiencing ongoing trauma.
At the turn of this century I became one of the first clinicians to train in neurofeedback in South Africa. Mitzi Claassen, (now Hollander) brought this intervention to South Africa after her initial training with Sue and Sigfried Othmer, and follow-up training with Mike Cohen. Mitzi went on to become a certified trainer and I was lucky to be one of her early trainees. I was awestruck and amazed when exposed to the changes I saw early in my exposure to neurofeedback. It was like being in a science fiction movie. How could neurofeedback actually achieve the effects I was seeing?
That early amazement grew into a deep and lengthy learning process as I began integrating neurofeedback into my existing practice. Back then I worked primarily with children diagnosed with ADHD, and with their parents. Before bringing neurofeedback into my practice I published several books on ADHD and learning difficulties. With the addition of neurofeedback came my 2014 book, New Hope for ADHD – for Children and Adults. Of course, the new hope was Neurofeedback!
Before neurofeedback, with the tools I had then, the pace of change with clients was hard won over long periods of time, sometimes over years. With neurofeedback within 20 sessions I saw progress unfolding with a speed and depth of change not previously imagined. Yet along with this amazement, I also experienced a sense of isolation from being one of only a few providers in my geographical area.
Early on, the monthly EEGer-Community Protocol Panel meeting became my lifeline. Experienced neurofeedback provider Mike Cohen coordinated the panel, focusing on protocol development and anecdotal outcomes. Each month he interviewed neurofeedback pioneers such as: Matt Fleishman, Sebern Fisher, Ed Hamlin, Bob Patterson, Joy Lunt, Gary Schummer, Michael O’Bannon, Bob Patterson, David Keiser, Harold Burke, Moshe Pearl, Ed Jacobs and many more. About that time John Fisher also began an educational community newsletter called the Synapse.
These offerings kept me alive as my skills continued to grow in this largely unknown field. The conversations were filled with innovative thinking and keen observations. I listened to the CD’s over and over without realizing that I was becoming a keen observer myself. Through repetition, the fundamental principles of the arousal model were downloaded into my brain, becoming the lens through which I observed each person I connected to my neurofeedback system. Despite my isolation, through this support from afar, I began to believe I knew something about this profoundly powerful way of working.
Then Sebern Fisher came to South Africa in 2016 and everything changed again! ADHD and most other diagnoses could not coexist with the new and deeper perspective Sebern brought us. From 2016 until 2019 my knowledge and experience grew exponentially, along with the mind-boggling advances in neurofeedback approaches, systems, techniques, and convictions. Not to mention the explosion of understanding that came to us through the field of neuroscience..
It was time to write another book, this time about neurofeedback. In 2019 I published Neurofeedback-The Non-Invasive Alternative. My goal in writing this book was twofold. I sought to introduce neurofeedback into mainstream awareness as the powerful intervention it is. And more importantly, to gain credibility and the respect of the mainstream medical fraternity for neurofeedback practitioners everywhere.
This book was created to help chart the path for the next generation of neurofeedback providers by making their journey less circuitous than my own. I intended it as a book that any neurofeedback practitioner could offer to a skeptical lay person or medical provider wanting to understand neurofeedback better. And to hand to anyone intent on blocking access to neurofeedback altogether. My goals were to open neurofeedback access to everyone, while instilling confidence in all neurofeedback providers about the legitimacy and the power of their work.
Once again, the book’s first edition in 2019 was another beginning. When ISNR (International Society for Neuroregulation and Research) contacted me about a second edition they suggested I include material on trauma. Who to approach for this but Sebern, who deftly turned the tables on me and suggested I author the chapter myself. To my surprise, along with a wave of anxiety came an underlying sense of confidence. It was true that I’d closely followed Sebern and Dr Ruth Lanius for many years, building a solid understanding of the effects of trauma and of the application of neurofeedback to resolve it.
And so began the most profound journey of my life with Sebern gently guiding me deeper into the truth and the horrors of Developmental Trauma. And now, here I am once again a student. This time of Deep Brain Reorienting, and the use of DBR and neurofeedback together. Which brings us to Trauma24, the interview with Ellen for the ANF website, and the essential insights I am compelled to write about here.
After the fact, when reflecting on the interview with Ellen, memories surfaced and important truths reasserted themselves. I recalled the many transformational changes I’ve witnessed from the use of neurofeedback over the years. My practice is different now than it was 20 years ago. I work with some children but mainly with adults now. Most have symptoms of ADHD but that is no longer my primary focus. I’ve become adept at many of the systems and approaches in the field of neurofeedback, allowing me to write about a number of them.
With all this, I am deeply concerned about the future of neurofeedback. When I hear someone selling a new neurofeedback system it confuses and concerns me. Why do I have this reaction? Because not all neurofeedback practitioners are getting the same positive results, and not all approaches are created equal. In thinking about the miraculous changes I began to witness so long ago, I’ve asked myself what it is that supports successful outcomes. The answer to this question for me is the use of Attuned Neurofeedback based on the principles of the arousal model. It works- it always works.
I will share one example of success from my work to illuminate how I came to this belief. Over the years I’ve worked with a few ‘wild children’ who presented on the ASD spectrum. One child in particular held her family hostage. The family could not leave their home to visit others or invite friends over to their house. They could not take this five-year-old out shopping as she would kick, scream, punch and break objects.. She behaved like a cornered wild animal, no doubt an expression of her actual internal experience,
What a difficult beginning we had because being around her was unbearable for everyone, including me. Attaching sensors to her the first time was no small challenge. Calming her central nervous system was clearly the task. In service of this I worked to understand her triggers so that she could learn to bear my presence, and I to bear hers. Somehow, without words, we began. I watched her like a hawk during those early trainings, adjusting reward frequencies and placements on the fly. Amazingly, the change unfolded .
One year later, It hardly seems like the same girl who is now a calm, gentle and happy person, keen on touching my hand and hugging me. It’s clear this child’s entire life was transformed by neurofeedback, as were the lives of her family. How could I not commit myself to this work and to speaking about the model of neurofeedback that accomplished this transformation for this one human child, and for so many others.
There is no other therapy that would have made this possible. And no other approach to neurofeedback that would have worked outside of the arousal model as used in Attuned Neurofeedback. We would not have achieved this outcome through QEEG-informed protocols. Or by a training approach that focused on modifying hundreds of standard deviation score parameters. In this case, as is often true, I did not focus much on what we were measuring at all. My focus was on what was happening in the room in real time; a major tenant of the attuned approach to neurofeedback practice.
This then is the task. To see that the Attuned Neurofeedback model, which grew from the work of Sebern Fisher, and other pioneers mentioned here becomes available to all who need it. It must not be otherwise!
Helena Bester April 23, 2024 Written From Her Home Bordering Kruger National Park, South Africa
Edited by Ellen Shaw-Smith, with permission of author, for the Attuned Neurofeedback Website, (ANF)
