It’s my deep pleasure to introduce Helena Bester’s October 2025 interview for the Attuned Neurofeedback Website. This conversation occurred shortly before the October Trauma 24 Conference in Johannesburg South Africa. Helena, one of 4 committed neurofeedback providers who made Trauma 24 happen, has been a neurofeedback provider and pioneer in South Africa and Mozambique for almost 25 years. She first trained with Mitzi Hollander whose teachers were Sue and Sigfried Othmer, developers of the Arousal Model of neurofeedback.
In Helena’s early career she explored diverse neurofeedback systems and different neurofeedback approaches. She began her neurofeedback work with children and parents suffering from ADHD. Her skills were honed through EEGer’s long time Monthly Protocol Panel composed of interviews with neurofeedback experts. The tutorials were sent out on CD’s to providers around the world as part of EEGer’s education program, providing both community and the opportunity for skill advancement to those in isolated areas.
In 2016 Sebern Fisher who evolved the application of neurofeedback for developmental trauma, came to South Africa. With Sebern’s arrival, Helena went through another metamorphosis in her neurofeedback work and has never looked back. Helena has written a number of books on both ADHD and neurofeedback, some of which can be found on her website HelenaBesterNeurotherapy.com. Helena’s passion to bring quality neurofeedback to patients and comprehensive education to neurofeedback providers is most clearly heard through her own words in this interview.
Along with this video you can read Helena’s biographical article, Reflections From South Africa on Attuned Neurofeedback, in the Article section of our ANF Website Learning Hub. There you can hear and read more on Helena’s long history in furthering the neurofeedback field and sounding the call to attract more neurofeedback providers. I know you will be as inspired as I am by her work and her words.Thank you Helena for sharing with us here.
With Appreciation to Both Helena and Our Neurofeedback Community,
Ellen Shaw-Smith,
Hadley MA, August 22, 2025
Pictures from South Africa, including from Helena Bester’s home which borders the Kruger National Park.
Interview
Biography of Interview Participant
Helena Bester has her roots in Africa which she loves dearly. She believes that mother nature is an important and wise mentor that patiently mirrors the lessons we ought to master through our endeavors.
She started her professional life as a teacher. She was promoted to the youngest female Head of Department and soon thereafter Deputy Principal after she had been honored with two merit awards.
Helena was the co-founder of the first private remedial clinics in the Western Cape. In her extended work with children with learning problems and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, she also conducted her own research in an attempt to find viable alternatives to stimulant medication. She also compiled a learning readiness program focused on preventing barriers to learning.
Her first book Help, My Kind Makeer Iets was published in 1996 as a result of her work and experience at the remedial clinics she had co-founded. Bester’s second book, Help my Child is Causing Chaos: Hyperactive or creative? was published in 2000 in both English and Afrikaans. This book is a practical guide for parents, teachers and therapists on how to identify and handle children who suffer from ADHD. This book was on the best sellers list and reprinted twice. In 2006 Beheer Aandagafleibaarheid and How to Cope with ADHD were published and reprinted. These books were also listed on the top ten best sellers list. New Hope for ADHD in Children and Adults: A Practical Guide was published in both English and Afrikaans in 2016 and nominated for the Kyknet award. “New” in the title refers to Neurotherapy which has been rated as a level 1 treatment for ADHD by the American Association of Pediatrics in October 2012. ADHD in adults is also discussed elaborately. Her latest book, Neurofeedback-The Non-Invasive Alternative. An intervention for ADHD, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, PTSD and other causes of discomfort, was published in 2019.
Since the initial research Helena has conducted for her first book, she has been closely involved in the quest of special accommodations for learners with special needs. Helena has also been closely involved in the implementation of the adaptations in evaluation methods since White Paper 6 of the Inclusive Education Policy. She has had regular radio interviews and participated in numerous in service training programs for teachers. Parental guidance and other workshops have been presented at her private practice regularly since she started her private practice as psychometrist and remedial consultant and therapist in 1990.
