I always knew something was wrong with me. I watched as other women found loving, kind men with whom to build a life. I finally gave up dating after decades of disastrous choices. The turning point was the day that I smashed a brand-new $1,500 laptop into tiny bits. Suddenly it hit me: “Normal people don’t do this.” I was 51. Then a close friend got neurofeedback. I was stunned by the difference in him and immediately got neurofeedback myself. After 20 sessions, a calmer, quieter, more balanced me emerged. I went to grad school for a counselling degree and began working as an intern in rehabs and homeless shelters, some of which allowed me to do neurofeedback.

My work with homeless veterans at the Salvation Army Bell Shelter in Los Angeles was so successful that its clinical director applied for and received a $50,000 grant to purchase neurofeedback equipment and train qualified employees on its use. Much of what passes for clinical diagnosis in my profession puts labels on severe nervous system dysregulation caused by horrific trauma. Neurofeedback gets to the source: a brain that developed extreme coping mechanisms in order to survive. Neurofeedback needs to be on the front lines of healing to help those who suffer most in our society: the homeless, the mentally ill, those surviving on the streets, those using addictions to cope with the pain. I plan to spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to make it happen. Maybe one day you will join me.