Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Janelle Martin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Janelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

In 2017, we discovered that my 17 year old daughter was using drugs. Horrified and still in denial, we believed her when she told us she would stop. By the end of that year, she had spiraled downward into a very dark place, and we again caught her using drugs. She defiantly refused to stop using. It was the middle of her senior year of high school, and I sent her to live with her father in Arizona on January 1, 2018. My heart was absolutely broken. I was scheduled to attend a conference a few weeks later, where a presentation about neurofeedback was given, and I was blown away. I had never heard of a way to heal the brain like that, and I wanted to know more. Actually, I wanted to DO it! When I returned home, I looked into how to get trained to do neurofeedback, realized I was qualified with my educational background and began to make plans to do the training. However, by March, things had gone so poorly with my daughter and her father that we had a crisis on our hands. She was still using, was failing school, and threatening to run away. There was a physical altercation between my daughter and her dad, and it was clear she needed help far beyond what we could do for her. I found her a drug rehab specifically for teens in Phoenix, and she entered treatment on March 23, 2018. I completely forgot about neurofeedback as we were focused on saving my daughter’s life.
During her 10 month stay in treatment, I got very involved in the parent recovery program and learned all I could learn about addiction and recovery. I got a sponsor, worked the 12 steps and repaired my relationship with my daughter. We became very close and so much healing was done. She returned home to Texas in January, 2019.
After a relapse and some time getting back involved in recovery, we attended a community meeting about the increasing problem of addiction in the county. We were asked to share our story. At that meeting, a gentleman came up to me and began talking to me about a new type of brain treatment/neurofeedback he was wanting to do to help people suffering from substance use disorder. Immediately, a light bulb when off in my head and I told him, “I want to do that!” Within a week or two, I interviewed with him and he hired me to be his provider.
I started as an IASIS Certified Provider of IASIS MicroCurrent Neurofeedback in September, 2019. My daughter was my first client! She benefited so much from her sessions and we firmly believe this is what has helped her remain sober for over 4 years now. I worked in that job for a year and learned A LOT, but left there to pursue my own private practice so that I could make the treatments affordable to all who wanted to heal. I charge about half of what I had to charge at my first job. That job opened up my path to becoming a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, Certified Brain Health Practitioner, Brainspotting Certified, and I will finish my masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in May, 2024.

Janelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I opened The Mind Connection officially in 2021. We are a Brain Health Center focusing on brain healing through natural means. Our most prominent offering is IASIS MicroCurrent Neurofeedback, which utilizes a MicroCurrent of energy to rebalance the brain and help it to function optimally. We believe that mental health = brain health. Our brains are in control of how we feel, behave, think, relate to others and ourselves and more. The brain is the one organ that hardly anyone thinks about treating directly, unless it is with medication, which is actually damaging to the brain in a lot of cases. Our MicroCurrent Neurofeedback is like a spa treatment for the brain and helps with many mental, physical and emotional conditions: anxiety, depression, PTSD, migraines, ADD/ADHD, memory, autism, addiction, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, stroke, concussions/TBI and more. Our system is safe for ALL ages, including young children, and is completely painless. We are a natural alternative to medications, helping our clients avoid medications and/or reduce/eliminate medications.

At The Mind Connection, we offer organic, non-toxic products to support brain and body health. Eliminating toxins from our personal care products is important for physical and mental health. We have products available that address gut health, hormone balancing, sleep support, general wellbeing, body and hair care, skin health and more.

Additionally, we offer mental health counseling for those of our clients needing therapy in addition to IASIS MicroCurrent Neurofeedback utilizing Brainspotting to address trauma and trauma processing.

We feel that what sets The Mind Connection apart from other is that we are natural-minded, holistic and offer brain healing/balancing as a primary service, supported by traditional talk therapy when necessary. People may be surprised to find that more than half of our clients see tremendous results with MCN only. Our product offering also addresses other systems in the body in a natural way to support brain and body health in a sustainable way. We are committed to promoting health, not treating disease.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think my experience in practicing what I do, coupled with my gift of intuition is the most helpful for being successful in my business. Without experience, so many aspects of treating people cannot be learned. I learn something new from every client, and incorporate that into my overall practice. Also, doing IASIS MicroCurrent Neurofeedback requires a good amount of rapport and intuition to be really good at it. This is something that cannot be taught. My clients are my biggest referral source, so who I am and my success in helping them is everything to me and my business.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I started my business on my own, and didn’t plan on every having a partner. I had several clients of mine ask about doing what I do and joining me, but I really wasn’t interested in creating a practice where I had employees or others to manage. Until….my daughter came to me in the summer of 2022 and told me she had been thinking that she would really like to do what I do. This is the same daughter who completed treatment for drug addiction in 2018 and was my first client later that same year. We had a good talk about what it might look like for her to join me, training, costs and her level of commitment to becoming a provider. She trained in August, 2022 and joined me full-time in September, 2022. Regan is young, but loved by all of her clients, and she is extremely proficient in treating clients. She has an impressive intuition and it has been so fun for me to watch her learn and grow. When I am on vacation, my clients get to see her, and I always get such positive feedback! Some don’t even know she is my daughter. I am blessed to have her as my partner now, especially given where we were just 5 years ago. We inspire many who know our story and offer hope for families.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mindconnection.org

Image Credits
RaCayle Harrison Photo