Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 367: Rethinking Mental Wellness Through Data, Faith, And Community

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Sandra Hooper-Murcott with Braintopia a good neighbor?

 Sandra believes calm, focus, and better sleep shouldn’t come at the cost of heavy side effects. At Braintopia, she helps children, teens, and adults retrain the brain’s own electrical patterns—naturally, gently, and without changing who they are. With 25 years of classroom experience and a faith-forward lens, Sandra explains how neurofeedback supports ADHD, anxiety, post-concussion recovery, sensory issues, and restless nights by guiding the brain toward healthier rhythms rather than overriding them.

In this episode, we walk through how Braintopia identifies dysregulation tied to stress, injury, food sensitivities, and environmental triggers. Sandra breaks down how audio and visual feedback works while clients simply watch a show—no “zapping,” no pain, and no forcing the brain. She addresses the biggest myths head-on and highlights why parent referrals are more powerful than any marketing campaign: when one family sees calmer bedtimes, better focus, or improved emotional regulation, the community takes notice.

You’ll also hear how Braintopia partners with micro schools and the Texas Legends to support students and athletes, and why education—through short videos, simple search visibility, and clear language—helps demystify the science. Sandra shares her journey as an adoptive mom and longtime educator, plus how her MD father collaborates inside the Frisco clinic to merge clinical insight with compassionate care. Her core message is simple: there is no perfect brain, only better regulation, and every person deserves support that honors who they are.

Whether you’re exploring options for a child who struggles to focus, a teen recovering from a concussion, or your own sleep and stress, this conversation offers a clear, jargon-free guide to what neurofeedback can—and cannot—do.

To learn more about Braintopia go to: https://www.braintopiacenters.com

Braintopia
(972) 619-5477


SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a health and wellness company? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Sandra Hooper Mercott with Braintopia. Sandra, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm great. Thanks so much for having me, Sophia.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, it is a pleasure to have you on. Now we are so excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners just a little bit about your company and how you got into this industry?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. Yes. So we are a neurofeedback center. We have 10 across the Metroplex. And I got into this because I just finished up a 25-year career in education. And we wanted to give children and families the opportunity to understand what was going on in the brain and help with things like anxiety, sleep issues, ADHD, concussion protocols. And a lot of parents were not looking to go the medicine route. And so we want to educate people that we have a different, a different option should they be looking for it.

SPEAKER_02:

Getting a little bit deeper into that other option that you provide, what are some of those main services at Braintopia you provide for your patients or clients?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. So what neurofeedback does is it works with the electrical system of the brain. So it helps to find dysregulation in the brain, which can be caused by food sensitivities or injury, mold or mycotoxins, or trauma. And so we identify the areas of the brain that are showing affected by that, correlate that with symptoms that the child or adult may be experiencing and feeling. And then we work to get the brain waves back into organized patterns through audio and visual stimulations. So ultimately, they get to watch a show. It's very passive. They're watching a show, brain is getting healthy and regulated, and everyone's happy.

SPEAKER_02:

For the listeners who may value more of a faith-based approach to things, um, what would you say in terms of kind of going through those treatments and praying your way through it? Or is there any contraindications, you know, between those two mindsets that you've seen with clients you've worked with? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, great question. So I myself am faith-based. Um, I've been a Christian school teacher for the last 25 years. So that was a big part of feeling like one that God was leading us into this space and also being able to educate people about the fact that this doesn't change personality. Um, it's not putting anything into the brain. It is using technology that God has given us to be able to really help people in a way that metabolically doesn't, you know, hurt their body with medicine, but actually can help. We're not anti-medicine, but we just want to be able to give a different solution if medicine is not an option. So I'm I'm a mother of an adoptive son, and we didn't know if medicine was a good option for him because we didn't know, you know, enough information about um, you know, his birth family. And so this is kind of how we got started. So my mom heart is what brought me into this and um wanting to serve people through just knowing that God led us here.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, well, love a good mom heart.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

What is the most common myth or misconception you come across in your industry?

SPEAKER_01:

So the biggest myth is that this absolutely doesn't work. So people will say, like, well, you know, if if something doesn't involve medicine or isn't covered by insurance, it doesn't work. Or another myth is that um you're putting something into the brain and you're you know electrocuting the brain. We don't do that either. We use the brain's power, like audio and visual stimulation and what the brain already knows how to do, and that's how we evoke change. So um a lot of people don't understand it, and understandably so, because it's it's not new, but it is new to a lot of people. And so, as an educator, that's my goal is to just get out there and really teach people what it's doing and how it works so that they feel very comfortable with it.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Sandra, getting into things a little bit deeper today. Now we know marketing is the heart of every business, it's what keeps your business running. So, who are your target patients or clients? And in terms of marketing today, how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely great question. So, we we use what we call mom-to-mom marketing. That's how we started. And we do a lot of different marketing things that I'll go into, but we know that the power of referrals is the best thing because if one mom or one parent is going to tell another mom that something worked for their child or their family member, that is the most powerful thing. And so we really work to one, be in-house, having our clients be so happy so that they'll refer out to another family member or to a friend. So that's the first thing we do. The second thing we do is again educating people through Reels and through um Google marketing to just let them know that we're there, that we're here and what we do. So that that is a big thing for us. And then we also have partnerships. So we partner with the Texas Legends in Frisco as their official neurofeedback partner and partner with um different schools, like micro schools in the area, just so that they so that people that are looking for another option will know where to find us and will be able to know that we're we're here.

SPEAKER_02:

Amazing. Now, have you ever thought about having your own branded podcast before?

SPEAKER_01:

You know what? The more that I get into podcasts, the more that I'm very interested in it. So it is definitely something uh having that education piece and being able to come because there's so much going on right now in the world as far as like food sensitivities with kids and allergies and different environmental factors. My dad's an MD as well, and so he works in office with us in our Frisco location. So, yes, the short answer, yes. I would love to be able to uh educate people more in this in this realm.

SPEAKER_02:

And outside of work, when you're not helping the patients, what do you and your loved ones like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_01:

We love to travel. So uh going to Europe is a big part of what we do. We feel like our for our my husband and I want our son to be able to feel like the world is his classroom. And so we do a lot of travel. That's the one number one way that we uh like to spend our time and we head out of um out of town even uh tomorrow to head to Washington, D.C. And then in December we're gonna head to Europe. So that's one thing that I always love to give him a global perspective and to know that there's life outside of just the US.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, that's so crazy because that's actually a mindset I share myself when it comes to parenting.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about braintopia.

SPEAKER_01:

One thing that you should remember about braintopia is everyone's brain. Um we want to know everything, you know, we want to know what's going on in our brain. So there's no perfect brain, but at Braintopia, we're gonna get you to the best possible uh situation that you can can be in. So you don't have to have some dire, you know, issue to come into Braintopia. We just want to uh help you to either sleep better or feel better or remember things better. So no perfect brain, but we'll get you as far as you can, as your brain can go.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Sandra, I really appreciate you being on the show today. Oh, one more thing. Where can our listeners go to learn more about Braintopia?

SPEAKER_01:

We have a wonderful website at www.braintopiacenters.com. You can uh visit us there and get all kinds of information about what we do and about neurofeedback.

SPEAKER_02:

Amazing. Well, Sandra, thank you for great seeing us with your knowledge today. Um, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward for having us.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfrisco.com. That's gnpfrisco.com or call four six nine two two one nine three four four four four four five.