Professional Competency And Why Proper EEG Training Matters

Before anyone can confidently interpret brainwave patterns or run a neurotherapy session, one thing has to be solid: EEG training. That’s the difference between careful clinical work and a flashy report that sends you chasing false positives. We sit down with Dr. Tiffany Thompson, founder and CEO of NeuroField Neurotherapy, to talk about what real competency looks like in neurofeedback and why the “weekend course plus pretty brain map” approach can waste a client’s time, money, and trust.

We unpack how clinicians actually get good at this work: collecting clean EEGs, learning to read raw EEG, and doing the slow, repeated cycle of interpretation with a qualified mentor until the patterns start to make sense. Dr. Thompson also shares why she created the School of Neurotherapy after years of piecing together training through BCIA certification, neurology experience, and advanced quantitative EEG education. If you’re a practitioner who wants to enter the field, this is a grounded look at the learning curve and the standards that protect clients and strengthen the credibility of neurotherapy.

If you’re looking for a neurofeedback provider, we give you concrete questions you can ask right away, including whether they do ERP testing (event-related potentials), what montages they prefer when reviewing data, whether they can truly read raw EEG, and who mentors their clinical decisions. We also discuss why some common approaches can create misleading results, and why anyone claiming the brain is simple should raise concern. 

Subscribe for more conversations on brain health, neurotherapy, and peak performance, then share this episode with someone choosing a provider or considering training, and leave a review with your biggest question about EEG or neurofeedback.

To learn more about NeuroField Neurotherapy, Inc. visit: https://www.neurofieldneurotherapy.com/tiff-thompson

To learn more about Transformative Neurotherapy visit:
https://www.TransformativeNeurotherapy.org
Transformative Neurotherapy
570 Lincoln Ave. 
Bellevue, PA 15202 
412-204-7397  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with your host, Dr. Heather Putney, founder and executive director of Transformative Neurotherapy. This is the place where healing happens faster. Because let's face it, your brain doesn't come with an owner's bag until now. Here we take a holistic approach to brain health, bringing together science, mind-body harmony, and the tools you need to optimize your well-being. Whether you're a high-performer, executive, athlete, longevity hacker, or just someone tired of your brain working against you. Dr. Putney is here to help you unlock your full potential. From brain fog to chronic stress, we're covering it all so you can finally experience brain health, mind harmony, and total well-being. Ready to get unstuck? Let's get started.

Why EEG Training Comes First

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Before anyone can confidently interpret brainwave patterns or guide neurotherapy sessions, there's a foundational skill set that determines accuracy, safety, and clinical effectiveness. And it all starts with proper EEG training. Welcome everyone. I'm Dr. Heather Putney, founder and executive director of transformative neurotherapy here in the studio today with Dr. Tiffany Thompson, founder and CEO of Neurofield Neurotherapy. Tiff, it's a it's great to have you here with me today. Yeah. So um I know I actually was um trained by you and and Neurofield. So I know intimately, you know, the quality of training that you do over there. Um but I don't know about like all the all the other groups out there, but I do know that it's really, really important to to know your stuff. And so why don't you tell me a little bit about um you know what you guys do to prepare people, how you even decided to start this school that you run, and you know, how you help funnel out um qualified EEG neurotherapists.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Once upon a time, I uh like anybody neurotherapist endeavored to to jump in the field. And it was not easy. It was actually, it took a lot of bushwhacking to find my way in the field of neurotherapy. Um I, you know, as stumbling through, um, gained credentialing. Uh, the first was the board certification and neuro neurofeedback, which is called BCIA certification, uh, comes through the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance. And um, and then I got a uh, I started to work in neurology, and and that's where I actually learned uh about raw EEG. And then I got something called a quantitative EEG diplomacy. But all the while, you know, working with an odd, the odd mentor, um, never really had um a lot of qualified um mentorship from somebody who is in the same building as me, I'll just say. And so, you know, I started the school of neurotherapy because I I thought that the bushwhacking that it took to get through the field for the new person was excessive and arduous. And you what occurred to me as I gathered skills and knowledge was how much I I didn't know. Right. I mean, I I was perpetually coming year after year saying, oh my God, I can't believe I didn't I didn't know that, you know, last year. And so that phenomenon continues to happen, but it's not as the leaps aren't as big anymore, right? Like all that said, you the objective with the school was to number one, synthesize and streamline uh information and quality education to individuals so that they if they want to be in neurotherapy, they don't have to do the bushwhacking, they don't have to find out in year five that you know this particular montage creates a bunch of false positives, for instance. Um, but then maybe more importantly, and a little intimidatingly, um, the the streamlining the synthesization of all of the information that I wish that I had known when I was starting, like that's one of the other objectives of of what I'm up to. But what I say intimidatingly, right? Because there's there's people like you, Heather, who jumped in like, you know, not so long ago, time is relative, and just like zippity zip, like really, really qualified fast clinician. Um, and you know, you know a tremendous amount, you know far more, you know, than I did when I was as far in as you. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

So I think that's thanks to you and your fantastic training that we've been talking about, though.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

We well, I mean, I won't, I won't uh, you know, shy away from that compliment, but but regardless, you know, point being the whole the whole the whole point of this, the the biggest necessity in this field is for qualified clinicians. Um and there's actually a really wide gamut of expertise and competency in the field of neurotherapy. And it's one of the things that I find uh most challenging about our field. And it's one of my own sort of personal uh endeavors is to do my best to ensure that the field has really intelligent, qualified individuals talking about the most complicated thing in the known universe, right? What's coming out of our brains. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

I look up someone kind of in my area. How can I know uh, you know, what should I be looking for to kind of know whether or not that person actually is qualified, or what are some of the risks that, you know, um might occur for someone trying to get good treatment, but you know, maybe someone looks like they're really qualified, but they may not be. So what should people be looking for?

SPEAKER_02 6:07

It's a great question. Yeah. Um so a simple question I think that people could ask any clinician who does neurotherapy or neurofeedback is do you do ERP testing? I if you get a yes to that question, chances are really good that you've got a good clinician on your hands because it's an advanced modality. So that's the easiest one. Do you do event-related potentials, ERP testing? Um, beyond that, you know, then you're getting into a little bit of a QA back and forth. Um, but some questions you could ask are, you know, what kind of montages do you prefer to look at data in? You know, and you want to get anything other than linked ears to that question. I like to look in linked ears, just go away because that's a false positive. Um, it's a it's a contaminated with a lot of false positives. So that means they're looking at the data incorrectly. Can you read raw EEG? Um, is another one. So, you know, somebody might say yes when they can't. Um, who are your mentors? That's another good one. Uh, and then looking for the you know, the QEEGD, um, I think is is just a really important thing to do as well. And there's lots of qualified clinicians who don't have that, but you're you're guaranteed to have someone that at least knows how to read raw EEG if you have the QEEGD. So um the pitfalls of of you know walking into someone's clinic who maybe took a weekend course, more than anything, it's a waste of time and money. I I I don't think that you know most neurotherapy modalities can hurt an individual. Um, but it's a waste of time and money for the the the client. And for for us clinicians, it just is it's not good for our field. It's not good for the credibility of our field. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Because the the results won't be as efficient or as effective, and then it it and then you won't know, you know, it doesn't reflect well on it.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Exactly.

unknown 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

So um to any uh potential client or potential clinician wanting to get trained, what do you you know, what would you want to say about these essential, you know, the trainings most people need to begin by getting their hands dirty.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

And this is the toughest piece, right? If you're like, I want to do that as well. This this neurotherapy stuff sounds neat. Let's say you're a mental health care practitioner and it fits right into your work and you happen to be kind of a neuroscientist in disguise already. To begin to get your hands dirty means you have to begin to gather EEGs, right? And that means you're either going to have to go it alone, and um, and that can certainly happen. You can take a course, we teach something called a boot camp, then it teaches people how to do this from the ground up, um, you know, or have a consultation with somebody like you or like me online. But ideally, you know, you could get started with a mentor who's in the same building as you or the same neighborhood as you. So that's one thing that I would recommend is finding someone nearby, someone who can hold your hand and guide you. But once you start getting your hands dirty and you start to gather data, then you need to uh, you know, meet with somebody who can interpret the data alongside you. And it is a wash, rinse, repeat sort of process. And it's it takes a little bit of time for these squiggles to start to make sense, right? But then when they do, it's a whole world, a whole world opens up to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

You know absolutely. I remember getting started, it was just, you know, I thought that I could come, you know, like learn how to collect the data really well, then I could just put it in the system and it would just like analyze it for me and spit it out, and then it and then it would make sense. And I was, you know, um, I shouldn't say disappointed, but I just had no idea how um steep the learning curve was just to get started because it was so much more than just being able to collect a goodie EG, the interpretation just took a lot of time and a lot of mentoring to to kind of get there, you know. There is no shortcut to that.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

There's not. And the difference that you've just discussed is the difference between the individual that takes a weekend long course wants to push the button and get a pretty map and say, here you go, this is good, this is bad. And unfortunately, the brain is just not that simple. And anybody who tells you otherwise uh should not be sitting across from you, you know.

No Shortcuts Plus Resources And Closing

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So well, thank you, um, Dr. Thompson. I just um I recommend if anybody is curious about this field um or they want to get some training, definitely check out the School of Neurotherapy through Neurofield. And um, they've got so many different options and programs to try to get started uh with high with really high-quality mentors. So um give them a you know, check them out if you're interested in this field. And thank you, Dr. Thompson, for your time today and helping us understand, you know, how people get into this field and what to look for.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

You've been listening to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with Dr. Heather Putney. Remember, your brain isn't supposed to hold you back, it's supposed to power you forward. So stop letting it crash your party and start letting it do its job. If you're ready to optimize brain health, sharpen your focus, and age like a fine wine, schedule your free consultation today at transformative neurotherapy.org. Or call us at 412-204-7397. Because here, healing happens faster. See you next time.