Our Story

Why we care

I’m Ali, project manager for the Heart Matters Restoration Initiative.

I became fascinated with neurofeedback treatment when I first discovered it as an option for depression and ADHD treatment for my family members. We had not experienced success in our years of trying multiple different lifestyle changes, forms of counseling, or medication options. I was very intrigued with the research, as well as the personal stories I had heard of people finding relief from mental health symptoms, not by treating the symptoms, but by getting to the neurological roots of them- enabling lasting change.

My family members trained with neurofeedback and found real change and freedom, as well as a capacity for life that they’d never had before. I interned and then became a neurofeedback technician because I wanted to be a part of that change for others.

The day I had first met with a neurofeedback provider to learn about the process, I had been excited about the possibilities for my family, but friends who serve in the military and law enforcement had also come to mind. If neurofeedback training could do what I was hearing it could, I was struck by how beneficial it could be for restoring their peace of mind and quality of life too.

Then, not a even a week later, my family experienced the day no parent ever wants to face. I got a call that my active, perfectly healthy teenage son had collapsed at a youth event. I arrived and witnessed my child unconscious on the pavement experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest. I had not a single skill I could offer him in those critical minutes, but teams of highly trained and talented people showed up and saved my child’s life.

We all know to be thankful for our first responders, but being a parent in that situation gave me a profound gratitude for them. What I knew academically about the effects of stress and trauma on first responders, and the carryover effects for their families, all of a sudden had faces attached to it. People lost sleep, people worried, people struggled because they had been there for my child.

I cannot do for my community the things our incredible first responder teams do, but I realized that I had access to a tool that could help mitigate the weighty effects of their work, and help expand the people they could be for their own loved ones.

Why did we, the neurofeedback providers of Heart Matters, start the Heart Matters Restoration Initiative? Above all, because those who are struggling need a healthy, effective, and lasting tool for relief and that alone is worth the effort to get neurofeedback into their hands- and brains!

Beyond that, we are deeply grateful to those who serve our communities and our country. Our first initiative is to raise the funds needed to provide neurofeedback training to first responders in need, especially in Teller and El Paso county, for whom finances would be a barrier to them accessing this service. They deserve the relief and growth that neurofeedback can bring. Providing it will also enable them to be more effective and last longer in their fields. I’ve been a parent on the line with emergency dispatch as my child headed towards another cardiac arrest. There was great comfort in knowing that within minutes a team would arrive with the skills to do what needed to be done. Let’s keep them doing what they do so well.

Please join us in giving back to those who serve. Help us improve lives in our communities.

-Ali, HMRI project manager