How Neurofeedback Is Changing Mental Health Recovery: Inside the Conversation With Devin Hoff & Sarah Jones

For this conversation, Mark Anthony sat down with two people from the same practice, coming at neurofeedback from two different doors. Devin Hoff is the owner of Wilmington Neurofeedback; Sarah Jones is the practice's office manager — and, as it turns out, a neurofeedback client herself. Together they walked through what neurofeedback actually is, how a session works, and some of the recoveries they've watched happen in their own office.

Neither of them set out to run a brain-training practice. Hoff has a background in journalism and worked as a marketing copywriter before stepping back to raise her children. When her oldest child had struggles the family didn't want to treat with medication, they found their way to a practice then run by its founder, known to clients as Dr. Sherri — where Hoff's husband, a pain-management physician, had already been referring his own patients for help managing the emotions tied to chronic pain. After watching the change in her son, Hoff eventually took over ownership of the practice herself. Jones spent 23 years in special education, running a private K-12 school for kids with learning differences that housed several therapeutic modalities — including neurofeedback — under one roof. She joined the practice full-time during the pandemic-era shutdown of her school and stayed on as Hoff took the practice over, on the condition, Hoff said, that "Sarah comes with the business."

What Neurofeedback Actually Does, In Plain Language

Hoff described neurofeedback as "non-invasive," a way of retraining the brain that leans on its own neuroplasticity — its built-in ability to change. "With the brain's neuroplasticity, people don't realize that the state they're living in is not the state they have to be in," she said. Their office uses sound rather than visual feedback: the brain is rewarded with audio cues when it settles into a healthier pattern, so it learns, in Hoff's words, to say "I like that, I want to keep doing that" — and eventually holds that pattern without ongoing sessions.

Jones offered a simpler way to describe it to clients: it's brain training, not brain fixing. "Neurofeedback is like taking your brain to the gym — you can strengthen those neural pathways, and you can also create new ones," she said. In their experience, that training shows up as reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms, sharper focus, less brain fog, and — the change clients mention most — better sleep. Jones, an endurance athlete herself, also described using neurofeedback to manage the mental load of daily life without becoming overwhelmed by it.

Jones has her own experience as a client. After roughly five sessions, she noticed the near-constant internal monologue she'd lived with her whole life had gone quiet. "I don't have any really thoughts. Like, I'm just sitting here daydreaming," she remembers telling the practice's founder — and realizing, only then, how much of her life had been spent in a low-grade state of fight-or-flight.

Inside an Assessment — and What a Full Course of Training Looks Like

Most clients start with a QEEG brain map: electrodes, called leads, are placed on the scalp with a small amount of conductive paste, and the client goes through three recording sessions of three minutes each — one minute with eyes closed, one with eyes open (looking down, since eye movement creates interference in the reading), and one completing a task on a tablet, which shows how the brain processes activity in different regions. Hoff reviews the recording for a clean signal, then gives clients a same-day overview before they've even seen the full written report — usually seven to ten pages describing how their brain is "wired." Jones said this is often the moment "the skeptics become believers": clients frequently respond with what she described as tears of relief, telling her, "It's all there. I haven't been making this up. It's all in my head."

From there, clients are told plainly what commitment looks like: a full course of neurofeedback generally runs 24 to 40 sessions, with the first eight ideally spaced 24 to 48 hours apart — three or more visits a week for the first couple of weeks gives the best results, according to Jones. Progress is tracked with a subjective 0-to-10 scale the client fills out on their first day in the chair, then revisits every eight sessions to see where things have improved. Jones also described reintroducing a form of EFT tapping into some sessions over the past few months — a technique that works through several acupressure points paired with an identify-release-affirmation process — as one more tool clients can take home and use on their own.

Real Recoveries Described in the Episode

Both guests were careful not to name clients, but described specific cases from their own office. One involved a man who had been in a motorcycle accident and was told he would never walk again; his wife, unconvinced, kept him in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and eventually neurofeedback. Over what Jones estimated as 50 to 100 sessions, they watched his speech and fine motor skills improve — he began working on an iPad with games and puzzles — until the day he walked into the office with a rollator instead of a wheelchair. The family later purchased neurofeedback equipment to continue his training at home.

A second client, referred through the practice's network, had a seizure disorder severe enough that his jaw would lock and caretakers were crushing Valium onto his tongue to help him relax; he initially came in by wheelchair because of the risk of a seizure at any moment. Over time, Hoff and Jones said, he began arriving on his own, working on his laptop. They also described older clients recovering speech after strokes, and a teenage client with anger issues whose posture and confidence changed visibly as she trained — no longer needing, in Jones's words, the "mask" she'd been wearing.

"Most people find us when nothing else has worked," Jones said, adding that she'd like neurofeedback to become a first option rather than a last resort — part of why the practice spends time building relationships in the local community rather than waiting for referrals to arrive on their own.

Hoff and Jones were clear that neurofeedback isn't only for people in crisis. They described working with students preparing for exams, business professionals, endurance and Olympic-level athletes, and clients simply looking to maintain brain health as they age — including some with a family history of Alzheimer's or dementia who come in proactively. At the time of this conversation, the practice also offered a free 23-minute "alpha theta" meditative session — no assessment required — for anyone who wanted to experience a training before committing to a full course, plus a waived assessment fee and a discount on training packages for veterans and first responders.