How does Neuro Emotional Technique compare to traditional counseling, or cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT)?  Here is a chart the highlights the difference.

Plain in simple,  Neuro Emotional Technique(NET) is quite possibly the fastest way to permanently end panic attacks.  Even the panic attacks that seem to have no initial cause are simply no match for NET.   In the framework of NET, panic attacks are nothing more than an emotional stuck point somewhere in the body. For instance, why is that that when we feel anxious or nervous, we have butterflies of in our stomach or a tightness in our chest?   If it is supposedly all in our heads, then why do other parts of our body feel it?  This proves that our body and mind are interconnected, and the body stores negative feelings in different places.   This is where NET comes into play.   NET uses something called manual muscle testing, and touching emotional points in the wrist to quickly find the physical source of the panic attacks.  Once this is complete, we will have the patient think about and feel those feelings, and BOOM, feelings and panic attacks are gone.  I am not going to lie, I thought this was total crap(yep, I said that word) before I personally experienced it, and did it with others.  Nothing I have seen is faster.  Check out the research at http://www.onefoundation.org/

NET is so fast and all encompassing, I have personally given up on traditional talk therapy as a main method for treatment.  Do not get me wrong, talk therapy has it's place, but it is not the catch all be all for getting people better.  At the time of this writing, I have been doing therapy in one form of another for 17 years.  Up until, I feel that I owe every past patient an apology for not learning NET and not doing NET for them sooner.


Till next time,


Justin

        As  both a therapist and a student of life, I am constantly searching for ways to help both myself and the lives of my patients.  I feel that any provider, whether they are a medical doctor, nurse, psychologist, or therapist, should be open to possibilities that what they currently know to be true could one day be turned upside down.  This is what happened to me this past March.  
           I have a colleague friend of mine that I have known since my early days of counseling.  She practices in my hometown in Florida, while I practice here in Gastonia.  Ironically, we each recieved training in the exact same forms of treatment that the average therapist never takes the time to learn. It was not until last year, I saw her post on Facebook about the Neuro Emotional Technique or NET for short.  I asked her how much better is it at helping people with trauma, anxiety, phobias, etc compared to traditional talk therapy, EMDR, and hypnosis.  What she said made my skeptical.  She said NET blew those treatments out of the water.   It was not until six months later when I was talking to an old friend from the church I attended as a child that NET became a reality.  She said that she went to my therapist friend for help, and was helped immensely in just a couple of sessions.  It was my friend's testimony that prompted me to sign up for the next training.   What happened at the training completely took my previous 16 years of practice and stood it on its head.
           I attended this training in Orlando.   I am not going to lie,  I was planning on going to the training, and if it was total garbage compared to what I had already known, I was going to leave and go on a mini vacation for myself, and spend the next few days lying on the beach with a cold one in my hand.   Well, within the first hour, I was mesmerized.  What I learned blew my mind.   NET is a technique and a treatment method that helps people uncover and understand how life events in the past contribute to how we feel today. Often times, the events appear to be seemingly unrelated.  We call these Neuro Emotional Complexes or just stuck points.   It also uncovers emotional setbacks that keep us from healing physically.  I literally watched people and now have treated people for chronic pain such as ear, leg, and stomach pain literally go away after uncovering and releasing past emotional stuck points. On a personal note, the physician who was teaching me asked me what I want to be different in my life, I said I want to be free of my addiction to sugar.  What was uncovered was that my sugar addiction became out of control when my parents divorced when I was 17.  To be perfectly clear, I am happy my parents are divorced and happily  remarried, but at that time, but it was traumatic for me to go through.  It was emotional residue, so to speak, that I was unaware that I still had in me.   Since March 22(as of this writing on 5/5/18), I have lost over 30lbs without even trying.  Another personal testimony is my elbow pain.  I injured my elbows lifting weights. My elbows hurt so bad that I could barely lift myself up from the chair without help.  I even had to have my intern open a bottle of water for me.  To doctor helped me find the stuck point to that as well.  My elbows have been bothering mefor about 5 months, and it was at that time, I remember making an off handed comment to my wife about a family member causing me a great deal of stress. That stressor was related to my elbow.  Immediately after NET, I was to lift myself up, open my own bottle with out pain, and do unassisted push ups.  My elbows now can finally heal.  Needless to say, I am a believer.
          So what does all this mean to the people that I serve and treat.  It means that I am one of only 8000 practitioners in the world that are trained to provide this service.  There are over 600000 therapists in the US alone.  So, NET is pretty darn unique.  What I have literally seen happen is that we can get through a year of traditional talk therapy in less than one hour.  The results speak for themselves.  I do not have to know deep, dark, family secrets. Nor do we have to rehash the painful past.  Check my link for NET on our website for a video demonstration.  It is really that simple.  To be fair, this is not a cure all.  The individuals who are not well suited for this technique are people who suffer from active psychosis, and people with severe mental illness that need immediate long term hospitalization.  Almost everyone else achieves success. So if you are someone else you love could benefit, give us a call. 

Till next time my friends,


​Justin

For the past few weeks, I have been reading a book written by a hospice nurse, who wrote about her experiences being with people in their final moments.  She described people going through the famous 5 stages of grief. In case you did not know, they are Denial, Anger, Fear, Bargaining, and finally, Acceptance.  In my office, it is a humbling experience to assist someone in going through these stages, but what I blew my mind away was the hope this nurse described in the people going through their most difficult moments. 

As I write this, my thoughts immediately go to a dear mentor and friend of mine who is dealing with terminal cancer.    Let's face it, death and loss suck. It is something that if we live long enough, we will experience it, and we too must personally go through it.  Regardless of the circumstances, in order for us to be truly free, we must be at peace.  My friend is at peace. 

The word peace means so much to different people, and that is OK.  What is not good is how we struggle to find it. I am a trained trauma therapist. I have always said that in terms of trauma, there is not much that I can not fix.  The only thing that I have not been able to help is death without peace and hope. Particularly  dealing with death, if there is no peace and hope, there is no resolution in the circumstance.   As much as I want to help, I can not help a true Atheist comes to terms with a painful death because death is the final end.    It does not matter to me what a person believes as long as they can find peace and hope that their loved one or themselves will one day find freedom and comfort.  That element of belief is critical to finding the help we so desperately crave.

If you are in the position of trying to find hope and peace, read as much as you can about other's experiences.  Read book about people who have had near death experiences.  I even encourage to read about those experiences with people who do not share your beliefs. Connect with hospice groups.  As always, we are here to help, and are just a phone call away.

Peace and Blessings.

​Bright Hope Counseling Center

YES!!!  Hypnosis works, and it almost always works quicker than traditional therapy.'

I do a lot of marketing on Facebook.   At least once a week, I get some heckler trying say that hypnosis does not work, and that people are wasting their time.   I have two things to say about these accusations.

First, hypnosis works when a person is ready and willing to make a permanent life change.  Same is also said for counseling, coaching, mentoring, etc.  I have personally witnessed hundreds of people whose life has been changed for the better because they decided to undergo hypnosis.    I have seen anxieties eliminated. Panic attacks vanished, and life long traumas wiped away because of hypnosis.   To say it does not work is an absolute farce. 

Second,  those hecklers are absolutely right that hypnosis does not work.  I have always said that hypnosis is an art form. Just like there are horrible therapists, there are horrible hypnotists. Like counseling, hypnosis requires the client to play an active role in treatment.  The therapist and/or hypnotist acts as nothing more than a nonjudgmental guide.  Because all hypnosis is self-hypnosis,  the hypnotist must be able to guide the person into hypnosis to allow the transformation to take place.   Without this, hypnosis does not work. 

Oh, and for the record,  there are only three types of people that can not be hypnotized.   1.  People who refuse hypnosis.  2.  People who are too developmentally delayed to comprehend what is being done.  3.  My lovely wife; she just laughs at me.   Everybody else can sit back and enjoy the break and ease the mind.

Relieve a panic and anxiety attacks in these easy steps:

1.  Pick the smallest and farthest object across the room that your eyes are able to see.

2.  Stare at this object as if you are trying to burn a hole through it with your eyes.  Stare so intently as if you very life depends upon it. 

3. Take slow deep breathes and try to blow the object away.

4. Repeat until panic attack resolves.


This is a Zen Buddhist mediation trick of "emptying the mind."  Because panic attacks are the result of the mind racing, we need to rapidly  cause the mind to stop.  What this trick does is force the mind to only think of one thing and one thing only.  Once this happens, the thoughts causing the panic attack can no longer race.  This causes the person to feel better almost immediately.  

Now, this is not a permanent solution, but a mere band aid in order to survive until  the cause of the panic attacks can be resolved. For a permanent solution, check out this video.
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Bright Hope Counseling Center
1558-G Union Road
Gastonia, NC 28054
​704-772-0333

Let's face it, depression hurts. People not suffering from depression often say, "cheer up.  It's not that bad." or, "When are you going to get over it, and stop being a baby?"  What they do not understand is that the black cloud of depression makes those that suffer from it feel as if they are in a dark hole with little room and no way out.  

Depression usually consists in two forms.   1. Situational Depression  and 2. Persistent Depression.

Depression that is situational is usually quickly resolved once the situation is either worked through, or the person's perspective on the situation has changed.  This is usually done either through counseling or even hypnosis.

Persistent Depression is categorized by Diagnostic Book of Mental Disorders or the DSM as either Major Depression and persistent depressive disorder(formerly called Dysthymia).   This type of depression generally has a biological make up for it, and most people benefit from an antidepressant, and on going counseling.   Individuals suffering from this type of depression may experience bouts of depression with periods of relief.   In times of relief, counseling and/or hypnosis is recommended in order to prolong the relief, and continue to develop coping strategies to limit any set backs.

Recent studies are beginning to show that moderate, regular exercise is shows promising results that may mimic some antidepressants.  

For what ever reason, we are here to help.  If we can be of any assistance or need resources to continue progress, please feel free to give us a call.


Bright Hope Counseling Center
1558-G Union Road
Gastonia, NC 28054
704-772-0333 

As a therapist who gave up doing traditional therapy for a career in hypnosis, I am always shocked to see and stretch the boundaries of what hypnosis can and cannot do for my clients. In order for me to say what it does, I first have to state what it is not. 

I think that one of the biggest reasons why it is not used in more mainstream therapy is that there is a belief that hypnosis does not work, and is nothing more than strangely packaged snake oil.  Most universities do not teach hypnosis. So if they do not teach it, then why learn it.   Second, a significant amount of people believe that hypnosis is a form of mind control.   Even a popular Christian website, GotQuestions.org says that hypnosis is a form of demonic mind control. Probably, the biggest misconception is the question of whether or not I can be hypnotized.  I tell everyone that there are only two types of people that can not be hypnotized. They are the ones that refuse, and the ones who are too developmentally and emotionally delayed to understand what I am saying.  Everyone else can be hypnotized to some degree.  Lastly, when someone is hypnotized, they do NOT feel any different, and at no point is control ever lost. Since all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, if any suggestion is given by the hypnotist that goes against  person's will, the individual will either ignore the suggestion or instantly come out of hypnosis.

So what can hypnosis do?

Hypnosis is not the panacea of therapy. It is not the end all be all.  However, it is only limited by the client's subconscious mind. Simply put, if the mind can conceive it, then it can become a part of a person's reality.  To date, below is a sampling of what I seen accomplished with hypnosis.

Stress Relief

Smoking Cessation

Bad Habits

Phobias

Anxiety

Weight Loss

Addictions

Public Speaking

Panic Attacks

Pain Relief

Insomnia

Co-consciousness with D.I.D. Patients

Streff Syndrome Drastically Improved with D.I.D. Patients

Resolution of Trauma.

Learning hypnosis is simple. Therapists already do the majority of hypnosis by leading clients through a guided meditation or imagery. They thing which is missing is a few steps called convincers, inductions, deepeners, and finally anchors.  To pick up these skills, do a simple YouTube search for hypnotists demonstrating the technique. 
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