Cognitive Remediation

The key to improving your daily life is not about drinking a magic shake or taking a brain-charging pill--it is about 'working out' your brain to enhance your cognitive wellness. Re-teaching your brain to think and being comfortable in who you are, is critical in your journey to restoring your cognitive health to where it once was.

Those with cognitive impairment are often living with symptoms which are unseen. You may understand or know about feeling "down" or "manic", but what is not commonly understood accompanying those symptoms is impaired cognition.  Your brain health is critical to every aspect of your life: socially, at work, at school, and in all daily functions.

If you're living with cognitive impairment associated with ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, concussions (mild TBI), eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or schizophrenia, it is likely that your thinking skills are negatively impacted. Impairments can be seen in attention, memory, processing speed, and problem solving, with severity being relative to the course of your illness, your age, and other social-environmental factors. 

LINK (Learning & I ntegrating N ew K nowledge)

At NeuroSynchrony Health, our LINK Program (a NEAR-Model informed approach) allows you to first develop a positive attitude towards life’s most complex circumstances, then strengthen your skills and strategies to overcome them.

The LINK Program uses a tool known as Cognitive Remediation to first address cognitive challenges such as executive functioning, ADD/ADHD, memory difficulty, or planning/organizational problems (reasoning and problem solving). These areas are responsible for everyday functioning, and an individual’s performance in them determines how successful he or she is in all aspects of life.

We work with you to develop realistic goals and integrate them into your cognitive health. This allows you to create strategies and skills based on your individual abilities, which you can then apply directly to your daily life. Cognitive Remediation is an intervention targeting neuro-cognitive deficits using scientific principles of learning, with the ultimate goal of improving daily living. Its effectiveness is enhanced when provided in context (formal or informal) that provides support and opportunity for improving everyday functioning (Saperstein & Kurtz, 2013). 

This NEAR-Model informed approach is one of the most effective evidence-based combinations of restorative exercises and strategy-based programs and it includes:

  • The Incorporation of leading evidence-based techniques such as Motivational Interviewing, CBT and Mindfulness

  • Is grounded in educational psychology and learning theory

  • A stress-free and fun learning environment which enhances motivation and decreases fear

  • Carefully curated interactions, large and small, to gradually increase confidence, which leads to improved self-esteem

  • Assisting individuals to link their thought process with their experiences

THE "NEAR-MODEL" (NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL APPROACH TO REMEDIATION) APPROACH WAS DEVELOPED BY DR. ALICE MEDALIA AND HER TEAM. MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND BY READING :

"COGNITIVE REMEDIATION FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS: THERAPISTS GUIDE (TREATMENTS THAT WORK)", PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

 

Saperstein, A. K. (2013). Current Trends in the Empirical Study of Cognitive Remediation for Schizophrenia. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 8.