Connecting Minds - Connecting Bodies - Connecting People
What do we do?
At Connections we have two streams of support to offer you...
1. Neurological Support - We offer highly-specialised neurological rehabilitation support, consultancy and training for individuals living with neurological/movement-based disorders.
2. Support for Everyone - We offer Neuro-Linguistic Programming services to anyone who wishes to make positive changes to their lives and to themselves.
How do our services work?
All of Connections services are based on the principle of Neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to form and reorganise its synaptic connections. It occurs all the time as we develop and grow - and especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.
Neuroplasticity forms the basis of all learning across the lifespan. Whether we are developing a new skill, or learning to think differently, the messages we create and reinforce in our minds have the power to create new, and better, neural circuits for us.
Kleim and Jones (2008) identify ten principles of the most effective
neuroplasticity. These principles are described below and underpin our work across all Connections services.
1) Use It or Lose It: We must keep using our neural pathways to keep them working!
2) Use It and Improve It: The more we use specific neural pathways the stronger they become.
3) Salience: Emotions can affect the strength of memory pathways. When we are in the right emotional state and interested in / motivated by what we are doing, it will be easier to develop and remember new skills.
4) Repetition: Repetition is required for long-term changes in our neural pathways. The more we practice the more permanent the change.
5) Intensity: Intensity can be the number of times we do an something or how difficult it is. Intensity increases the laying down of neural pathways.
6) Specificity: Learning something new or re-training an old skill (rather than simply going through the motions of something we already know) helps increase the connections in our brains.
7) Age: Our brains are the most flexible and adaptive when we are young. But connections in our brains can grow and change at any age! We believe in lifelong learning!
8) Time: Change can happen quickly or slowly, but the more these principles are used, the faster and longer-term the changes that are experienced.
9) Transference: By learning during a Connections session we can then generalise a skill to other situations (like home, work or social settings). Similarly, when we develop one specific area we can sometimes activate the pathways of nearby areas and improve those skills as well.
10) Interference: Neuroplasticity means the brain is always learning. Unfortunately our brains can't tell the difference between good and bad information. We can help you to understand and focus on the right habits to be reinforcing helping you to achieve the positive changes you want to make.
Reference:
Kleim JA, & Jones TA (2008) Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. J Speech Lang Hear Res. Feb;51(1):S225-39
