Hello, I'm Kristi Knight.

Welcome!!

You may have found my site from a friend, a referral, social media site or even a google search, whatever the case...I am glad you are here! I want to share a little about myself, and to answer the most frequently asked question, "How did you get into this business?" Again, thanks for taking the time to checkout my site and learn more about what I do and how I can help you.

 

I am here to help you manage stress without side effects,

support you where you are in life and

offer hope and healing that you thought was lost.

 I believe that on our journey to wellness....

we should LEARN along the way!

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Licensed Clinical Mental Health Associate Therapist, Certified Health Coach,

Functional Nutrition Health Coach

Helping you be... YOUR best brain!

 I love......

My husband and children more than all the breath of life inside me.

I also love sunshine, fall, fresh flowers and 80's music.

I understand.....

people become broken, parenting IS the hardest job in the world, sugar is addicting,

change is scary, anxiety comes in many forms,

learning from mistakes is so empowering, and life is all about relationships

I want to.....

educate, inspire and motivate you to learn on your journey to wellness that I know you can achieve

and I will celebrate with you..... your victories along the way!

 

Professional Bio

Kristi Knight is the owner and founder of Brain Fitness, a private practice offering Neurofeedback training and Health and Wellness Coaching. Kristi received a BA degree in Cognitive Studies & Psychology from Ashford University and a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Bradley University, specializing in Neurocounseling.

Kristi is a licensed mental health counselor associate, license # 88001740A and currently works with teens and adults at The Marriage and Family Clinic under the supervision of Kerrie Siegl, LMFT, license # 35001788A. Kristi’s counseling approach integrates neurocounseling, brain-based interventions, with a health and wellness approach. Kristi’s background in Neurofeedback training and Mental Health Nutrition/Health Coaching combined with Trauma Therapy, Polyvagal Informed Therapy, Attachment Therapy, Mind-Body therapy, Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the Enneagram Typology system offer a unique approach to therapy services. Kristi enjoys educating others and offering group support on a variety of topics at The Marriage and Family Clinic.

Kristi’s Neurofeedback training experience has included working with children, teens, and adults, where she takes a unique interest in each person by providing support and education for their optimal brain health and functioning for a variety of symptoms including learning, attention, memory, sleep, stress, self-regulation, behavior, developmental, migraines, and concussions. Kristi offers neurofeedback training in Fishers, as well as home system monthly rentals.

Kristi has experience working for IU Health as a Health Coach and currently works with The Logan Institute providing health coaching utilizing a functional lifestyle and nutrition approach. Kristi’s health coach experience includes working with individuals who are looking to manage chronic illness, autoimmune disease, digestion and food allergies/intolerance, or those who wish to make positive changes in their lifestyle by focusing on nutrition, stress, sleep and exercise goals.

Kristi has a passion for helping others. Her dedication to continuing her own education across a variety of interests and modalities has equipped her with a unique knowledge base she uses to help others. In addition, Kristi is certified in basic and advanced Neurofeedback training, Brain Spotting Level One and Two, Polyvagal Informed Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma Informed Certified, Certified Integrative Mental Health and Nutrition, certified Brain Fitness Coach from the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association, Certified Personal Health & Wellness Coach from Wellcoaches (R), and is a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Kristi has a variety of additional training and certifications which include: Mindfulness Training, Sleep Training, Interactive Metronome, Positive Parenting Discipline Educator, Essential Oils, Stress management, Enneagram Typology, and Concussion/Traumatic Brain Injury Training.

Kristi believes her ability to relate to others, her empathetic and caring approach supports others along a path to healing. Listening, understanding and drawing upon her knowledge allow her to integrate many diverse fields of knowledge into an approach that people find intriguing and drawn to work with her.  

 
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How I discovered neurofeedback training...

My son quit eating and was diagnosed with a feeding disorder. It was a condition that he had been born with, but had been missed by doctors for many years. The feeding therapy team was perplexed at his case, and they recommended us to a specialty clinic in Illinois that addressed chronic problems with eating/feeding. What we learned there literally changed our lives.

A New Understanding

No one had ever connected for us the problems our son had with eating to some of his other health concerns—such as enlarged adenoids making him unable to breathe through his nose, never sleeping through the night without waking up, and an inability to tolerate any strong odors. Many things would cause him to throw up or gag, including toothpaste, and as a result, he suffered from severe oral defensiveness. 

We had also struggled with our son’s extreme sensitivity to try new foods. Most concerning, was seeing him choose to go hungry. We saw for years that he wanted to eat. We knew he didn’t want things to be this way—but it was so hard for him to adjust, and we never knew why, until....a life changing visit to a feeding clinic 4 hours away.

After a couple of hours with the experts at Koke Mills Springs Clinic in Springfield, Illinois, we learned what caused this fear in him. He had extreme anxiety related to food and anything going near his mouth. Because he had never learned to breathe through his nose, he had missed some of the key steps to learning how to eat. At this point, it couldn’t be re-learned.

His fears were real and we had to do something to help him. We were given a list of recommendations for addressing the issues at hand, but first we had to deal with the fear of food. Otherwise, all the other recommendations would fail. 

 The first recommendation was Neurofeedback/Biofeedback, because traditional methods of taking medicine were NOT an option for him, he could not swallow pills, nor could we hide them in anything with such extreme sensitivity to smell and taste aversion that had developed. We were DESPERATE to help him, and as other feeding therapy methods had proved unsuccessful, we quickly decided the NeurOptimal(R) Neurofeedback training was our best option.

The Training Results

Over time, we began to notice profound changes in our son, but they weren’t all food-related changes—there were positive impacts all across the board. For the first time in his life, he could go to bed at night on his own. No extra tucking-in or water or leaving the lights on. 

We also noticed that his ability to get his homework done improved. Earlier that same year, he had been diagnosed with a Reading Fluency disability, which impacted school work. Before he began Neurofeedback, getting him to sit down and do his homework required us standing over him to help keep him on task and sometimes even read it to him. He would get so frustrated and tired. After a few months of training, he began to come home and do his homework with no extra help, and had even made an A on a book report.   

His teacher noted at his fall conference that he had really improved listening during class and that his oral reading skills were much improved. She also noted his reading fluency test scores had improved since the start of the school year. Could this be a result of the training we began to wonder?

Over the course of the next 8 months, while continuing the training as maintenance, our son was even able to gain 14 pounds. He could eat from any restaurant and he could try new foods. Even sleepovers weren’t stressful because he could find something to eat anywhere he went. 

One year after his first NeurOptimal(R) Neurofeedback training session, he had a dental cleaning appointment.  

This was the ultimate test of how much he had gained as a result of the training. As I sat in the waiting room, I recalled how easy it had been on this day to get him to this appointment compared to years prior. I had only given him one day’s notice of the appointment, and I had not seen one tear, nor heard any complaining of a stomach ache that day. He did not even ask me to come back to the room with him. It was a complete reversal of what we had encountered for years prior.  Patiently I waited for the results. 

When he came out of the appointment, he smiled and showed me his teeth. Then he proudly announced that he was cavity-free. I was in shock. I fought back tears of joy and relief, knowing this training really had worked for our son. My husband, who had been skeptical of this, but agreed that it had to be the training causing these remarkable changes in our son. 

Our Take-Away

NeurOptimal(R) Neurofeedback did what we had hoped, so that he could manage and function normally. It did not take the feeding disorder away from him, nor did it take away the reading fluency disability. But what it did was so much more. It helped him managemaking every day so much brighter.

Following that success, the training did not stop with my son. I quickly got my daughter started, who had struggled with performance issues her entire life. We had tried every medicine and method of counseling known, but overall, nothing ever worked for her without some unfortunate side effects. 

I hoped it would help her in some way deal with the debilitating problems that caused feelings of being out of balance.  When we began to see her response to the training, I knew that this work was what I had waited my whole life to do—to help others.

The struggles with my son and my daughter were different, but both were real and painful to watch as a parent. Finding a way to help others is a true passion of mine, and it’s what led me to the founding of Brain Fitness. Sometimes when you are not looking, things just happen that were meant to be. I was not looking for a second career in life, but I certainly found one.

I have been where many of you are right now, and I know the struggles are real. I also know the options you face for a number of health related concerns have been limited…until now.  

 
 
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I would love to be a part of your journey too!