The digitalization of health has opened doors that were once thought to be reserved for physical contact. Among them, teleconsultation and remote brain coaching have emerged as viable and effective solutions for many people. Whether you are looking to improve your memory, concentration, logic, or manage the effects of a cognitive disorder, remote follow-up offers unprecedented flexibility. However, for this experience to be fruitful, it is essential to adopt good practices, both from the participant’s side and the professional’s.
This article aims to guide you through the intricacies of online cognitive support. It is not simply about transposing an in-person session onto a screen, but about understanding and optimizing an entirely new ecosystem. We will see how to prepare your sessions, how digital tools like our application CLINT, your brain coach, can enrich the process, and how to overcome the inherent challenges of distance to turn it into a real strength.
The success of a remote session begins well before the camera turns on. Consider this preparation phase as building the foundations of your progress. If the base is solid, everything built on it will be as well. Good preparation allows you to transform a simple video call into a true productive and secure workspace.
The environment: your sanctuary of concentration
Unlike an office where the environment is controlled by the practitioner, at home, this responsibility falls on you. Your physical environment has a direct impact on your ability to concentrate and engage in the session.
Imagine trying to build a complex puzzle in the middle of a crowded train station. It’s a mission impossible. Your brain coaching session is that puzzle: it requires attention and tranquility. Therefore, it is crucial to create a “bubble” conducive to reflection.
- Choose a quiet place: Opt for a room where you will not be disturbed. If you live with others, inform them of your session time and ask them to respect this moment.
- Eliminate distractions: Close other tabs in your browser, put your phone on silent mode and move it out of your line of sight. Turn off the television or radio. Every notification is a small crack in your concentration bubble.
- Pay attention to ergonomics: Make sure you are comfortably seated. A chair that causes you back pain or a poorly positioned screen can become sources of physical distraction and harm the quality of your attention in the long term.
Technology: your ally, not your enemy
Technical problems are one of the main barriers to successful teleconsultation. A crackling sound, a freezing image, a dropped connection… These inconveniences can break the rhythm of the session and generate frustration. The goal is to make technology so seamless that you forget its presence.
Before each session, take five minutes to perform a technical check. Test your Internet connection, your microphone, and your webcam. Ensure that the computer or tablet you are using is well charged or plugged in. If your practitioner uses a specific platform, log in a few minutes early to ensure everything is working correctly. This simple routine can save you a lot of stress and allow you to start the session with peace of mind.
Mental preparation: defining your goals
Brain coaching is not a passive process. Your engagement is the cornerstone of your success. Before you connect, take a moment to reflect. What do you expect from this session? How have you progressed since the last time? Have you encountered any particular difficulties in your daily life? Have you noted any progress, even minor?
Writing down a few points in a notebook can help you structure your thoughts and be more precise during your exchanges with your coach. For example, instead of saying “I have memory problems,” you could say “this week, I struggled to remember the names of new colleagues during a meeting.” This precision allows your coach to target the exercises and strategies to implement more effectively.
The role of the practitioner in a dematerialized framework
If your preparation is essential, the professional’s ability to adapt to the digital format is equally important. A good remote coach is not just an expert in cognitive sciences; they are also an excellent communicator capable of building a trusting relationship through a screen.
Establishing a human connection through the screen
One of the biggest challenges of teleconsultation is compensating for the absence of physical presence. Non-verbal language is harder to perceive, and the feeling of connection may seem less natural. An experienced practitioner will know how to overcome this obstacle.
They will do this through active listening, rephrasing your words to ensure they have understood correctly, asking open-ended questions, and being attentive to the micro-expressions on your face. Their tone of voice, their gaze directed at the camera (and not at their own video feed), and their ability to create a climate of kindness are all elements that build the therapeutic alliance, this essential trust link in any support.
Adapting techniques to the digital format
In-person brain coaching often uses physical materials: paper, pencil, board games, etc. Remotely, the practitioner must be creative and master digital tools to offer equally relevant exercises.
This can involve using virtual whiteboards to outline a strategy, screen sharing to analyze an exercise together, or sending interactive documents. The important thing is that technology serves pedagogy, not the other way around. The goal is not to use gadgets for fun, but to choose the most suitable tool to achieve a specific cognitive objective.
Ensuring data security and confidentiality
The issue of confidentiality is paramount. Your practitioner has the responsibility to ensure that your exchanges and the data concerning you are protected. This involves using secure and encrypted videoconferencing platforms that comply with current regulations on health data protection. Do not hesitate to ask them questions about this. A professional who is transparent about their practices is a guarantee of seriousness and respect.
Integrating digital tools: the case of CLINT, your brain coach
One of the major advantages of remote coaching is the ability to seamlessly integrate digital training and monitoring tools. Our application, CLINT, your brain coach, is designed to be the ideal partner for your support. It does not replace the coach, but acts as a bridge between your sessions, a personalized training ground where you can practice the strategies discussed.
CLINT as an initial assessment tool
Even before starting a program, it is essential to know where you are starting from. Your coach can use CLINT to offer you a series of assessment exercises. These fun and varied tests help to create a cognitive profile of your strengths and weaknesses in different areas:
- Memory (short-term, working, visual)
- Attention (selective, divided, sustained)
- Executive functions (planning, mental flexibility, inhibition)
- Language
- Logic
The results, presented in clear graphs, provide an objective database to define the priorities of your support. It’s like taking stock before starting renovation work: you know exactly what to focus on.
Using CLINT for targeted exercises between sessions
An hour-long session per week is useful, but real progress comes from consistency. This is where CLINT makes all the sense. Your coach can create a personalized training program directly in the application.
For example, if you are working on improving your sustained attention, they can assign you specific exercises that challenge this skill. You can then train for a few minutes each day, at your own pace. This daily brain workout is essential for strengthening neural circuits and automating new skills. The application adjusts the difficulty in real-time based on your performance, ensuring a challenge that is always optimal, neither too easy nor too discouraging.
Tracking progress objectively with CLINT
How can you know if you are really making progress? Subjective feelings are important, but they can be misleading. CLINT offers an objective and quantified view of your evolution. The dashboards allow your coach (and yourself) to visualize the improvement of your scores, the decrease in your response time, or the increase in your accuracy over the weeks.
During your sessions, you can analyze this data together. A plateau in your progress on a certain type of exercise can become a starting point for discussion: “I see that the scores on this mental flexibility exercise are stagnating. Let’s talk about it. In what situations in your daily life do you feel this difficulty?”. The tool then becomes a concrete support to refine the strategy and make it even more relevant.
Overcoming the challenges of distance
Despite its many advantages, remote coaching also has specific challenges. Identifying them and knowing how to manage them is a key step to ensure the effectiveness of support in the long term.
“Zoom fatigue” and attention management
Spending a lot of time in videoconferences can be exhausting. This “Zoom fatigue” is not a myth. It is due to the fact that our brain has to exert extra effort to interpret limited non-verbal signals, manage small delays in sound and image, and stay focused despite being aware of one’s own image on the screen.
To counter this, sessions can be structured differently. For example, alternating moments of discussion face-to-camera with moments where you work on an exercise via screen sharing, or even moments where you turn off the camera to focus on a thinking task. Short but regular breaks can also be integrated.
Technical barriers and the digital divide
Not everyone is comfortable with technology. For some people, the mere idea of having to use new software can be a source of anxiety. A good practitioner must be pedagogical and patient. They can offer a short introductory session before the first appointment or send a simple illustrated guide. The important thing is to demystify the technological tool so that you can focus on what matters: your cognitive work.
Maintaining Motivation Without Physical Contact
The ritual of traveling to an office can itself be a motivating factor. At home, it may be more tempting to postpone or cancel a session. To maintain commitment, it is crucial to consider your online appointments with the same seriousness as an in-person appointment. Block the time slot in your calendar. Consistency is the engine of change.
Using tools like CLINT can also play a major role in maintaining motivation. Seeing your progress curves increase, unlocking new levels, or receiving encouragement from your coach via the app are all small positive reinforcements that fuel the desire to continue.
Measuring Progress and Sustaining Gains
The ultimate goal of any brain coaching is not to become a champion at the app’s exercises, but to transfer the skills acquired into your everyday life. This is where the true victory lies.
Qualitative Indicators: Daily Feelings
Measuring progress is not limited to numbers. It is also found in the changes you observe in your daily life. Your coach will encourage you to be attentive to these signs.
Here are some examples of qualitative and quantitative indicators:
- Qualitative Indicators (your feelings)
- Do you feel more comfortable speaking up in meetings?
- Do you find it easier to follow a conversation with multiple people?
- Do you spend less time searching for your keys or phone?
- Can you read a book for longer without your mind wandering?
- Quantitative Indicators (measurable data)
- Improvement in scores and response times on CLINT’s exercises.
- Number of times you managed to complete a work task without interruption.
- Increase in the number of articles you read in full each week.
Quantitative Data: Beyond Scores
The numerical data from tools like CLINT is valuable, but it must be interpreted intelligently. A drop in performance on a given day is not necessarily a sign of regression. It may be due to fatigue, stress, or a simple fluctuation. Your coach will help you analyze underlying trends rather than focusing on the result of a single day. The important thing is the overall trajectory.
Building Sustainable Autonomy
Remote brain coaching, when done well, should not create dependency. On the contrary, its goal is to make you autonomous. The coach is a bit like a driving instructor: at first, they are by your side at every moment, then they gradually let you take the wheel until the day you can drive safely on your own.
Thanks to the strategies learned and tools like CLINT that you can continue to use, you will have a real toolbox to maintain your cognitive health in the long term. You will know how to identify situations that pose problems and activate the right strategies to address them.
In conclusion, teleconsultation and remote brain coaching are much more than just an alternative to in-person sessions. It is a modality in its own right, with its own codes, its own tools, and its immense potential. By adopting the right preparation practices, relying on structuring tools like CLINT, and collaborating with a competent professional, you can transform the screen that separates you into an open window to new cognitive abilities.
As part of the article “Teleconsultation and Remote Brain Coaching: Best Practices,” it is interesting to consider the importance of cognitive games to stimulate the mind, particularly through digital platforms. A relevant article on this subject is Word and Letter Games to Stimulate Your Mind, which explores how these activities can be integrated into remote brain coaching programs to improve users’ cognitive abilities. These games offer a fun and effective approach to maintaining and developing brain functions, which is essential for a successful teleconsultation.