By her mid-20s, medical professionals correlated Lynn DeLaurentis’ uncharacteristic aches and pains to old age. The prescription antidepressants and painkillers were just side effects of raising a family. Sleeping 16 hours a day was just because of the strain.

Often unable to finish sentences, and occasionally lost in daze, DeLaurentis tried to find help, one last time.

“I couldn’t take the painkillers because I was already sleeping too much. This life was not a life to live,” she told herself.

In search of relief, DeLaurentis came in contact with an alternative medicine doctor by the name of Samuel Verghese. According to New Jersey medical standards, there is no licensing board for “alternative medicine.” Dr. Verghese received his M.D.(AM) from Madurai University External Medical Degree Program and a PhD in psychology from the Cambridge Graduate School System in India.

After her first extensive visit, Verghese diagnosed her with Fibromyalgia.

Wanting to test the facts herself, DeLaurentis went online and says her “jaw dropped.”

Within six months of treatment at Verghese’s facility, Integrative Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic (Mont Laurel, NJ), the list of pains, aches, and symptoms that DeLaurentis had been keeping in her pocket, from doctor to doctor, disappeared. In that same time, DeLaurentis knew what she wanted to do with her career: to help people, like herself, experience joy again.

DeLaurentis is a certified Biofeedback specialist, has a Masters in professional counseling from Liberty University, VA, is a national certified counselor, and holds several other certifications related to working with trauma patients and eating disorders. She has been with the Integrative Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic for 10 years. Verghese has been treating clients in South Jersey, at various clinics, for over 40 years, starting his own clinic with James Claire (DO).

The clinic offers a unique Biofeedback Therapy program, which translates the body’s response to stressors such as nervousness, pain, ADD, ADHD, anxiety and other ailments, into a computational reading. The therapy allows the patient to witness the point where they react to stressors, in order to address both how they respond and what to do to remove the autonomic response.

“Things are typically spiraling out of control for people when they come to us,” DeLaurentis explained. “They’re set for the flight response when they should be calm. If they’re on edge all the time and have been there so long, they don’t know how to relax.”

The clinic also specializes in neurofeedback, a non-traditional approach to addressing brainwave activity to enhance attention, reduce impulsivity and hyperactive behaviors. The substantially researched technology has been in use since the 1970s, and within the last five years, has been used by Olympic athletes to fine-tune their skills through ‘zone-performance training.’ In addition to alternative strategies to handling stressors and conditions, the clinic also has on staff a nurse, nutritionists, massage therapists, and counselors.

The clinic recommends natural plant-based supplements to help the body promote healing for conditions often treated with traditional medications without the possible negative side effects. The body uses these plant-base supplements like food to promote proper organ function, body detoxification, and neuro and immune-modulation.

DeLaurentis began as receptionist at the clinic after encouragement and mentoring from Verghese, who saw her interest and potential as she healed and actively worked to understand all aspects of the clinic. She worked her way up, getting certified in Biofeedback, as well as in nutrition and counseling. What keeps her going is seeing the change in people who felt like change wasn’t possible.

“My highlight, isn’t any one thing,” DeLaurentis said. “It’s when someone follows the program and has success. When two to three months in, the intensity or how often the symptoms occur are dropping, there’s a real joy to that.”

DeLaurentis says that the clinic sees a lot of referrals from locally acclaimed medical institutions like Jefferson Headache Clinic, to treat people that do not respond to traditional healthcare.

When not working to ease the pain of others, DeLaurentis is committed to building and raising her family. She also enjoys her newfound love of Whitewater Kayaking — something she was unable to do before she received treatment from the clinic. Now in her third year of Kayaking, she continues her mission to help others by volunteering with the National Canoe Safety Control, on the Upper Delaware River.

Integrative Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic, 813 East Gate Drive, Suite B, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054. Call 888-661-2827 or visit BioFeedbackNJ.com.