The Good Neuron

The Good Neuron Evidence-based mental wellness for real people with real lives. Mindset shifts & psychoeducation so you can feel more grounded, kind to yourself, and connected.

(Oh, and NCMHCE tips and tricks for counselors because even helpers need help sometimes) My name is Hannah Salazar, the owner and founder of The Good Neuron. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida and a Certified K-12 School Counselor as well as Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio. I specialize in neurodevelopmental disorders and pediatric mental health. I am also a mom and a military spouse. I have a passion for helping others succeed as well as advocating for the mental health space. Follow along for tips & tricks for the NCMHCE and my random babblings about the mental health field with everyday mom things thrown in. Looking forward to meeting you!

04/10/2026

Let’s talk verbal vs. non verbal communication and the mental status exam.

Nonverbal communication is about 90% of overall communication (facial expressions, gestures 55%, vocal tone 38%). Whereas actual words only constitute 7% (stats taken from Univ of TX). As clinicians, it is vitally important we understand the use of tools such as the mental status exam when meeting with clients. A thorough MSE can highlight functional impairments we otherwise would dismiss as normal human behavior or behaviors that we are accustomed to depending on our background. The categories like appearance, cognitions, speech, eye contact, affect, mood, etc... all help us to understand what our client may be experiencing. Then, that can inform our treatment protocols.

We also listen for:
-patterns
-contradictions
-emotional shifts
-avoidance

What’s not said is often where the most important work is.

——

Hi!! If you’re new here my name is Hannah Salazar and I’m a licensed mental health counselor in Florida and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Ohio. I specialize in neurodevelopmental disorders. I also have helps hundreds of clinicians pass their licensing exams (looking at you NCMHCE); as well as provided coaching on test anxiety.

I am also a mom & military spouse. Follow along if you want to learn more about “how to therapist” and complex psychological concepts (I nerd out from time to time🤪). So glad you’re here!!

04/01/2026

Two therapists. Same client. Different conceptualizations. That doesn’t mean one is wrong.

It means therapy is:
• interpretive
• theory-driven
• shaped by the clinician

This is why memorizing techniques won’t make you a strong clinician, buuut clinical reasoning will.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between two “good” answers (in real life or the NCMHCE)…this is why.

What theory do you find aligns better with you as a clinician? I personally love ACT, but also pull from CBT, play therapy, and behavioral when needed!

03/31/2026

What would you add to the ACA code of ethics? 👀

This is a great time to get involved and let your voice be heard! My personal opinion is that we need to have safeguards around A.I use in mental health care. We need to figure out how to work with it and not against it because, well, it’s not going away anytime soon.

Let me know in the comments!!💬

03/29/2026

Hiii!

So things have been wild over here but we’re making it! Being a military spouse is not something I often share on here but this deployment has been the toughest deployment and I’ve had days where I have not been okay. That’s okay to say because we all have days where it’s okay to not be okay. Thankfully things are looking much better now even if my husband’s deployment is extended. We are getting back into a normal routine over here. I am still seeing tutoring clients, but just kind of got thrown off my kilter for a little bit.

In other news, I will be stopping tutoring completely by the end of April unfortunately. We are gearing up to move overseas to Japan and I just have a lot of things going on that I have to focus on for that move. There will still be study guides, there will still be videos about the test, but just the live Zoom sessions will stop.

Let me know what you guys have been up to! I’d love to hear from you guys and see kind of where you’re at with your studying or if you need me to go over anything, just let me know! 🫶🫶

02/27/2026

What do you guys wanna see!? Help a girl out lol. I don’t wanna change the theme of this page but I also will have a completely new life pretty soon! Being a military spouse, I feel like we make new lives a hundred times and moving forward with the change is such a learning curve/process.

So, let me know in the comments 💬🫶🏼

02/27/2026

Paraphrasing and summarizing are not interchangeable skills. Let’s break it down.

Here’s the difference in plain terms:

Paraphrasing = restating ONE idea the client just said.
It’s immediate. It’s concise. It stays close to the client’s exact content.

Summarizing = pulling together MULTIPLE themes across time. It connects patterns and often shows up at transitions or before moving into treatment planning. It also uses direct quotes and words from the client.

NCMHCE Test tip:
If the answer choice reflects a single recent statement → think paraphrase.
If it weaves together several concerns → think summarization.

The NCMHCE is both knowledge and application. Learning into the “how/why” of things helps a ton!

What skill is challenging for you? Which one should I break down next? 💬 let me know in the comments!

Also, yes, my coffee cup is a paid actor.

02/18/2026

Alright, pull up a chair. Let’s talk confidentiality in couples counseling. Now, I’m not a couples counselor but I have worked with couples and families before. I dug into the actual ACA code of ethics to give you guys a breakdown. According to them, couples are considered a multi-client situation.

That means:

• Your primary responsibility is to both partners
• You must clarify who the client is
• You must define who holds privilege
• You must explain how records are accessed
• You must state your policy on secrets before treatment begins (intake)

The ACA does not require a “no secrets policy.”

But it does require that you clearly explain your policy in informed consent (A.2.a, A.8.b, B.4.b).

If you don’t clarify this upfront, and one partner discloses something privately, you could be an ethical issue.

✨ Clinicians — do you use a no-secrets policy? Why or why not?

Also, what setting should I do next? 👀

Confidentiality with minors can be a bit complex given the setting of where the therapy takes place. As a licensed ment...
02/13/2026

Confidentiality with minors can be a bit complex given the setting of where the therapy takes place. As a licensed mental health counselor that specializes in working with pediatrics, I have almost seen it all. I have also worked in various settings where confidentiality leans itself to new expectations and rules. It can be tough.

In therapy with minors, the minor is the client. But parents or guardians typically hold legal rights to treatment decisions and records.
That creates a delicate balance between:

• Protecting the child’s therapeutic trust
• Respecting parental rights
• Following state law
• Prioritizing safety

Session details can often remain private to preserve the therapeutic alliance/rapport…unless there is risk of harm, abuse, or a legal mandate requiring disclosure.

The key is practicing ethically within the law while being transparent from the very beginning.

If you’re a clinician: set expectations clearly at intake.
If you’re a parent: confidentiality supports honest, effective therapy.
If you’re studying for the NCMHCE: safety + law + clinical judgment will guide the best answer.

Ethics is allll about informed balance.

What would you add!? Let me know in the comments 💬

02/10/2026

Let’s talk confidentiality in different settings! Confidentiality changes by setting, and EAP counseling is one of the most misunderstood. Given that agencies may do things a little bit differently according to their policies, take all of this as more generalized information. There’s a lot of nuance-y type of things that may happen..but in general, this is what I’d important and expected.

- Session content stays private
- Employers receive limited administrative info
- Standard legal/ethical limits still apply
- Management referrals = specific, consent-based disclosures

tip: Always ask who is the client and who receives information because they’re not always the same.

02/01/2026

Black-and-white thinking (or all-or-nothing thinking) is a cognitive distortion in CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, that increases during stress, anxiety, trauma, and burnout.

When the nervous system is activated, the brain prioritizes certainty and speed, not flexibility.
This temporarily quiets anxiety…but at the cost of flexibility, problem-solving, and self-compassion. Our brains are always trying to problem solve, sometimes at the cost of other systems.

This pattern is adaptive, learned, and reversible…you just gotta teach your brain!
Also, say prefrontal cortex a few times in a row because my brain almost couldn’t 🤣🤣

Which one should I do next!?
•
•
•
As always, this is for psychoeducation only. As always, IG ≠ therapy.

01/30/2026

Cognitive distortions are automatic thought patterns that skew how we interpret situations. Think of them as bringing us data, not automatic truths.

Common distortions include:
• All-or-nothing thinking
• Catastrophizing
• Mind reading
• Emotional reasoning
• Overgeneralization
• “Should” statements
• Labeling and personalization

When left unexamined, these thinking patterns can increase anxiety, depression, and avoidance behaviors.
In CBT, the goal is to think more accurately vs “positively. “

Which ones should I compare or go deeper into!? Let me know in the comments 💬

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