Continuing Education Credit and Certification

and Professional Organizations

Quality Assurance: When you take a CE course, how do you know that its content is any good?

Don’t take the instructor’s or organization’s word that the course is good!

Look for independent evaluation of the program, courses, and instructors.                      The program: The Foundation’s program has been evaluated for quality by national and state level organizations such as the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and California’s Boards of Behavioral Sciences and Psychology. 

             The courses: Most of the Foundation’s courses have been evaluated for content and quality of presentation by national and state level organizations such as the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA), California’s Board of  Psychology, NBCC, and the California Physical Therapy Association.

              The instructors: The Foundation’s instructors are recognized as highly competent by their academic and clinical peers who promoted them academically, selected them for competitive grants (from NIH, the VA, the military, and private organizations), and accepted their publications in high quality, peer reviewed  journals.

CEUs:

The Foundation is a continuing education organization rather than an accredited college. Thus, you can get CEU credit for taking our courses through continuing education organizations within your field but we do not give course credits which would transfer directly to most regionally accredited colleges.

You can earn CEUs from us by:

a. taking our distance education courses,
b. buying our books then answering  questions about what you read,
c. taking our "hands-on" training, and
d. attending our talks.

Our courses are approved for continuing education credit by:

       the State of California's board of Psychology

       the State of California's board of Behavioral Sciences

       the California Physical Therapy Association

       the National Board of Certified Counselors

       and other groups

Psychologists, Counselors, Physical Therapists, and members of most other professions should be able to get CE credits for our courses if the organization which grants your CE credits is one of the above or accepts CEUs approved by these organizations. We are always willing to work with a professional purchasing one of our courses to help him or her get CE credit.

Certifications in Biofeedback and Applied Psychophysiology:

There are two certifications you may be interested in. On is a clinical certification in biofeedback provided by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA) which certifies that you meet minimum criteria in how to perform clinical biofeedback in either general biofeedback, EEG biofeedback, or muscle related pelvic floor dysfunctions. The second is an academic certification provided by the Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation called the Certificate of Professional Studies in Clinical Psychophysiology which certifies that you have in depth (as opposed to minimal) education in applied psychophysiology (as opposed to clinical biofeedback). One is a clinical certification used to show patients, credentialing boards, and licensing boards that you know how to do biofeedback while the other is an academic certification for academic promotion, credentialing boards, etc.

Work toward BCIA Clinical Certification & Recertification:

Certification as having the basic skills needed to perform biofeedback based interventions is important to establishing credibility with clients, insurance companies, schools, hospitals, etc. Being in a profession which includes biofeedback as a sub-specialty does not provide evidence that a particular provider actually has the required expertise so certification is still important. The major biofeedback certifying organization is the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA). They have certifications in (a) general biofeedback, (b) neurofeedback, and (c) pelvic muscle dysfunction biofeedback. In general, for certification in one of the above areas they require (1) a course in the area of certification (such as our “general biofeedback” course for the general biofeedback certification and our “behavioral interventions for pelvic floor disorders” course for the pelvic muscle dysfunction certification), (2) a college level course in anatomy & physiology (which requirement is met by our distance based A&P course), (3) about ten hours of experience being a simulated subject so you learn to do biofeedback yourself, (4) hours of mentoring through your first few subjects, and (5) a knowledge based qualifying exam. Our “hands-on” training fulfills the requirements for being a subject while our distance based mentoring fulfills the requirements for mentoring through your first few subjects. You need to work in-person with a certified practitioner to get experience performing biofeedback based interventions for pelvic floor disorders.

Please look at BCIA’s web site (www.bcia.org) for specific requirements. You can also phone them at 303-420-2902.

Our courses are approved for certification and recertification by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA).

- Our General Biofeedback course is the course BCIA requires for certification in general biofeedback.

- Our EEG Biofeedback (neurofeedback) course is the one BCIA requies for certification in EEG biofeedback.
- Our Behavioral Assessments and Interventions for Pelvic Floor Disorders course contains the information required for certification in .
- Our Anatomy and Physiology course meets BCIA’s requirements for an A&P course for certification in general biofeedback, pelvic muscle dysfunction biofeedback, and neurofeedback.
- Our other courses can usually be used for credit toward recertification.

Certificate of Professional Studies in Clinical Psychophysiology:

The Foundation offers a Certificate of Professional Studies in Clinical Psychophysiology to clinicians taking six of our core courses and receiving mentored experience performing behavioral interventions.
This certificate can be a very valuable way to provide evidence of solid training in psychophysiological techniques and biofeedback. The certificate lists the courses taken, the number of hours of training in each, and the major topics in which training was provided. The training required for the certification goes well beyond that required for certification in biofeedback by organizations such as the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA) as it demonstrates a far greater depth of knowledge and covers a broader spectrum of behavioral interventions than only biofeedback. This is an academic certification of knowledge rather than a clinical practice certificate such as BCIA’s biofeedback certification.

The courses which need to be taken for the certificate are: (1) Biological basis of behavior (Introduction to psychophysiology), (2) General biofeedback (psychophysiological assessment and intervention), (3) Anatomy and physiology for behavioral clinicians, (4) Hands-on training in basic psychophysiological instrumentation, (5) Individual training experience in biofeedback, and (6) either (a) Pain assessment and intervention or (b) Assessment and Treatment of Pelvic Floor Disorders. Clinicians who have already taken an equivalent course to any of the above may substitute one of the Foundation’s other courses for the one already taken. People wanting to take the certificate must be appropriately trained and credentialed clinicians. The certificate is not granted until the student also attains a minimum of 12 contact hours of mentored, hands on behavioral interventions with patients in specific categories depending on which courses are taken. The mentor must be physically present for all 12 hours. This training need not be provided by the Foundation’s staff but the trainer must have credentials and experience acceptable to the Foundation. Foundation staff are sometimes available to provide group training at clinicians’ own facilities.

Students taking the certificate save $100 on each course (A total savings of $600). The certificate program costs $2,350. When provided by Foundation staff, the mentoring costs $1,200 (plus all travel expenses) above the cost of the certificate courses.

Professional Organizations in Biofeedback and Psychophysiology:

The main professional organization in biofeedback and psychophysiology is the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (BCIA). This is an open membership organization for anybody interested in biofeedback and applied psychophysiology. They have an incredibly informative web site (www.aapb.org), a professional journal, a newsmagazine, and annual meetings. See the web site for details.

ISNR is a professional organization which concentrates on neurofeedback / EEG biofeedback. They have a journal, a web site (www.isnr.org), a newsletter, and annual meetings. See their web site for information.