April 2013
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AAPB Newsletter
FROM THE PRESIDENT
During this coming year we (and by "we" I mean all members of AAPB) have a series of challenges to meet if our society is to prosper and grow. Four of them are discussed here: (a) how to successfully reach beyond our membership to spread the word about biofeedback and our educational offerings, (b) how to design our powerful annual meeting so larger numbers of people can actually attend, (c) how we can grow graduate programs in psychophysiology and behavioral medicine so the field generates new clinicians and fresh research, and (d) how we can coordinate with ISNR to reduce duplication of efforts. 1. Getting the word out: AAPB is a miniscule group which spends much of its time and energy preaching to its own membership. AAPB has never successfully reached out to the huge masses of therapists, educators, and coaches who could use our techniques. Neither has AAPB ever successfully reached out to the vast numbers of people who have problems our techniques have been proven to help. This parallel failure must be corrected or we will simply die. If you think people know about our techniques, take a look at Consumer Reports huge surveys and you will quickly realize that we are non-entities pushing invisible interventions. Nobody reports using our techniques for even the most common problems. The optimal answer is to put our money and effort into a social media campaign such as the one I detailed when I ran for president. We can affordably reach the two audiences we need to reach. We can get our educational material out to clinicians, coaches, and educators through the social network and let them know that they can use techniques proven to work as well or better than medications for several conditions. We can let the people who can use our techniques know that they exist and that many are proven and accepted. Wes Sime has suggested that AAPB work with large organizations having interests similar to ours to provide parts of their programs related to psychophysiology and biofeedback. We tried this last year but it fell through. We'll put considerable effort into this idea throughout the year. 2. Making our terrific annual meeting accessible to masses of therapists and educators all over the world: Of course, only a tiny number of people come to our meetings! In this day and age, who can afford it? We have an international audience without the finances to come. Motivation to attend is especially low because so much of the material is already on the web. Not enough people attend AAPB's high quality meetings to make it worth the effort and expense to give them. Of course we are embarrassed when a high profile speaker gets nearly no attendees. These few are all of those attending the meeting who are interested in that topic and not watching some competing presentation. The optimal solution is to add a virtual meeting to the in-person meeting. Thanks to changes in programs such as "go to seminar" we can very affordably broadcast our entire meeting as a virtual image to the entire planet. People anywhere can register and attend each presentation, workshops, posters, etc. as well as the vendor's area. Our first try at this will be during the 2014 meeting. The board is still discussing whether to limit attendance to people outside the US to avoid compromising the minimal attendance we get. What do you think? 3. Developing graduate training programs in applied psychophysiology: As you are all aware, one of the reasons our field is in so much trouble is that there are few psychophysiology graduate students to do research and bring it forward to another generation. A key problem has been that there is no doctoral program in applied psychophysiology within a clinical psychology program at a regionally accredited university. Regionally accredited Saybrook University has an excellent doctoral program in behavioral medicine led by Don Moss and the unaccredited University of Natural Medicine has a psychophysiology doctorate. Neither are within the highly recognized field of clinical psychology. Graduates of our programs couldn't get licensed nor be assured of recognition by states and institutions. Many AAPB members who currently provide therapeutic services have not had a way to get a recognized degree which will permit them to practice clinically. A great step forward took place last month when Saybrook University agreed to open a distance-based doctoral degree in psychology with emphasis on psychophysiology. It is in the school of clinical psychology which can provide courses which have the potential to lead to licensure. Regardless of whether students desire licensure, they will graduate with a very well understood psychology degree from a well respected university having the highest type of academic accreditation - regional. Our next step is to show other universities that the degree is popular enough to warrant their opening similar programs. 4. The problem of coordination with ISNR: Name calling is all too easy here so I'll skip the history. During the past year, Jeff Bolek and I have made numerous attempts to work with ISNR's leadership. We have three key items in our agenda:
I encourage all of you to not only put forth your ideas, but to join our committees! We need lots of volunteers to put the above plans and others into action. Get in there and push from the inside! Please contact me at rsherman@nwinet.com to discuss these and any other matters. Rich Sherman
Webinar Recordings AAPB is bringing educational seminars to you - literally. Several Virtual Education webinars are currently available for purchase online. These webinars offer continuing education credits and the opportunity to gain cutting-edge knowledge from the comfort of your home or office. The credits you receive are approved by APA and satisfy the BCIA recertification requirements. Additionally, the credits may be used to maintain your license - a great value! Click here to visit the AAPB Store, and learn more about the following webinar recordings and purchase one today!
The AAPB Education Committee, chaired by Dr. Chris Gilbert, is working to develop its next series of webinars for the remainder of 2013 and 2014. As we develop our schedule, we would like to assess your time preferences - to determine what days of the week and times of day would be most convenient for those interested in attending - to ensure you can be a part of the live discussion and Q&A for webinar presentations. Please click here to add your time preferences.
We are looking for a capable and committed individual from within the AAPB community to help us revitalize and expand our social media networking and education efforts. Getting this initiative off the ground is very important to AAPB, and WE ARE WILLING TO PAY! A stipend of $1,500 is available in 2013. Please contact Michelle Cunningham at mcunningham@resourcenter.com if you are interested in learning more. Students are very welcome to apply! Please see below for a position overview. The goals of this project are to: 1) Enhance public awareness of applied psychophysiology and biofeedback and how it can help those who suffer from chronic migraines, are diagonosed with ADHD or have performance issues, and so much more. 2) Build practitioner networks for applied psychophysiology and biofeedback collaboration, discussion and resource sharing (member engagement and building synergistic relations with other professional groups) The responsibilities of this project will include: 1) Indentifying contributors, subject matter leaders, special interest groups for information sharing and network building purposes
Join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the following AAPB members and friends: Erik Peper Receives AAPB's 2013 Distinguished Scientist Award At the 2013 AAPB Annual Scientific Meeting, Dr. Erik Peper received the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback's (AAPB) 2013 Distinguished Scientist Award. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Dr. Peper has consistently applied his considerable gifts as a researcher, teacher and healer in service to the association, to the field of applied psychophysiology and, in service of the public interest. Dr. Peper's career spans nearly half a century of consistent contributions to all forms and modalities of physiological feedback. There are two main themes that thread through Dr. Peper's work. The first theme relates to discovering mechanisms underlying exceptional human abilities such as at-will control of brain wave activity, a feat that few practitioners have mastered even after many years of practice. This has been sensationally demonstrated by the extreme ofcontrolling pain reactions while passing metal skewers through the body. The second theme relates to uncovering better ways for people to become aware of problems, such as increasing a person's awareness of poor breathing habits or, unnecessary increases in muscle tension. He then teaches applying a protocol personalized by Dr. Peper for improving breathing or reducing muscle tension. Dr. Peper is an internationally known expert on biofeedback (applied psychophysiology), holistic health and stress management. He received his BA from Harvard University in 1968 and his PhD in psychology from Union Graduate Institute in 1975. Since 1976 he has taught at San Francisco State University (SFSU), where he was instrumental in establishing the Institute for Holistic Health Studies, the first program of its kind housed at a public university in the United States. The purpose of the AAPB Distinguished Scientist Award is to recognize an individual's outstanding career and their scientific contribution to biofeedback. This award acknowledges an AAPB member who has advanced biofeedback through a significant body of research conducted, as judged by publications, awards and peer reviews, and has made a major impact upon the field of study, both nationally and/or internationally. Nominees must hold a doctoral degree in a psychology, biomedical science, medicine, or other health-related field. Criteria for evaluation are: 1. Scientific importance of research discoveries Fred Shaffer Receives 2013 Truman Research Mentor Award Dr. Shaffer says, "Mentoring student research has been one of my most rewarding experiences as a Truman professor. Our research team has allowed me to participate meaningfully in the lives of some of our finest students and contribute to their development. Their companionship, alone, has been worth the price of admission. In addition, they have helped me grow as a mentor and explore questions that matter to our field. I look forward to the next 20 years!"
BCIA's Judy Crawford Receives AAPB's 2013 President's Award Judy has served BCIA for 15 years and is currently BCIA's Associate Executive Director. She has worked to mentor new professionals in the field; to help colleagues network with each other; to promote international certification; to create affordable, accessible continuing education opportunities; to introduce BCIA certification standards to the military; and to foster productive and collegial collaboration among diverse groups in our field. Judy received the Joel F. Lubar Award for Contributions to ISNR and the Advancement of Neurotherapy in 2011.
A Noteworthy New Book Published Submit Your Next Paper to Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Sign up for SpringerAlerts for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
Thank You for Making the 44th AAPB Annual Scientific Meeting a Success!
SAVE THE DATES - March 19-22, 2014 Important Details on Obtaining Your APA CE Verification Your CE certificate is the white copy of the form that you completed onsite at the Meeting. If you forgot to return the yellow copy of your form, please mail it to us at One Parkview Plaza, Suite 800, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 or email the PDF file to mfrost@resourcenter.com. The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. AAPB maintains responsibility for the program. Order Your 2013 AAPB Meeting Recordings Today To order:
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The Biofeedback Certification International Alliance Phone: (303) 420-2902 |
Fellow AAPB Members,
Dr. Fred Shaffer received the prestigious Research Mentor Award granted by Truman State University for his dedication and service to the student population. Dr. Shaffer received this award for exemplary service in mentoring 765 undergraduates from diverse majors (Biology to Literature), over the past 35 years. His mentees have presented 73 original studies at 21 Student Research Conferences and 23 professional meetings.
