Overview of Clinical Biofeedback Certification by Prior Experience

This tutorial will help you understand BCIA's Certification by Prior Experience program and will cover:

1. Basic Information
2. Requirements
3. How to Navigate Through This Menu

Basic Information

Upon completion of these requirements, you will earn the designation Board Certified in Biofeedback or BCB™.

Biofeedback certification includes peripheral modalities such as EMG, temperature skin conductance, HRV, respiration training, and an introduction to neurofeedback.

Biofeedback certification is open only to licensed professionals from clinical health care areas including, but not limited to, psychology, nursing (includes all licensed RNs), counseling, and therapy who hold a degree from a regionally-accredited academic institution (an Accredited Institution of Postsecondary Education as determined by the American Council on Education).

Acceptable Degrees

BCIA-approved health care fields include: psychology, nursing (including 2-year registered nurses with license; not LVNs or LPNs), physical therapy, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, rehabilitation, chiropractic, recreational therapy, dental hygiene, physician's assistant (with certification or license), exercise physiology, speech pathology, sports medicine. The following fields require a master's degree: music therapy and counseling education (MEd in counseling). Appropriately-credentialed doctors of medicine and dentistry are also accepted. Degrees in health care fields other than those listed above must be submitted to the Certification Review Committee.

BCIA will consider requests for special review for the demonstration of equivalency for most of our requirements, including prerequisite education. However, degree review requests must be compared to a BCIA-approved clinical health care field. Degrees earned outside the United States must be translated and evaluated by an organization that is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) at www.naces.org.

Application

Candidates may file an application with a non-refundable $175 filing fee which must be paid at the time the application is submitted. Upon approval, the remaining $245 certification fee must be submitted.

Dual Certification

If this is your second BCIA certification (in addition to either the BCIA Neurofeedback or PMDB), the total fees for dual certification are $220.

Requirements

This opportunity is reserved for a select group of licensed professionals who can demonstrate extensive education and experience and have served as leaders through their various contributions to the field. We recognize that these professionals have education, training, and experience that goes beyond entry level and should be expected to fulfill requirements that go far beyond our traditional certification process.

Applications for BCIA Certification by Prior Experience are only for those licensed health care professionals who can demonstrate all of the following:

• License/Credential for independent practice - A current license/credential issued by the state in which you practice is required. This license/credential must be from one of the following clinical health care fields: psychology, medicine, dentistry, nursing (including 2-year registered nurses with license; not LVNs or LPNs), physical therapy, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, rehabilitation, chiropractic, recreational therapy, dental hygiene, physician's assistant (with certification or license), exercise physiology, speech pathology, or sports medicine.
• Accredited post-professional education - A minimum of 100 hours is required with courses that completely cover the 48-hours of BCIA Blueprint of Knowledge statements. The remaining 52 hours may be completed by a BCIA-approved continuing education venue in any blueprint area(s). We require that the majority of these hours be within the past 10 years. Accredited continuing education refers to: courses taken from regionally-accredited academic institutions, courses accredited by the national body of a BCIA-accepted health care profession (e.g., APA, AMA), or workshops given at the following recognized organization’s annual meetings: AAPB, BFE, and ISNR.
• 3,000 patient hours over at least 5 years - This requirement is to document relevant experience using any of the following biofeedback modalities: EMG, thermal, skin conductance, HRV, and/or respiration. This experience must be substantiated with your written statement of clinical practice and letters of recommendation that support your statement. Please refer to the samples of a written statement of practice and recommendation letter.
• Human anatomy/physiology coursework or other submission that formally demonstrates understanding the relation and function of bodily systems used in your specific biofeedback applications.
• Mentoring with another professional for at least 25 contact hours that demonstrates a formal guidance in learning the application of clinical skills.

Validation Exam

Upon approval of your application, you will have 1 year to make arrangements to take the written exam to be used for validation purposes. You may take the exam at any of the scheduled exam sites or may use the special exam option of an outside university or public library proctor for $100 for the paper/pencil or $25 for the online exam option. We are using your expertise to validate current and new exam items.

How to Navigate Through This Menu

Now that you have covered Basic Information and Requirements, you may review the Application, Application Instructions, Sample Statement of Practice and Letter of Recommendation, and Information and Fee Schedule.