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Recertification

Continuing Education

US, Australia and Canada - BCIA requires certificants to complete 48 hours of accredited continuing education (30 hours for Senior Fellows) across each 4-year period that their biofeedback or neurofeedback certification is valid.  All recertification applications require completion of a minimum of 3 hours of ethics or professional conduct course work and 10 hours of CE's SPECIFIC to your modality as part of the CE requirements. 

INTERNATIONAL OUTSIDE OF US, AUSTRALIA AND CANADA - Certificants are required to complete of 36 hours of blueprint- relevant, accredited CE (including hours of ethics) in the past 4 years. (Senior Fellows attest to 24 hours including 3 hours of ethics.) Ten percent of all recertification applications will be audited.  The candidate will be notified requesting a CE log with copies of proof of course completion to be submitted within 30 days.  If there is no response to our request for documentation, the application will be considered incomplete.  If an application is incomplete or withdrawn, the candidate will be given time to complete the requirements.  All fees are non-refundable.

CE hours must be completed before you submit the recertification application.

There are many ways to earn continuing education credits for recertification.  All courses must be accredited and blueprint relevant. BCIA uses the term accredited to refer to courses offered by universities who are regionally accredited, approved by a national professional health care organization such as the AMA, APA, etc., or BCIA accredited. Many professionals can use course work taken to maintain professional licensure if the content is relevant to the field of applied psychophysiology and biofeedback/neurofeedback.  Complete a log indicating all Continuing Education (CE) hours towards your recertification requirements. We recommend starting a file folder for your certificates of completion and use the Continuing Education CE log to help you keep track of the hours completed. 

 

BCIA Options:  There are several ways to gain continuing education.  BCIA offers several different options:

  • Reading selected articles and taking a short quiz.  Each completed quiz offers you 1 hour of accredited CE.  
  • BCIA Webinars:  There are 2 types of webinars:  The Clinical Update Series provides information on a specific topic of interest and provides 90 minutes of accredited CE for those who are looking for recertification credits.  The Mentoring webinars provide 90 minutes of accredited CE for those who are looking for recertification credits.  New applicants will earn 1 contact hour and 2 case study presentations toward their initial certification requirements. Please refer to this helpful FAQ page for more information. International attendees are eligible for reduced fees for live attendance or recorded webinars.  All countries are divided into 4 categories, based on the World Psychiatric Association's groupings.  
Webinar Recordings/Articles & Exams
  • Exam Item Writing - you may earn credit for authoring exam items that are tied to a source from the core reading list.  Each item must have a stem, 1 correct answer, and 3 distractors. Please use this form to transmit the exam items electronically to BCIA.  Each item submitted is worth .5 hours of CE and up to 20 hours for recertification may be completed in this way.
  • Completion of BCIA Certification Exam
  • Mentoring Candidates for Certification
Other Options Available:

  • MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses - these are free online courses, no not a typo, taught by some of the top university professors with a wide array of topics.  We have found several on human anatomy, neuroscience, etc. Please check to be sure that you will receive some proof of CE credit at the end.  We have learned that a few of the courses do not provide you with any proof of completion and we require some form of proof that the course was completed. Of particular notice are the following: 

               Let us know if you find some that were particularly helpful!

BCIA Accredited Didactic Training Programs:  Many of the accredited didactic training programs also offer short courses and workshops.  To review a list of the programs and visit their websites, please use the following links:

Membership Organizations:  Both AAPB and ISNR offer accredited CE at their annual meetings and both may offer the opportunity of purchasing recordings for any topics you may have missed.  AAPB, ISNR, NRBS and Florida Biofeedback Society offer webinars.

State/Regional/National Professional Associations:  Many of those organizations offer accredited CE to help you maintain licensure.  Should you find a course that is accredited by your licensing board and if the topic fits into the appropriate blueprint, this is an excellent way to gain CE for both your license and for your recertification.  How can you tell?  A course needs to fit two criteria:

  • The course must be accredited by a national professional organization such as the APA, a university or BCIA.
  • The course content must fit within the blueprint, but it does not necessarily need to be biofeedback-specific. Many people look for courses with Bio or Neurofeedback in the title. We will accept a course that discusses the diagnoses or symptoms you see such as migraines, pain, ADHD. Even if the course doesn't mention our field, you are learning valuable information about the latest research, the psychopharmacology, the impact on the family.

BCIA 3-Hour Ethics Requirement for Recertification

BCIA requires 3 hours of accredited course work in ethics/professional standards as part of the CE requirement for recertification.  The intent of this requirement is to continually learn how to ethically and competently provide your services.  These courses are not necessarily specific to bio or neurofeedback but they are very important to you as a health care professional. 

This category of education is quite broad and can include things like HIPAA, client confidentiality, record management, hygiene, etc.   Many of you who are licensed health care professionals or who work in a hospital setting may have already taken appropriate courses to maintain your license or as part of your employment contract.  They must be accredited by an outside body for you to be able to use them and they must have been completed within the timeframe of your recertification period.

There are many accessible and affordable methods to earn these hours:

  • Accredited course work offered by your regional or national professional organization
  • Accredited university based courses
  • Accredited course work offered by professional CE providers
  • BCIA accredited didactic trainers may offer the blueprint content as an ala carte course.
  • MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses
  • State/Regional Biofeedback Association conferences
  • Annual meetings of the professional membership bodies such as AAPB and ISNR
  • BCIA offerings such as selected magazine articles with exams and webinars, live or recordings

It is up to you to decide what course best fulfills your needs and is most accessible and affordable.  For more recertification information please CLICK HERE.

Progressive Recertification: Certificants recertify every 4 years and advance in the following order:

  • Certificant
  • Associate Fellow
  • Fellow
  • Fellow 2
  • Senior Fellow

Recertification Fees in Biofeedback, Neurofeedback, PMDB and HRV Certification:

Dates and Fees: 

  • January 1 - June 30: $225
  • July 1 - October 31: $250
  • After November 1: $275

Your certification remains valid through the end of the year, however, BCIA is offering you a price break for filing your application early.  Your new certificate will not be mailed to you until early September to avoid the possibility of loss.

Please note if you are currently certified in more than one area (Biofeedback and Neurofeedback or HRV-Biofeedback and PMDB, each recertification fee is reduced by $25.

  Application for Recertification