June, 7 1999

Dear Colleague:

In lieu of a newsletter we are currently using "update letters" to keep you informed regarding the activity of the BSI board and what you can look forward to. As we communicated in our last letter we are on a mission to revitalize BSI by expanding it’s focus beyond membership continuing education to include other important professional interests. I am currently leading these efforts as your 1999 BSI president and am pleased to communicate our progress.

The following goals were the result of many hours of board meetings in attempt to define BSI’s current interests:

• Provide one annual meeting per year instead of two.
• Improve communication between consumers, professionals and BSI. (current voice-mail, e-mail)
• Revitalize our phone based referral system for the benefit of our members and consumers.
• Utilize committees with membership representation to reduce demands on BSI board.
• Promote exposure of biofeedback therapy through various media avenues.
• Forge relationships with other IL state professional organizations.
• Develop a public education program.
• Develop a BSI web site.

Due to the variety of ways that a web site can fulfill our interests we have contracted RGB Computing, a software development consulting firm, for the creation of a BSI web site. A web site can serve as the primary resource for communication to the public and to our members. It will allow us to disseminate information efficiently and to a broader population. It will allow us to upgrade our referral capabilities and provide the membership with a special business service they can tap into. In addition, the medium is capable of providing interesting and stimulating public education. It can also promote greater networking and partnering between the varied disciplines in the biofeedback field. The possibilities are endless, and therefore we have concluded that it is a very important initiative for us. We feel this will provide you with improved member services and also an avenue for educating the public and promoting the viability of biofeedback.

I am also very pleased to inform you that AAPB’s current president, Ian Wickramasekera, PhD will be our speaker for the 1999 Fall Meeting, at Loyola Medical Center, on October 16,1999. Due to his commitment to visit AAPB chapters this year and our interest in providing a millenium perspective, we feel he is an ideal presenter. Dr. Wickramasekera was BSI’s first president and therefore can give us and other interested professionals a rich historical perspective on the evolution of biofeedback therapy. His own clinical interests and research in somatization, the placebo effect, and integrating applied psychophysiology and biofeedback with primary and complimentary care have helped pave the road for biofeedback’s utility in the new millenium.

We are planning to attract not only biofeedback providers but also primary care physicians, and other complimentary care providers interested in why applied psychophysiology and biofeedback should be used for treating somatoform disorders. His presentation will also be of interest to mental health professionals who desire updating on the concept of somatization, and how psychotherapy can be forged with primary and complimentary care. We urge you to bring a colleague or a referring physican with you so we may truly promote the concept of integration. In addition we are hoping to provide you with a panel during the lunch hour that represents current integrative and complimentary medicine efforts in the Chicago area. Mark your calendars now for the annual BSI Fall meeting, October 16, 1999.

We hope to have the initial phase of the web site up and running by the end of June and will be advertising the Fall conference there. We will be including complimentary referral service for all 1999 members until the end of the year. An additional fee will be required beginning in the year 2000. We will use the "update form" information from you as your initial referral data. If you do not want to be included on the web site referral listing you will need to contact me ASAP via voice mail at 630-469-5447.

Please let us know what you think regarding our current efforts and especially let us know if you can assist us in accomplishing our goals.

Sincerely,

Valerie Butter Braschel, MS, BCIAC, Fellow
President, Biofeedback Society of Illinois