Newsletter
February 2008

Greetings and Happy ST. Patrick's Day to all members of BST and all interested in Biofeedback. Your Board of Directors met in Dallas on February 23 to continue working on the 2008 goals and conference. Our general goals for 2008 are:
  · Increase membership of BST both general and student.
  · Focus on fiscal responsibility .
  · Replace one member of the board
  · Have a great conference in 2008 in San Antonio

Those present at the meeting:
  J.D. Massingill, LPC, president
  Jana Downum, LPC, president-elect
  Pam White, LPC, treasurer
  Mary O'Connor, REEG/EPT, secretary
  Lora Chandler, LPC past-president,
  Natalie Thomas, LPC, board member and 2008 conference chairman
  Kathy Ropers, LPC, our newest board member
  Mardie Barnard, BST Administrative Assistant

In an effort to begin working on increasing the membership, Lora has begun contacting Universities. She has made contact and will be making a visit to talk with a professor and his students. Hopefully, she will be able to make contact with several more. If anyone knows of any Universities in Texas that are teaching Biofeedback, please contact Lora so she can work with them and you in getting them and their students interested in BST. Everyone of us who is now a member of BST, is a member because another member ask us to join them in something they were excited about. Get excited. Talk to your associates about BST. Get someone to join with you. Grow together in BST.

Our conference program chair, Natalie presented her report on her trip to San Antonio to contact hotels. The board approved her choice of the El Tropicana as the site for our 2008 conference. She has arranged for a room rate of only $95.00 a night. This is about $30 to $50 a night below market price for the fall season in SA. Pencil in October 30 thru November 2 as BST in SA. I am excited, but I am going to leave the rest for Natalie to tell you in the next newsletter.

After the final tally of the conference expenses and income by Pam White, BST treasurer, it was established that the 2007 conference had made over $3000. Jana and her conference committee did an outstanding job. This was the most profitable conference in several years. The turnout was good, the program was great and BST made some money. The conference being profitable goes a long way toward helping run the organization, but the membership dues are what pay the bills all year long. Without increased membership and returning members paying their dues it will be necessary to dip into the savings account to run the organization.

On behalf of the board of BST, I would like to personally thank the "Gold Star" members for upholding their commitment to BST by paying their 2008 dues. These members are listed in the upper left column.

If your name is not on the list, please send your 2008 dues to Mardie as quickly as possible. This board will be working hard to reach the goals set out in our meeting, but it is going to take the membership as a whole working together to really become successful.

J.D. Massingill, MS, LPC
BST President, 214-676-4784, oldfatcat@yahoo.com
Breathing Slowly Turns the World Smoothly;
Riding a Harley Makes It Worth It!

Dr. Vincent Monastra Shares ADHD Expertise in San Antonio

Having a plane delay is always problematic, but when you are the invited speaker and the rescheduling makes you an hour late for that lecture, inconvenient is too benign a word. Dr. Vincent Monastra had suggested channeling as a way around the difficulty, but we couldn't get synchronized.

Even though this beginning could have brought dubious results, Vince strolled into the spotlight unruffled and right on the mark to speak with families about "Parenting Children with ADHD: 10 lessons that medicine cannot teach" the evening of February 7, 2008 in San Antonio, TX. About 150 folks had endured the delay and were welcoming to Dr. Monastra who passionately explained the simple but not so obvious outcomes of improving diet, exercise and sleep for children with ADHD. He emphasized that there are many reasons that children have difficulty attending and it isn't always the immediate diagnosis of the disorder ADHD that is the cause. He told the assembly that the surest way of identifying ADHD is with a QEEG or quantitative EEG, the first step in initiating EEG Biofeedback, also a treatment for ADHD.

His energy was challenged after speaking for 3 hours to the entire group. But he was open to having attendees join him for coffee at Jim's, our local 24 hour coffee shop. About 12 participants and DrThe following afternoon, Dr. Monastra presented information with enthusiasm and candor as well as practical applications to teachers who wanted to "Bring Out the Best in Students with ADHD". On Saturday, an intimate group of health care practitioners spent 6 hours learning ways to "Unlock the Potential of Patients with ADHD" earning continuing education credits through Kenkou, Inc. the provider for Counselors, Social Workers and Psychologists. Besides the counseling professionals, the group of attendees also comprised medical doctors, various Neurofeedback practitioners, and other interested parties. He unveiled a clinical model that included both Neurofeedback training, parenting classes and social skills classes for the children and parents as ways to develop an effective multi-modal treatment plan. Participants came from Louisiana, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Kerrville, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio.

Vince Monastra has done ground-breaking research identifying Neurofeedback as an appropriate treatment for ADHD. Several new research projects are about to be launched by him, including a study on an appropriate method for early detection and treatment of ADHD involving Kindergarten age children and assessment through Neurofeedback..

This seminar series is being planned for 7 major cities throughout the country over the next 18 months. The format designed by Kenkou, Inc. will be the model for the rest of the programs. This is an effort to not only help families, schools, and health care practitioners to be better equipped to deal with ADHD clients, but also to inform the population about another option, EEG Biofeedback for treatment of ADHD. Dr. Monastra has published through American Psychological Association (APA) a new book that covers these same topics entitled, "Unlocking the Potential of Patients with ADHD: a Model for Clinical Practice". There are a few discounted copies still available through www.kenkou4u.com.

© Biofeedback Society of Texas, 2008  All rights reserved.