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Biofeedback training can support your personal goals for mindfully and skillfully responding to daily stressors.

In-person biofeedback training is available as community health conditions allow; remote biofeedback training options are also available.

What does Whitebear Biometrics offer?
Whitebear Biometrics offers consulting and training using biofeedback principles and instruments for building enhanced self-awareness and attention skills. 

Biofeedback is a learning process…

Because biofeedback is a learning process, repeated practice is needed to reach your self-regulation goals. Typical training periods range from 2 to 6 months of weekly or biweekly biofeedback sessions. Your learning rate can be enhanced by home practices which will be recommended depending upon your personal goals and schedules.

Individuals in need of medical or mental health services are referred to practitioners in those fields.

What is Biofeedback?

Aspects of our physiology, such as heart rate, brain electrical activity, or respiration chemistry, are collected and displayed on a computer screen. This information allows us to become directly aware of, and then change, the physiologic function being monitored. The instruments give auditory or visual feedback which provides guidance toward more efficient functioning. Over time, these changes are learned and can be practiced in daily life.

Biofeedback can also be understood as technology-assisted self-regulation. In order to change or regulate a behavior or learn a new skill we need to know where to start. Biofeedback instruments offer us a “mirror” and this improved self-awareness is then paired with opportunities for supported practice of the desired skill.

Biofeedback is an interactive process of direct learning in which your own physiological information — such as muscle tension, brainwave activity, or blood flow — is picked up by sensors placed on the body, then fed back to you via images and sounds presented on a computer or other biofeedback instrument.

Biofeedback applies the fundamental principles of learning through a combination of processes known as associative learning and operant conditioning. That is, by immediately presenting you with information that confirms when you have performed a behavior you are trying to learn, biofeedback enhances your ability to repeat that behavior. Examples include learning to calm your autonomic nervous system through temperature biofeedback or enhancing your ability to sustain relaxed attention by practicing that skill using brainwave biofeedback. With repeated practice, the skill becomes learned and can be called upon as needed.

In brief, biofeedback instruments are safe, sensitive electronic/digital devices that monitor physiological processes and mirror them back to you to support learning.

What is the process for engaging in biofeedback training?

Biofeedback training with Whitebear Biometrics begins with an initial Consultation during which we meet face to face ( or over Zoom or Skype) to discuss training options available through our office, review your personal history, answer your questions, and determine if biofeedback training through Whitebear Biometrics is a good fit for your personal goals.

Depending on your history and your goals for biofeedback training, a more Comprehensive Assessment may be completed to provide baseline data and to determine which biofeedback approaches might best support your learning goals. Additional assessments may include checklists, respiration patterns, heart rate variability, hand temperature, skin conductance, and brainwave activity at rest and in response to simple tasks.   

If you decide to pursue biofeedback, a personalized biofeedback training plan will be developed by combining the initial Consultation and Comprehensive Assessment information.

Note: If your personal history warrants, a QEEG (Quantitative Electroencephalography) brainmap may also be needed. This additional assessment consists of recording your EEG using a 19 channel cap; that EEG data is provided to a QEEG service that provides a report describing how your EEG compares to other people your age, and includes recommendations for what forms of biofeedback are likely to be most beneficial for you. 

The biofeedback instrumentation and approaches used at Whitebear Biometrics include assessment and training in the modalities briefly described below:

In-Office Trainings:

• pIR HEG (passive infrared hemoencephalography) teaches you to activate the prefrontal area of your brain to strengthen memory, self-regulation and attention skills.
• Capnometry provides a breathing chemistry profile for use in developing a personalized breath training program
• Brainwave Biofeedback/Neurofeedback pairs real-time reflections of brainwave activity (EEG; electroencephalogram) with “rewards” when frequency bands associated with desired mental states are produced (e.g., 12-15 Hz for relaxed attention or 16-20 Hz for overall mental energy/alertness)
• Electrodermal Activity (EDA) reflects variations in autonomic nervous system functioning and supports self awareness and learning

Remote Training:

Biofeedback modalities that can be supported remotely through Whitebear Biometrics include Skin Temperature training, Respiration training, and Heart Rate Variability training (HRV).  Remote EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback) training may be available in some instances if sufficient assessment data can be gathered (e.g., if you have used this modality previously).

There are a variety of home-use biofeedback instruments available on the market at this time and you may choose to do independent practice (see links below for content to support independent practices). Remote support with Whitebear Biometrics can support you in gaining the most from your own biofeedback equipment.  In some cases, biofeedback instruments can be leased from Whitebear Biometrics.  More information about purchasing and using home-based biofeedback approaches can be found on this website.

• Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a marker of general health/wellness and is also associated with emotional and cognitive flexibility and resiliency. HRV is often paired with
• Respiration Training
• Skin Temperature biofeedback training, promotes blood flow to the periphery of the body to support flexible responding to daily stressors

What are the investment costs?

Service	Time	Remote	In-Person
Initial Assessment Consultation	30-min	$25	$25
Comprehensive Assessment with Report	90 to 120-min	not available	$110
QEEG Recording	45 to 50-min	not available	$100
Capnometry	45 to 50-min	not available	$60
QEEG Interpretation Report		not available	@$400 depending on evaluation services needed
Biofeedback Training	45 to 50-min	$45	$80
Package of 10 Training Sessions	45 to 50-min/per	$350	$700
Re-Assessment Reports		$60	$60

Independent – or – Supported Practice

If you find that Independent Practice does not meet your needs, I am available for Supported Practice sessions by phone or video call (sliding scale to meet your budget). Depending upon your goals, an assessment process may be helpful in fine tuning your practice program.

Learn more about biofeedback:

Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA): http://www.bcia.org
International Society for Neurofeedback & Research (ISNR): http://www.isnr.org
Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB): http://www.aapb.org