President's Blog - January 2017

SBSM Promotion of Member Professional Activities

As a part of its mission, the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine (SBSM) seeks to support the professional growth and activity of its members. To that end, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors have established the following guidelines for SBSM promotion of member professional activities and training.

Guidelines:

At the request of members, the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine will post information regarding member professional announcements, activities, and events. All requests are subject to review and approval by the SBSM Executive Committee. The following activities are eligible for submission:

1. Training, faculty and clinical positions;
2. BSM clinical supervision and consultation opportunities;
3. Educational classes, seminars and workshops offering review of research, training in evidence-based practice, and symposia, discussion groups or other activities that seek to advance the field;
4. Publication of BSM scientific or clinical books and manuals.

Activities within these categories upon review will be placed on the SBSM website, noted in the SBSM newsletter, posted on Facebook and/or announced via email to our network of communities. The SBSM typically will announce or post items with a header, brief description and a link provided by the member for more detailed information. The SBSM does not release or distribute its mailing lists to members or third parties. Members may elect to opt out the receipt of these promotions by contacting the SBSM at membership@behavioralsleep.org.

If a member wishes to have the SBSM post information about a position, professional activity or event, please contact the SBSM Executive Director, Kathryn Hansen at kathryn@behavioralsleep.org. Please provide a detailed summary of position postings or clinical/educational offering. All position postings must include an application deadline.

President's Blog - December 2016

Greetings to all SBSM members

This year has been marked by tremendous change and transition for our small young society whose great strength is its members. In nearly six months as your president I have seen among you a great passion for our field, a drive for innovation and excellence, and a strong desire for greater professional community and connection. In the coming year and beyond we will need to continue to engage that energy as we create a strategic plan to define who we are as a society chart a course with goals for the next five years.

For this year, we’ve focused on the fundamentals – ensuring financial stability as we transitioned away from our administrative relationship with the AASM, improving communication and engagement with members, and supporting our committees around efforts members have said are a value to them – certification, education, practice resources, and a website that is more useful and user-friendly.

Here’s a few exciting highlights that reflect a focus on some of these fundamentals.

  • Stable and growing membership – With one month left in 2016 we have already seen an 8% growth in membership this year over 2015 (currently 257 members)
  • High level of direct involvement - 54 of our members actively involved in our board, committees and task forces with numerous others volunteering their time in a consulting role to support the growth of our society.
  • Launch of a media strategy workgroup, facebook page, blog, and newsletter soon to come. Click here to Like us on Facebook 
  • Support for your career with online practice tools, resources and new guidelines to promote member professional activities. Click here for News and Resources
  • As we plan for an expanded BSM course in 2017, the launch of online BSM learning modules. Click here to check out courses available for purchase online
  • Lastly, the work of our BSM Certification Task Force is well underway. In a forthcoming direct communication to members I will discuss the substantial opportunities, challenges and progress surrounding this endeavor and elicit your feedback as we chart our course.

As always, please offer your feedback, comments and suggestions to membership@behavioralsleep.org or visit the suggestion box in the member's portal to submit your feedback 

Best regards,

Mike

SBSM Launches BSM Blog and Rollout of Media Strategy

I am excited to welcome you to the launch of the BSM Blog. This is one of many efforts underway and under construction for SBSM members to connect with each other and the public. I want to give a shout out to our Web and Communication Committee and our administrative team for their efforts. The blog will feature regular posts providing updates on SBSM news, events, information and BSM topics of interest to our members.

With the help of Kelly Baron and Michael Grandner, the SBSM has also begun to roll out a media strategy in the past few months, including setting up a speakers bureau, developing press releases and social media. We are pleased to announce the SBSM Facebook page is up and active. We are excited to be able to use the page to share research and clinical topics when they are hot off the press, highlight the great work of our members, and interact in real time.

Facebook - Like Us TodayHere's a few ways you can help grow our SBSM social media presence:

  • Like our Facebook page!
  • Encourage your friends and colleagues interested in sleep to like our page
  • Share our articles on your own page and comment on articles posted on our page
  • If you or a SBSM member is quoted in the press, post the article to the page and tag them 

I believe these tools are an essential part of increasing dialogue within our society. They also serve to amplifying the voice of the SBSM within sleep medicine and the general public about the value of your work.

The annual BSM course recently held in Minneapolis was a great success. We had 100 participants nearly tripling last year’s attendance. We are eager to hear from you about topics you would like the course to address in 2017.

The 2015 BSM course presentations will soon be available as webinars on our website followed shortly by 2016 course offerings.

Looking to SLEEP 2017 in Boston, planning is already underway for the SBSM reception with expanded opportunities to learn, dialogue and socialize together as colleagues.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions for the blog please let us know at membership@behavioralsleep.org

Let's stay connected!

Mike Schmitz
SBSM President