Workshop - Dr. Sue Wilson

Peak Performance Master Class
Dr. Vietta Sue Wilson
2-day Workshop
25 April | 26 April

In this 2-day sports master class, Dr. Wilson shares a wealth of knowledge and experience garnered over her career in sport psychology.

Dr. Wilson will focus on the commonalities of having to perform when under pressure - be it a critical decision at work, a competitive event or a life challenge.  She will review the basic psychophysiological assessment and transfer skills she has acquired across a lifetime that have been applied to Olympic champions, business executives, counselling clients and individuals facing terminal cancer, such as:

• What attitude (of the coach and client) is most productive? 
• What psychophysiological modality has the most impact (emg, eda, hr, hrv, temperature)? 
• What brain state is most disruptive or facilitative of performance: focus, anxiety, busy brain? 
• What coaching style and practical skills beyond your office can benefit your clients? 

She will introduce three daily practice skills (think, breathe, image) and will discuss simple takeaways from helping people perform.  In addition, some of the 'miracle cures' and 'fabulous flops' will be shared.

About Sue Wilson, PhD
BCIA Senior Fellow (biofeedback, neurofeedback) Senior Scholar, York University, Toronto,Canada

Sue Wilson is a world renowned Performance Enhancement Specialist considered by many to be the "grandmother" of biofeedback in sport. She has dedicated much of her career to researching the connection between stress and its effect on physical health and mental performance.  Her acknowledged expertise is in the teaching of brief skills, validated by psychophysiology,  to allow individuals to perform to their capabilities.

Sue Wilson is a retired professor from York University with a Lifetime Achievement award from the Biofeedback Foundation of Europe. Her teaching and research was in sport psychology and learned self-regulation. Sue has worked with top executives and over 50 world or Olympic athletes from 1976 to Rio 2016. The software and training courses she developed for the BFE's Optimizing Performance and Health Suite are distributed worldwide. She also does mentoring for other biofeedback based clinicians.  Sue is currently providing mental training for Canada's Paralympic archers as well as two tennis clubs and individual athletes from gymnastics to hockey to figure skating.

Workshop - Dr. Leah Lagos

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback for Post-Concussion Syndrome
Dr. Leah Lagos
1-day Workshop
28 April

This one-day workshop is for health professionals and researchers who want to learn a theoretical rationale and clinical protocol for implementing Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Biofeedback (BFB) as a treatment for Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS).  The hands on, guided tutorial, will teach clinically useful skills for restoring autonomic imbalance, reducing PCS symptoms, and engaging the body’s natural healing processes for recovery from concussion.  Case examples, based on over a decade of Dr. Lagos’ clinical and research experiences, will be presented.  Specialized issues such as treating patients who present with co-morbid symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and PCS will be addressed.

• Explain the relationship between Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Post Concussion Syndrome
• Describe the current science and rationale for applying HRV Biofeedback (BFB) to PCS patients
• Identify the features of a ten session protocol for PCS including equipment, homework, and an overview of training
• Learn a combination of biofeedback and cognitive behavioral skills to help PCS patients reduce somatic symptoms
• Describe the general trajectory of improvement if patient participants in ten consecutive weekly sessions and complies with two, twenty-minute, at home daily breathing practices
  Identify two forms of assessments for evaluating patient’s health at onset of training as well as measuring progress after training
• Describe how to measure patient progress throughout HRV BFB training
• Identify and utilize adjunctive techniques for treating trauma related to PCS
• Discuss the needs for the integration of HRV BFB and NFB for cases that involve attention and memory challenges

Mindfulness and Biofeedback for High Performance
Inna Khazan, PhD, BCB  & Leah Lagos, PsyD, BCB
2-day Workshop
25 April | 26 April

Dr. Lagos will co-instruct workshop with Dr. Inna Khazan. Click here to view full abstract.


About Leah Lagos, PsyD, BCB

Leah Lagos, PsyD, BCB is a clinical and sport psychologist and BCIA Board Certified biofeedback provider in Manhattan, New York.  She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Rutgers University and served as a faculty member of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University.  Highlights of her work with athletes include conducting interviews for NFL teams, as part of Professional Sports Consultants, for more than 9 years. Dr. Lagos has served as a consultant to PGA tour players to provide on-site support at tournaments such as the Masters' Tournament in Augusta, GA. Dr. Lagos has also served as a consultant to US Olympians providing consultation and on-site support at venues such as the London Olympics.  As a consulting psychological expert for the media, Dr. Lagos has appeared on the Today Show, NBC Nightly, MSNBC, CNN, CBS, Fox, Sports Illustrated News and ESPN.  She is a consulting editor for Biofeedback Magazine: Clinical Journal and was the Guest Editor of the 2015 spring issue. She is the Chair of the Optimal Performance Section of the American Association of Physiology and Biofeedback.  Dr. Lagos is also an appointed biofeedback provider for athletes and patients of several hospital programs in the New York metro area.