Internship Requirements for NTCB Certification
All candidates for certification as a Specialist with the NTCB must complete a 500 hour internship. Your internship must be completed under the supervision of:
- A Certified Instructor
- A Certified Supervisor
- A Certified Specialist approved by NTCB
- A BCIA certified professional approved by NTCB
- A non-certified person approved by NTCB
How Your Internship Works
In the beginning, for at least your first dozen clients, contact your supervisor before, during or after the initial visit. Tell them everything you know about your client that's important to your client's health. Explain what you did, what results you got and what you think you should do next. Your mentor/supervisor will either agree with you or give you instructions on what you should do.
Your supervisor will instruct you until your level of competency as a clinician allows them to make suggestions or coach you. Do not be bothered by the fact an expert is telling you what to do. That's their job as a supervisor. Rather take pride when they think enough of your competency to advise you rather than tell you what to do. Take more pride when they start coaching you instead of advising you. That means they value your opinion as a clinician.
After a few weeks and usually well before you complete your first twenty-five hours of clinical work, you will be able to contact your supervisor to discuss your clients about once a week instead of two to three times a week.
By the time you reach 100 clinical hours your supervisor will allow you to contact him or her less frequently as they gain more and more confidence in your competency as a clinician.
Contacting Your Supervisor
While you're getting started with your internship, you'll want to speak with your supervisor anytime you have a new client and whenever you have any questions. It's important to share new client information with your supervisors to gain their insights. Your supervisor is your key contact person for learning either biofeedback or neurotherapy protocols and techniques.
As you become established in your clinical skills you'll need to contact your mentor less and less. But it's important for you to know your supervisor is always there ready to help you in any way possible.
We encourage both you and your supervisor to become familiar with the NTCB Supervision Model and refer you both to the following resources:
- The NTCB Supervision Model
- The NTCB Biofeedback Specialist Blueprint
- The NTCB Neurotherapy Blueprint
Good Record Keeping
It's very important for you to keep good records of the clinical hours you spend with clients while under supervision. You need to document the name of your client, the date and time, the number of hours and minutes of training done with your client and the name of your supervisor for that client or that session.
Keep your internship record in your permanent record file for at least seven years after you close your business. Do not give your internship record to anybody. Do not transfer your internship records if you close, sell or donate your business to another person. Allow only properly credentialed law enforcement agents to see your internship records. If in doubt, call their agency to verify you must allow an agent to see your files.
The information you need in your internship records is the date, and name or code name for your client, a short statement of what you did (relaxation or muscle re-education) to help reduce stress or pain, the number of hours or minutes you trained your client and the name of your supervisor. You may record minutes or hours as a decimal (75 min or 1.25 hours) or as a fraction (1 1/4 hours). If you're working with a group of supervisors, you may list the name of that group.
The NTCB recommends you give your clients a code or code name and use that code or code name in your internship records. A simple code is a client number chronologically from 001 onward. Just remember your code and keep an alphabetical listing somewhere so you can cross-reference your files by name and number.
Other Things to Do
While you're doing your internship, you'll want to check the list of accredited educational organizations and take a course in anatomy and physiology and an intermediate or advanced training course in your specialty area.
While you're doing your internship, you'll want to check out the required coaching course unless you're licensed as a physician, psychotherapist or counselor:
- Biofeedback Coach - presented by biofeedback professionals
- Blue Sun Energetics - presented by biofeeeback professionals/spiritual healers
Notification
When you've completed the required number of hours of client training under supervision, send an email to ntcb.info@ gmail.com (no spaces) confirming completion of your internship. Include the name of your supervisor or supervisors and the total number of clinical hours completed under supervision. If we have any questions, we'll contact you and/or your supervisors.