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