Assistant Behavior Consultant - ABA

Assistant Behavior Consultant - ABA

The Assistant Behavior Consultant (ABC) provides mental health services utilizing the evidence-based practice Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to children with autism spectrum disorder in clinic, home, school, and/or community settings. The ABC is responsible for providing direct service to clients, developing/training new Behavioral Health Technicians (BHTs), and assisting Behavior Consultants (BCs) with planning and implementation of treatment plans and assessments.

Responsibilities include fostering a positive therapeutic relationship with the child, following treatment plan goals and interventions utilizing the ABA program designed by the BC-ABA, and seeking out consultation when needed. The ABC is also responsible for providing input and feedback that contribute to the development of the treatment plan, providing crisis management and support to clients, actively engaging and coaching clients and their caregivers to work toward the achievement of treatment goals, and providing in vivo guidance, training, and support to new and current BHT-ABAs in the implementation of the treatment and behavior support plan.

The ABC must maintain ongoing communication and collaboration with all team members, assist BC-ABAs with development behavior/treatment plan and/or crisis plans with the child, family, and team that are developmentally appropriate and strengths-based, assist BC-ABAs with Interobserver Agreement (IOA) data collection to measure the quality of the interventions being used, assist BC-ABAs with graphing clinical data on active treatment goals to monitor progress and communicate with BC-ABAs regarding any changes that need to be made to programming, complete all required documentation in a thorough and accurate manner, travel to a variety of education and/or home environments to provide services in clients' environment, when applicable, ensure compliance with PHMC/CFA policies and procedures, including confidentiality and mandated reporting, provide clinical information to the evaluating psychologist/psychiatrist as required or requested, and attend and participate in meetings, training programs, and supervision as required by PHMC/CFA and the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).

Contributing to the team includes participating in regular meetings with staff to ensure that priorities are clear, coordination is good, and communication is open, cooperating and communicating as a multidisciplinary staff team member through formal meetings, informal consultations, and committee participation, and responding promptly to the concerns and interests of clients, parents, guardians, funding entities, and other PHMC/CFA staff.

Staff leadership includes fostering a strengths-based, trauma-informed, accountable, committed, and motivating environment, mentoring and developing new and current BHT-ABAs to ensure a core team that is focused on meeting the priorities of the program.

Team leadership includes demonstrating the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with all internal and external stakeholders, modeling traits of a responsible team member by executing job responsibilities, open communication, and good follow-through, and supporting team members to do the same.

Trauma-informed behavior includes demonstrating commitment to being trauma-informed and maintaining a therapeutic environment and community that promotes safety and nonviolence as the basis for all we do with clients and staff, demonstrating knowledge and utilization of trauma-informed practices, including emotional intelligence, effective communication, understanding of the impact of trauma on development, strengths-based and person-centered practice, resilience focus, and commitment to growth and change.

Administrative activities include ensuring compliance with all PHMC/CFA policies and procedures, including confidentiality and acting as a mandated reporter in accordance with the law, implementing all documentation requirements and ensuring that reports are complete, thorough, timely, and written in the prescribed format, and performing other duties as assigned.

Skills include understanding of theory and implementation of behavior modification interventions, strong applied behavior analysis skills, knowledge of crisis management techniques, ability to adapt, be flexible, and change activities quickly, ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with a broad variety of people, including other team members and management, ability to quickly form trusting relationships with a child/adolescent population based on an understanding of developmental processes and emotional needs, ability to form effective working relationships with diverse clients, school staff, family members, and stakeholders, ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment, ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and confidentiality, demonstrates initiative, problem-solving, and follow-through, ability to independently assess and record data in order to report behavioral outcomes and intervention results to the treatment team, knowledge of, application of, and adherence to CASSP principles, and ability to effectively and independently communicate treatment objectives and interventions to youth, family, school staff, and other treatment team members.

Role requirements include having one of the following: a Bachelor's degree in psychology, social work, counseling, sociology, education, criminal justice, or a similar human services field, or a Bachelor's degree in any field with at least one year of experience in a job that involved direct contact with children/adolescents, and meeting one of the following: having the qualifications for licensure as a behavior specialist under 49 Pa. Code §18.524 (relating to criteria for licensure as a behavior specialist) except the experience required under section 18.524(c), having a BCaBA certification or other accredited undergraduate-level certification in behavior analysis, or having a minimum of 6 months of experience in providing ABA services and a minimum of 12 credits in ABA from an accredited college or university. Valid driver's license must be maintained, and participation in and completion of all CBH mandatory in-services (must be completed within three months of hire and then annually from the date of the initial training).

Clearances include valid PA child abuse (Act 33), PA criminal history, FBI, and medical clearances. Compensation includes PHMC Salary Grade 16, competitive salary based on experience, and excellent benefits package. PHMC is an Equal Opportunity and E-Verify Employer.