The mission of Westside’s BCBA Development Program’s is to provide on-the-job training, individualized and group mentoring, and financial support to employees and applicants interested in becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. A brand new BCBA who has graduated from the Development program should feel comfortable with the challenges of being effective in that role.
The BCBA Development Program is a 1-2 year program for those that are in school to become a BCBA that want to equip themselves with the skills and expertise to manage their own caseload as soon as they pass their test. There are 3 pillars to the program:
Program participants will be assigned to a supervising BCBA that will collaborate with them throughout the duration of the program. These BCBAs are salaried employees and our therapy occurs in the clinic, which lends itself to accessible, consistent supervision. BCBA Development program participants should not have an issue accruing supervision hours, and supervision hours are provided at no cost to the participant.
The supervising BCBA’s responsibility is to provide strong training – not check-the-box training, but actual know-your-stuff training.
The supervising BCBA will involve the program participants in their day-to-day efforts of managing a caseload and writing, analyzing, and adapting behavioral plans. The Program Participants will also attend BCBA Team Meetings to better understand the team challenges BCBAs have to work through. BCBA Development program participants will see how BCBAs interact and learn alongside professionals from other disciplines.
BCBA development program participants will become intimately familiar with the day-to-day activities of the BCBA role. The goal is to avoid the discomfort felt by a newly graduating BCBA that had coursework experience but finds themselves overwhelmed by the demands of the hands-on BCBA job.
Program participants and their supervising BCBA meet 1-on-1 every month. The program participants set the agenda and include any topics that they want support on – ranging from professional interests to personal challenges. The BCBA uses these 1-on-1s to build trust with the program participant. The goal is that every program participant has access to a BCBA mentor that they can trust and that will develop them professionally and personally.
Program participants will follow the Westside BCBA Development Curriculum, a tailored set of competencies that we believe BCBAs should learn to perform before they enter the role. The Supervising BCBAs guide program participants through this curriculum to ensure the appropriate skills are mastered.
In addition to individual mentorship, group mentorship will be used as a way to foster peer-to-peer learning. There will be opportunities to work with a cohort of BCBA development program participants through common learning experiences.
Program Participants may receive a tuition stipend each semester to assist with the expenses of their schooling, assuming they are actively in school while they are in this program.
To receive the stipend, the semester attended must occur concurrently as their involvement in the BCBA Development Program. If a Program Participant enrolls in our program after completing 1 year of schooling, the semesterly stipend is only applicable for the current and upcoming semesters. It is not applied retroactively to semesters already completed prior to joining our program. It will not be paid for more than 4 semesters.
Graduates of the BCBA Development Program who have received stipends from Westside will be held to the following payback schedule:
Any candidate that is currently enrolled in a schooling program to become a BCBA is eligible for the BCBA development program. Admission to the program is dependent on BCBA supervisor availability. To be enrolled in the program, you must be working at least 30 hours per week at Westside.