Training & Quality Matters Here
For more than a decade, Melanie has been with Easterseals NorCal, working to deliver the highest quality services possible to families. Her journey started on the front lines as a Behavior Interventionist—delivering care directly to families under the supervision of Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs). As she fell in love with the work, she studied the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and behavioral health, eventually becoming a BCBA herself.
Now, 11 years after her first day with the organization, she is running a team as the Senior Training and Quality Manager—a role that she developed with the help of her regional directors to improve outcomes and keep Easterseals NorCal delivering a cut above.
“I’ve got a team of amazing trainers,” said Melanie. “They provide both new hire and ongoing training for the clinical staff, like those delivering ABA. While we’ve always had good training practices here, we’ve now been able to provide current staff with even more robust, continuous resources and tools to support ongoing training.”
One element of Easterseals NorCal’s philosophy of person-centered care is that everyone changes. For our clients and participants, we know that interests change; so do life experiences, home and family situations, school and more. And so, we also practice that philosophy within our own teams, recognizing that research continues and discoveries get made. Ensuring our practitioners have the latest and greatest in autism and behavioral health education is paramount.
Certified Excellence
When Behavior Interventionists join our team, they undergo rigorous training to work with families. That’s where Melanie and her team first got involved in a practitioner’s journey. “We provide our incoming Behavior Interventionists with training tools and resources to help them get certified to become Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs),” Melanie shared. “We give them documents, training materials and lots of other tools to study for the RBT exam.”
Not only do we support those getting their RBT certifications, but we also support those pursuing their BCBA certification. “We’ll support them in studying, applying and transitioning from Program Supervisor to Clinical Manager.”
The ESNorCal Approach
Part of what allowed Melanie to create this role is ESNorCal’s commitment to values like being community-centered, bold and equity-informed. When two directors went on leave in 2021, Melanie stepped in as one of the interim directors. That’s when she realized much of her time (and joy) went into training clinicians to deliver great experiences for clients and their families.
“That’s when I discovered my love of training and my desire to expand the clinical onboarding experience,” said Melanie. “When the directors returned, I let them know that I wanted to be a part of shaping the future of the training department and a new role was created to do just that.
“I’ve been really blessed with great mentors and supervisors here,” Melanie reflected. “I really appreciate how they’ve given me the opportunity to learn while supporting the challenges that I come across. They give me the room to find my own creative solutions and think outside the box, and the guidance to achieve it.”
Bringing it All Together
Melanie’s biggest tip for families, based on her years of direct clinical work, is to trust your care team. “At first, there can be a lot of new faces, and that can be overwhelming,” said Melanie. “But as treatment gets going, you’ll have your core team, and you should always feel comfortable openly communicating with them.” Client and caregiver feedback is one of the guiding features of ongoing training and research here at Easterseals NorCal. “We’re all a team, but the caregivers know their child best. The more aware we all are of the work we’re doing together, the more we can see the whole picture and collaborate—from the training paths to the treatment sessions.”
If you’re interested in working with Easterseals NorCal, please look at our Careers page.
To read more about the Behavioral Health program’s impact and Client Satisfaction scores, check out Our Impact.
