u/Flat-Ad4906

Have any new BCBAs ever really received support from their CD? I have been a BCBA for almost a year now and have been at 3 different companies. One company was the place that I got my supervision hours and I stayed for a few months after I passed my exam. However, I left due to the clinic culture, high billable requirement, and because after I passed my exam, my CD was all of a sudden unavailable to meet with me to talk about my cases and work through issues I had with the case/parents. I got a different job and was promised support, but it never happened. The CD was incredibly burnt out due to the clinic culture/ the owner of the company and she resigned a month after I started. Her replacement was a BCaBA who had been certified for only a month... I left that job for lots of reasons that aren't as relevant after 6 weeks. Now, I'm at a new job and have been here for a few months and I really like it. I'm part time hourly and have lots of flexibility. However, I had an issue with a parent and reached out to my CD multiple times to get support and she ghosted me. She would say we could meet and then never actually did. I wanted to quit but I really want to stay at a job for at least a year lol. I like my clients and I problem-solved the issue and resolved it, but I'm mad that I reached out several times and was just ignored or told that we could meet, and it never ended up happening.

This issue has happened with in-person and remote supervisors. I'm currently in-home so getting in touch with my supervisor is tough since she is fully remote. ATP I'm just solving my own problems and looking at the ethics code and reading journal articles to guide my decisions. I have taken some CEUs on ethics pertaining to supervision and parent training so that I can understand how to help myself. Is this normal? I do pretty well as a BCBA in terms of clinical outcomes for clients. I was lucky enough to have a fantastic supervision experience and most coworkers are shocked that I am a new BCBA. Due to this, I have been told that there is nothing to help me with, but I disagree. ATP I want to hire a mentor to just chat once a week and discuss any issues I may have. :/.

I am dealing with some tough parents. I have worked with this family for 2 months. They requested an RBT switch within the first couple of weeks, which we provided. We had to pause services for a week since this client is in a rural area and there is limited staff availability. I swear this family cannot be satisfied! The new RBT we provided is pregnant, but in her first trimester so she is able to do everything and shows up every day for the client. She is truly a very good RBT in lots of ways. The family however, still complains because she is pregnant. I have told the family multiple times now that I can't fire an employee or find a replacement simply because she is pregnant. The client is not aggressive, and she can and does everything (besides jumping on the trampoline), so there is no need for a switch.

The family is also upset that when the RBT is absent (she has called out once for medical reasons the entire time she has worked with the client), there is no replacement. I have explained several times that we cannot have a replacement for just 1 session since a replacement would not have rapport with the client and that no real session activities could be completed, and also due to the ruralness of the area there are no replacements! The family does not seem to understand this and continues to make petty comments to the RBT. I even compared this situation to a mental health provider, if your normal therapist is not there, you will likely cancel the session instead of telling a random therapist your issues.

The grandparents make constant comments as well, telling the RBT that they will just go elsewhere. They question my programs and if the client meets mastery criteria once, they will get upset that we don't have all new programs. I have told them that true mastery is meeting the mastery criteria for 3-5 days to ensure consistency. However, they just always seem upset. The grandparents also tell the RBT that she WILL be calling out since she is pregnant. The RBT is confused and uncomfortable since she has not indicated or shown that she calls out a lot.

My clinical director is no help lol and admin is over it at this point, and to be honest I am too.