Indianapolis, IN, July 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hopebridge Autism Therapy Centers recently furthered its commitment to expand access to quality, value-based services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by establishing new clinical director roles within the organization.
The national care provider operates more than 100 centers across the United States, and as the organization increases access to care across the country, the new positions are designed to continue enhancement of quality of care and clinical excellence for patients while also enabling advancement of the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy) as a whole. Hopebridge’s 12 state network recently received a 2-year accreditation from Behavioral Health Centers of Excellence (BHCOE), awarding the organization with distinction as a behavioral health provider committed to the highest clinical quality and client care in Applied Behavior Analysis.
“We pride ourselves on delivering the highest quality family-centered treatment that children with autism and the families we serve deserve,” said Hopebridge Chief Clinical Officer Jana Sarno. “One of the reasons we are able to continue to enhance our clinical quality and outcomes is due to the tiers of support we offer, which includes the clinical director roles we created with this exact purpose in mind.”
Designed to serve as a guide, mentor and helping hand for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) and Fellowship students, the ultimate goal is for each center to have a clinical director on staff to provide extra support for the facility’s clinicians and families, in addition to regional BCBAs and regional center managers who oversee the broader teams of behavior analysts. Each of these clinical directors has their own smaller caseload, but spends much of their time on clinical oversight.
Clinical directors focus much of their time on case reviews with BCBAs and treatment plan reviews. They make sure all the necessary components are in the documents and that they have enough information to prove medical necessity. This is a bonus not only for parents, who are able to have even more clinicians collaborating on their children’s cases, but also for behavior analysts, who have an extra set of eyes on their cases and can receive immediate feedback.
Communication is a huge piece of the clinical director role, which includes participating in ABA evaluations, consultations, training and assistance navigating challenging scenarios. This is especially significant for newer behavior analysts, as they have the opportunity to learn from more tenured BCBAs about topics that they may not yet have experience in, such as transitioning to school, decreasing maladaptive behaviors or participating in IEP meetings.
The team’s clinical directors have been able to grow their team’s skill sets, as well as their own, in providing and asking for feedback, participating in active listening, and communicating with caregivers through family guidance sessions. Some in this role have piloted new ideas for the training structure to deliver more support to mentors, ensure efficiency and maintain appropriateness of care.
“I’m able to access reinforcement more quickly and regularly in the clinical director role. I feel it when a new hire passes an exam, when a child does something they’ve been working hard on with their team, and when one of my clinicians has a successful parent meeting. I get to look at the center as a whole and take pride in everyone,” said Samantha Davis, clinical director at Hopebridge’s Indianapolis East center.
Hopebridge’s clinical directors are able to spend more time researching and ensuring standardization and consistency of care, which remain key focuses of the company. As part of their responsibilities, they stay updated on changes in the field, as well as support their teams by finding appropriate publications and determining how they can bring them into the clinic to implement new ideas with patients.
In addition to supporting their colleagues, clinical directors aim to be familiar faces and voices for parents, who have an extra point of contact for clinical questions now that there is someone whose job is based on making sure their children receive the best quality of care. For families seeking more information on Hopebridge’s autism testing and other pediatric autism services, visit hopebridge.com/contact.
As one of the largest autism therapy healthcare providers in the nation, Hopebridge is constantly growing with continuing education and job opportunities for BCBAs, as well as for behavior technicians, speech language-pathologists, occupational therapists and psychologists. For more information on working with children with autism through Hopebridge’s collaborative, interdisciplinary approach, prospective employees should visit hopebridge.com/jobs.
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About Hopebridge
Hopebridge was founded in 2005 to serve the growing need for autism treatment services and to improve the lives of affected children and families. Hopebridge is committed to providing personalized outpatient ABA, occupational, speech and feeding therapies for children touched by autism spectrum disorder and behavioral, physical, social, communication and sensory challenges. Hopebridge provides a trusted place where they can receive the care, support and hope they deserve.
More than a decade later, Hopebridge continues to open state-of-the-art autism therapy centers in new communities to reach patients and families who need services. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Hopebridge operates over 100 centers in the following twelve states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio and Tennessee.
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