aba therapist

technician

board certified behavior analyst

registered behavior technician

occupational therapist

Mobile Therapy Centers of America

The ABA department is quickly losing employees at all levels. Turnover is not abnormal in the field of ABA, however, this is happening at MTC at a concerning rate. As clinic managers and directors have left over the past year, these roles have not been replaced, causing employees' responsibilities to increase while their support is decreasing. 
There are a number of employees who have really wanted to 'save' the ABA department and have shared feedback on what needs to change, but, it seems executive leadership either genuinely does not care about putting the effort/work in to address the feedback or is too incompetent to address the feedback. It is extremely concerning that there are not qualified BCBAs in charge of the ABA department. There used to be a BCBA in the clinic at all times and now the clinic is run by RBTs who still need support. 
The scheduling team used to be overseen by clinicians who understood how scheduling impacts employees and clients. The manager in charge of the scheduling team now has zero experience scheduling for a pediatric clinic and frequent errors are being made that impact the day-to-day in the clinic, causing last minute coverage sessions for staff. 
Overall, this organization is extremely reactive and doesn't take time to think through decisions. It has lost sight of the mission of the organization, instead prioritizing profit over clinical quality and retention. Unless this organization has a major wake up call that employees can't do the jobs of 3 people and they need to hire more employees quickly, the burnout is going to continue in this organization and it will not be able to withstand it. 
As a BCBA, it is extremely stressful to balance the tasks that need to get done on your caseload, while constantly training new employees, trying to support burnt out RBTs frustrated by the lack of support, and trying to support upset parents. When I first began there were in-house CEU trainings, managers and directors that could help support my RBTs, and directors available that I could reach out to with clinical and scheduling questions, I felt extremely supported. This support continued to decline over the past year, and as I saw tenured staff members resign, I knew it was time to look elsewhere. 


A typical day usually goes on smoothly if there are no changes in your schedule or behaviors problems with a kiddo. Beside challenging behaviors that maybe stressful at time to handle, finding time to complete paperwork on time is often challenging while client is still under your constant pit care. My teammates are very nice, encouraging and helpful. They are amazing people to work with! 
I only came into MTC with my soft skills, my love for kids and my strong need to help others.  So I learn all the technical skills there by observing, asking questions, reading and watching videos. There is enough support to do the job well.  Everyone including direct manager is willing to help you learn as much as you want to, just have to ask. Support is their just have to find the right person to ask. 
This company is growing too fast so sometimes it feels like management don’t know what they are doing and not focusing on one important stuff: their therapist. Scheduling is still need lots of improvement and help. It’s a hot mess!  Management need to be more organized and easier to access. They only use Microsoft Teams and email to communicate so a lot of delay in response and not clear who to ask specific questions beside your direct manager. There is a false sense of favoritism too. If you are an introvert type personality you may struggle to work there. The compensation is very poor and need lots of improvement especially with this type of stressful job.  
They need to work on how to relieve people on breaks and on compensating when client canceled appointments without sufficient notice. Lots of room for improvement in all departments.  
The most enjoyable part of my job is to see how client are improving, growing and becoming independent almost on a daily basis. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The Clients are thee only good thing about working there. There are a FEW decent Techs.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The organizational culture, management practices, and insufficient guidance from leadership have significantly impacted operations. There is a noticeable lack of initial training as well as ongoing support for employees. Additionally, communication regarding procedures, especially changes, is virtually nonexistent. The inconsistency in work hours and client assignments indicates a potential for improvement if there were a genuine commitment to restructuring. This environment has contributed to a high employee turnover rate, which requires urgent attention.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The workplace environment is challenging due to ineffective implementation of core values, lack of clear communication, and a predominant focus on output rather than prioritizing people and clients.


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
The variability in daily schedules can create significant challenges when working with different clients. Sessions may last as little as 15 minutes or extend to 30 minutes, leading to a lack of continuity, even when regular technicians are on site. Additionally, there is often a lack of clear communication regarding client needs and progress. Communication logs for both parents and technicians are not consistently maintained, which further complicates the understanding of each client's requirements and the services provided. Overall, these procedural shortcomings hinder effective service delivery.

When I first started this job I was very overwhelmed. I was barely trained then thrown in with clients right away. No extra training was offered and I had to fend for myself. None of the binders I viewed were updated so information provided is old from 2-3 BCBAs ago since so many quit and they have to keep transferring cases. I saw more than a handful of BCBAs and therapists quit, a lot of them including graduate students who were promised an amazing supervision experience that did not receive it. There are so many coverage sessions that the staff can’t keep up and at this point it seems like a daycare. Everybody is overworked and under appreciated. When you try to reach out about issues they slide it under the rug or gaslight you saying no one else feels this way and if they did they should bring it to our attention. No one brings anything up anymore because it continues to get treated this way. HR is new to ABA so the ethics code we are all supposed to follow is never referenced. I have an issue with my schedule almost every other day. I will be in a session at 10:56 and there will be “urgent coverage” for a session at 11. I feel so bad for the kids and families that think they’re getting therapy when in reality most of it is just babysitting.  So unethical. This company had so much potential and they let it all go to waste 

I have been with MTC for many years in different roles including management and it's been an amazing experience. I have seen the leaps and bounds our clients, employees and our company as a whole have made over the last decade +. Promotion from within is our standard. There is a concerted effort to focus on a work/life balance and as a working parent, this has been really valuable to me. It was important to me to be in a workplace environment where I enjoyed the people I spent the day with and felt proud of the work I was doing. That has been the case thus far. Prior to COVID, we enjoyed team outings, theme days, and even casual work get togethers to keep us all connected. From the owner on down the line, the generosity and willingness to help each other has been overflowing. They have really bent over backwards for me at times. As a company, due to the strength and faith of my fellow employees, we've even been able to not only keep working but grow during the pandemic. As soon as the pandemic began, the company made major investments in PPE, made arrangements to deliver cleaning supplies and PPE to our mobile staff, and made every attempt to keep us and our clients safe in every situation including fogging the office and hiring additional cleaning crews. The ability to work remotely has been beneficial. We are a fun and friendly place to be, but still expect professionalism. I am incredibly proud to say I work for Mobile Therapy Centers.

Only good thing about it is the families and clients. When poor treatment of tenured staff started impacting service delivery model, it was time to go. Didn't care about how valued individuals were to families or clients, they care more about billing and less about quality of service. Lack of understanding how to run an ABA department became apparent when the cries for support and feedback were provided. Instead of valuing the thoughts and experience of tenured staff who know how to run a clinic best to support staff and clients, they offered more money to hire new staff fixing a bullet hole with a bandaid. This left staff feeling unvalued, unheard, and made me feel like my efforts fell on deaf ears.  Not at all the way a company should be ran and will continue to decline until they realize the value in the opinions of those who left. You will be burnt out, benefits do not outweigh the hours and stress that go into the job. Minimal support from qualified professionals resulting in unethical service delivery model. Run don't walk away.  HR is also ran by unqualified professionals that will gaslight you into believing they are doing you a favor when in reality, the "benefits" of this job are not even close to bare minimum. 

A typical day at work is going to client's homes/daycares/schools to provide services. Most sessions are 2 hours in length, but you will sometimes have full day sessions. I learned more that I may not have known about DD/ASD, but I was not really equipped through the 40-hour online training to handle more physically aggressive clients. The 40-hour training did not offer much helpful information on how to work with kids who are more physically aggressive. I also learned I should not have been placed with a physically aggressive client 4 months into the job. Management told me they would work me up to it, but kept me on easier cases and then just threw me in to a situation where a client exhibited more physically aggressive behaviors, and felt completely unprepared/untrained to be successful. The workplace culture does not side with employees, I know that much. Did not experience much more of the workplace culture as I was driving from my home to other clients, rather than conducting sessions in the clinic since I lived in a different county. The hardest part of the job was being thrown into situations that you may not have been trained for yet or able to handle successfully. The most enjoyable part of the job was that I got to work with kids, which is what I went to school for.

Do not work here. There is no work-life balance here. You will be contacted at all hours and on weekends. There is a constant push for billing hours over clients' well-being. They even push to encourage parents to NOT put their children in school, so they can attend the clinic full-time. The supervisors are not professional, they gossip badly about co-workers and families.  1:1 scheduled meetings from supervisors are cancelled all the time.  What is told to people during the interview process is often a lie. Get EVERYTHING in writing.  Communication at this company feels like everything is a secret. Scheduling has a high turn over rate, and they are constantly hounding BCBA to cover hours, there is little trianing for BCBA or RBT.  Their saftey care training is NOT CORRECT as part of it is not taught.  BCBAs are pulled off of cases and given new ones to benefit the supervisors with no regard to the clients or the BCBA. Their tution reimbursement is a JOKE. Do not sign their contracts and they are absurd.  

The reward of helping the kids and your day to day almost makes it worth it to stay. However there are consistent reminders that you as a therapist/tech are not valued by the company, and the clients aren’t either. The scheduling system is counter productive of actually helping clients, clients that have worked with the same therapist all year long, have paired (as is emphasized in training) and bonded with an RBT can/will be given completely brand new seasonal therapists during summer schedule and work twice as hard to make progress because they don’t know all the new people they’re with, or completely regress in progress that they’d made.  Upper management, scheduling, hr, etc is aware of this issue as it has been brought to their attention countless times by countless RBTs and BCBAs together, and does nothing to actually fix it. When you advocate to stay with a clients team you’re given a “maybe if we can, no promises” and hope for the best. The pay does not match the mentally and physically draining work, even when being given extra responsibilities. 
The only thing worth it is the kids you’re working with and the co-workers/ team environment. 

The work culture here is genuinely toxic - management will either favor you or they won't. The kids have nothing to do with it and it's not their fault. Management and BCBAs have their favorites and could support their staff in so many other areas than just when it involves a client they share with you.  You find yourself putting in the same amount of effort as someone whom management likes more and it's like "Why even care so much?". Communication truly sucks here. The amount of stress that comes from the scheduling department needs to be studied. You'll work with a client from 9 months to over year and they just randomly remove you from their team without notice or reason. They don't give you breaks, you have to message them and ASK. There would be much less of a turnover rate if this place were more employee-centered and less business-centered. My recommendation is that you always advocate for yourself, hold these folks accountable, and leave as soon as you find something better.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Aba therapist 14 salaries reported	$20.21 per hour
Technician 51 salaries reported	$19.05 per hour
Board certified behavior analyst 12 salaries reported	$86,208 per year
Registered behavior technician 2 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Occupational therapist 6 salaries reported	$82,000 per year

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