British Columbia ABA

By Sarah Pastrana

The last year has been another busy one for the British Columbia Association for Behaviour Analysis!

The board continues to work with a number of professional and advocacy groups on a variety of wide-ranging initiatives. We are a founding member of the BC Disability Collaborative, a first-of-its-kind group comprised of organizations from across the disability sector to advocate for increased funding and access to services for underserved groups. We are excited to be involved in this important work! We are participating in a number of additional groups to address issues such as expanded access to pediatric therapy services, create educational resources related to self-injury, and promote collaboration between professional organizations. This year, we also began quarterly meetings with all other Canadian chapters of ABAI.

We hosted our highest ever number of events ever this year, including workshops on sensory processing differences and neurodiversity-affirming practices, supervision, skills-based treatment, and a co-hosted workshop on collaborative client care with the BC Psychological Association. A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) remains a guiding value of our organization, and we hosted both monthly DEI meetings and a workshop on ableism, neurodiversity, and applied behaviour analysis.

We are continuing to work on streamlining our organizational and governance systems. This year we finalized our vision, mission, and values, and developed our first formal annual goals. Next year we plan on continuing this work, with the goal of improving board efficiency and efficacy, streamlining inter-committee collaboration, and strengthening communication and engagement with our membership.

Last year, the Licensure Committee resumed regular meetings. British Columbia’s college licensing system is undergoing major changes. We are working with several partners to seek inclusion in the new college system and advocate for licensure for behaviour analysts practicing in our province.

Finally, BC-ABA will hold our 16th annual conference March 1st and 2nd. This will be the first year we will be offering a hybrid option. We are thrilled to be able to offer a wide range of topics and speakers and look forward to connecting with our membership!