Behavior Analyst Compassion Fatigue & Burnout: Combatting the Physical, Emotional, & Psychological Impact of Helping Others - Part 3: Dealing with Difficult Situations

Compassionate care is a foundational value of ABA, with connections to social validity, procedural fidelity, and overall client outcomes. There are a variety of component skills under the umbrella of compassionate care, many of which can be defined and taught. It is important to identify the essential elements beyond topographical behaviors, and ensure that such behaviors are delivered in an individually relevant, socially valid, and culturally compassionate manner. Some essential elements include active listening, partnering in intervention, and creating an open and trusting environment. An additional element that has received attention is self-compassion, which includes the evaluation of provider wellness. In developing interpersonal skills which lead to compassionate care for clients, it is critical that service providers acknowledge the many stressors that can lead to burnout and take stock of the resources available to support them. Supervision and organizational support provide the framework for these conversations to occur and for these skills to be developed. A culture of compassion and understanding can lead to clinicians who are supported, invigorated, and poised to guide others. This workshop discusses the importance of developing and maintaining a culture of support and feedback, as well as review specific relationship-building skills that clinicians can integrate immediately into their work.

Helping professions attract some of the greatest examples of human compassion and care. Behavior analysis is no different. However, despite our great efforts to remain professional and manage our stress, our work can be quite difficult. The same concerns with burnout, turnover, relapse, injuries, etc. that we find in other helping professions can be found in behavior analysis. To that end, behavior analysts are not immune to these pitfalls. These concerns are amplified further in the face of crisis. In this workshop, Dr. Shane T. Spiker will discuss how we can begin to shape a more compassionate view surrounding our work, specifically in the face of some of our greatest challenges as they relate to crisis.

Behavior analysts are responsible for coordinating care, providing care services for their clients, and overseeing behavior technicians assigned to their caseload. As people interact with each other in a workplace to achieve overlapping goals, emotions run high, and conflict is likely to rise. Behavior analysts need tools and new skills to navigate challenging conversations successfully when the stakes and emotions are high. Therefore, effective conflict management is an essential skill for every supervisor. In this 1-hour workshop, Dr. Kazemi will introduce the topic, provide some data from behavior analysts, and discuss what may lead to conflict in patient care, how to detect conflict, how to approach instead of avoid the tough conversations, and how to problem-solve to strengthen the relationship collaboratively.

Microaggressions are defined as daily verbal and non-verbal assaults directed toward people from historically marginalized and stigmatized groups. When compared with overt acts of racism, microaggressions can cause just as much, if not more, psychological damage. Individuals from historically marginalized groups experience microaggressions in the workplace at an alarming rate, with Black/African American women experiencing the most out of any group. Over the last 10 years, social psychologists have done a lot of work to research the effects of microaggressions and have evaluated ways to address them in many different contexts. Often diversity and inclusion trainings use this body of literature to educate and bring awareness to the concept in order to help address the issue in work spaces. However, research on these types of trainings show mixed results in terms of their effectiveness. One reason we may see mixed results is because of the subjectivity inherent in the definition. Subjective definitions leave room for interpretation which can be problematic when trying to teach the concept of microaggressions. In this workshop, Dr. Denice Rios will review the literature on microaggressions and outline examples on how we can use the research in concept teaching and learning to help objectively define microaggressions. Additionally, we will outline a model that organizations can adopt to bring awareness, train their staff, and help reduce microaggressions in the workplace.