**This course will provide the participant with 1 General Learning Type BACB® CEU**
Description of Learning Type CE Event: Many Behavior Analysts (BCBA®s, IBAs, QBAs) and other people in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, such as BCaBA®s, RBT®s, and BTs, engage in "Stimulus Pairing" with their clients to generate buy-in and reduce any elements of aversion, ideally pairing themselves with reinforcement (i.e., positive outcomes linked to existing motivations). However, there is art in service delivery at the forefront of science, and this art is about keeping things looking truly HUMAN.
Therapists in other fields recognize this and engage in a process called Joining, which is an ongoing awareness of how they are a part of their client's system -- and probably multiple systems, due to intersectionality. Finding those common intersections and catering to these in relevant ways, including disclosing information about the clinician's own life and intersections, allows for a strong and ongoing therapeutic bond when approached with finesse. Obviously, disclosure also can bring about some issues that could violate ethics and/or negatively impact treatment, so again, "finesse" is a key word here. This simple, 1-hour exploration of Joining is intended to leave behavior-analytic professionals with an understanding of how they can go beyond stimulus pairing into the true transformation of stimulus when they, themselves, are the stimuli in question.
About the Instructor: Nicholas Maio-Aether owns Empowered: A Center for Sexuality in St Louis, where he and his occasional teams of partnered Universities' students work to assist humans with and without disabilities achieve sexual access, sexual freedom, gender affirmation, and self-control of compulsive behaviors. Nicholas works throughout the US training BCBAs/Behavior Analysts so persons in Individualized Supportive Living (ISL) programs gain access to applicable and generalizable comprehensive sex ed and sexual opportunities. Nicholas provides Sexual Behavior Analysis, and has assisted polycules, kinksters, gay couples, trans and nonbinary humans, among others, on their journeys. Trained by GLSEN in 2003, Nicholas started Gay-Straight Alliances across Alaska while in high school, and provided them sex ed materials and trainings. Nicholas spent five years managing Hustler Hollywood in St Louis before moving into Behavior Analysis, and joined AASECT, where he currently sits on two committees. He then completed a Sex Therapy practicum under Linda Weiner, LMSW, CSTS, in 2019 before getting a second Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy, and meeting those hour requirements under Angela Skurtu, LMFT, CST, along with his LGBTQIA+ Family Systems Specialist certificate in 2021.
Target Audience: Any Behavior Analyst at all -- this is perhaps the most generalizable and relevant talk ever given by Empowered: A Center for Sexuality LLC. If you care about connecting with clients and gaining buy-in, take this CEU!
Learning Objectives for Participants: As a result of this course participants will be able to …
- Attendees will define “joining” and actively discern between this and the common behavior-analytic strategy of “stimulus pairing” to connect with clients.
- Attendees will gain exposure to strategies and resources for engaging with “joining” with their clients.
- Attendees will acknowledge the boundaries and limits of “joining” within a behavior-analytic scope.
To earn credit, you will be required to watch all video portions and pass a quiz about it with a score of 80% or higher. You can retake the quiz as many times as needed, but you may not receive exactly the same questions each time.
Course Includes
- 5 Lessons
- 4 Quizzes
