Throughout the process of launching the Behavioral Health Collective, I’ve felt so honoured by the enthusiasm and support of fellow behavior analysts.
It’s always interesting to connect with other Behavior Analysts and learn about the niche areas that they are working in and the areas of specialization they have carved out for themselves.
The community of behavior analysts on social media is incredibly collaborative and open to sharing the work they are doing.
If you want to know more about parent coaching or some more specialized areas from the perspective of a behavioral analyst, these are some of my favourite accounts to follow.
Related Read: How To Find A Therapist For Your Child
Are you looking for a behavioral health professional to work with?
Check out the BHC FindXpert network!
General Parent Coaching Accounts
Michele Shilvock @micheleshilvockconsulting
About: Michele is a Behavior Analyst and parent working on a multi-disciplinary team at a pediatric clinic in Surrey, BC. Here she gets to provide wrap-around support for her clients by collaborating with pediatricians, clinical counselors, occupational therapists, dieticians, and pediatric nurses.
Michele is an innovative behavior analyst who is one of a number of BCBAs that have begun services outside a solely neurodivergent community. She is serving a wide variety of clients, from toddlers to teenagers, with complex behavioral and mental health needs.
A significant part of her role is to work with parents and caregivers to support the behavioral needs of their child while her colleagues address their respective areas. Together, they provide a robust support team to their clients.
Why Follow?
Michele’s approach to parent coaching is down-to-earth and compassionate, which comes across in her online content.
She integrates perspectives from behavior science, and other disciplines such as psychology, to provide well-rounded content. She highlights common topics like communication, play, school, and IEPs as well as more unique topics such as preparing your child for medical treatments.
Leanne Page @parentingwithaba
About: Leanne has an extensive background in behavior analysis and special education. She has taught in self-contained classrooms and worked with many families to share the science of behavior to improve the lives of families.
As her bio states, she found her calling in ‘helping parents cut through all the noise and drama of parenting advice.’ She has been in the field since 2011 and has trained many school staff, other therapists, and families.
Why Follow?
Leanne’s account provides interactive challenges for parents to try out. An example would be the ‘sibling relationship challenge’ in which parents are challenged to try out some specific strategies to support better sibling relationships.
Her content is generous with ideas that are able to be implemented right away. Leanne is a parent coach, and therefore able to provide education on behavioral terms and principles in simple, jargon-free language.
Courtney Bilton @biltonbehaviour
About: Courtney Bilton is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and mom to two young children. She began working in autism services in Ontario more than a decade ago.
Courtney loves helping parents to uncover their values and goals so evidence-based intervention strategies can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each family.
She aims to provide simple parenting strategies that are backed by science. In her posts and live events, she collaborates with a range of professionals and parents to help caregivers determine their next steps and become more confident in their parenting skills.
Why Follow?
Courtney regularly posts relatable, honest, science-based parenting content grounded in behavior analysis. She hosts virtual book clubs for parents and practitioners to promote engagement and create a community feel to her account.
Content also includes IGTV recordings with other parenting coaches or behavior analysts in specialty areas. This account functions as a hub of really useful evidence-based parenting information.
Her collaborative approach with other professionals will direct you to other sources of reliable parenting information on other accounts too.
Mariko Fairly @parenting_fairly
About: Mariko is a parent of two and a Behavior Analyst (BCBA) in the LA area. She centers her work around evidence-based practices delivered in a way that is easy for parents to implement.
Her goal is to help parents build new skills and healthy patterns with their child while addressing unhealthy behaviors. As a parent herself, she seeks to provide realistic, science-based, and sustainable interventions that will support you as a family over time.
Why Follow?
Mariko provides everyday strategies for parenting on topics from self-help skills, to transitions, to homeschooling and more. Her account is geared towards parents of young or school-aged children who are looking to implement evidence-based practices.
She provides regular content with lots of story highlights, organized across a wide variety of parenting topics, so it’s easy for you to search for something specific.
Her content can be implemented right away as she provides practical tidbits of evidence-based information. Mariko’s account is great for families looking for tips for preventative measures or addressing emerging challenging behavior.
Six Accounts for Specialized Topics
Liz Willis @LetsTalkPlay
Specializes in: Play and communication
About: Liz is both a speech and language pathologist (SLP) and behavior analyst (BCBA). Her specialty is implementing evidence-based instructional practices through the use of play in order to support literacy and child development.
Her unique dual certification results in specialized services drawing from a range of behavioral sciences. Liz is based in New Jersey but provides telehealth services to anyone looking for direct consultation from outside her region.
Why You Should Follow?
Liz’s Instagram account is one to follow if you are interested in infusing more fun and play into evidence-based instructional strategies.
Her IG stories highlight many live recordings of conversations with other practitioners, which is great to get multiple perspectives through multidisciplinary conversations.
Liz clearly translates behavioral principles to everyday language. She posts new content regularly and brings her unique SLP and BCBA perspectives into her work. Check out interesting topics such as promoting a growth mindset in your child through literacy and play.
Amelia Bowler @ameliabehaviour
Specializes in: Oppositional Defiant Disorder
About: Amelia is the author of The Parent’s Guide to Oppositional Defiant Disorder. As a parent of a child with an ODD diagnosis herself, she is truly walking the walk.
Amelia works as a Behavior Analyst in the Toronto area and has been a behavior consultant in both home and school settings. She used to be a special education teacher and is therefore experienced working with a wide variety of learners and families throughout her career.
Why Follow?
Amelia specializes in supporting parents of children struggling with challenging behavior and diagnoses such as ODD and ADHD.
Her content covers practical tips and solutions for parents that are evidence-based and empathetic towards both children and parents. Amelia speaks from experience as a parent of a child with ODD. She is also an artist, so it’s nice to appreciate her art that is worked into her content pieces.
Her content finds a nice balance between compassion for families and children while relying on what the research says (and does not say) about parenting children with ODD.
Healthy Sleep Solutions @healthysleep.solutions
Specializes in: Sleep
About: Hilary and Nicole are two behavior analysts and experts in healthy sleep routines and behaviors.
They provide a range of services as sleep consultants, serving children through to adults. Together, they also provide behavioral health consultation in addition to their sleep services.
Why Follow?
Sleep challenges are one of the most common challenges for families. The science-based content from Healthy Sleep Solutions is practical for families to address sleep challenges for all ages, regardless of diagnosis.
They post regular content with sleep-related myth-busting facts and ideas that can be implemented immediately. They use evidence-based practices from the field of behavior science, including behavior analysis and acceptance and commitment training, to provide services and information for families that are in line with their values yet grounded in science.
Gabrielle Stigant @gabriellestigant
Specializes In: Social skills for neurodiverse females.
About: Gabrielle is a behavior analyst based in British Columbia. She specializes in supporting females who are neurodiverse with their social skill development.
Females with various exceptional needs can present differently from their male counterparts, so having interventions specific to their needs is critical to their long-term success.
Gabrielle has been successful in teaching new social skills to a variety of clients, including those
with various neurodiverse needs such as ADHD and autism. She has tailored her social skills groups for females specifically to some of the areas in which they struggle. She also provides behavior consultation services to families with other behavioral health needs.
Why You Should Follow Her?
If you work with a neurodivergent female in a school setting, or if your daughter is neurodivergent, Gabrielle’s content is designed with you in mind!
As her area of expertise is improving social skills for neurodivergent girls, she provides content covering masking and the unique characteristics of girls with ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression etc.
She also provides great ideas for social skills development via telehealth, and is active in the social skills instruction community so often has new resources to check out! Her Facebook page is home to lots of these good ideas.
Check her podcast out right here: Teaching Social Skills To Neurodivergent Girls
Katie Rinald and Blackbird Toilet Training @toilettraining101
Specializes in: Toilet-Training
About: Katie is a toilet-training expert who has worked with a wide range of learners throughout her career. She has presented at many conferences and workshops on effective toilet training practices that are evidence-based.
She is passionate about her work as it provides freedom to families and dignity to clients when they become independent in this area. Katie and her team are skilled in problem-solving tricky toilet-training situations and are eager to help families overcome challenging obstacles.
Why Follow?
If you are experiencing challenges with toilet-training your child (of any age or ability), Blackbird’s content provides some insights and suggestions of tactics to try that are based on research.
They answer FAQs about toilet training and demystify the process and components of a thorough toilet training plan. If you’re already on a toilet-training journey, some of the content will likely enhance this process or maybe help you discern if you need additional support.
Dr. Katie Saint @doctorbehaviorboss
Specializes in: Mental health and behavior supports
About Katie: Katie has a PhD in behavior analysis and is a dually certified licensed behavior analyst and licensed professional counselor.
She provides individual and couple counseling to adolescents and adults. Katie has written college courses and speaks internationally on topics related to mental health and behavior analysis.
Katie has published three books related to mental health and one assessment related to people’s ability to live a fulfilling adult life.
Why You Should Follow?
Katie’s perspective as a dually certified licensed mental health counselor and behavior analyst brings unique insights and advice for parents dealing with mental health diagnoses in their children that also manifest in behavioral concerns.
Her account provides both personal and parenting support while translating behavior analytic terms to everyday language in an educational manner. She also integrates acceptance and commitment training into her content.
You can find information that is helpful whether you’re a parent or not, but also a lot of helpful information for parents of children through to adolescence.
Related Content:
- How A Parent Coach Can Help Your Family
- Parent Coaching: Effective Tool Or Social-Media Driven Fad?
- How To Get Your Kids Excited To Read (Podcast)
- Top 5 Evidence-Based Parenting Books
Are you looking for a behavioral health professional to work with?
Check out the BHC FindXpert network!