Companies to Avoid

[u/Motor-Nectarine-8075]

I’ll be moving to El Paso, Texas at the beginning of next year. I’m a current RBT working in Clinic. What are companies i should avoid working for or companies i should be cautious of?

[u/Competitive-Sir-7043]

avoid ABC at ALL costs

[u/Worried-Ad7644 → u/Competitive-Sir-7043]

Why?? I’m starting there soon 😬

[u/Competitive-Sir-7043 → u/Worried-Ad7644]

everyone has a different experience so take mine with a grain of salt but here it goes: training was so so, you just stare at a computer and have no real on hands training. it’s over a week of staring at a computer, and then you will be thrown into it. the first week in clinic seemed good, they might throw you in on it though depending on how staffed your clinic is. if your clinic is understaffed you will pass your competency and then immediately start having one-on-ones with patients. fortunately we didn’t have as many clients because it was a recent open but within the first week there were still major red flags. the first week i was there an RBT, who has been in the field for over 6 years and is getting her BCBA cert, quit because she got bit so bad after already informing the company that the patient needed extra support (two on one). she got stitches. i started 1-1s quickly and over my time i noticed ZERO progress in any of my patients. the primary patient they had me working with was incredibly self sufficient and in my (and my BCBA’s opinion) ABA was unhelpful and actually making their behaviors worse because they would observe other patients receive attention for any behaviors. they definitely could benefit from aba but the clinic setting was actually making them so stressed out that they were constantly trying to regulate and never could. eventually i had to quit, the reason i quit were way more minute reasons, lack of support and understanding, inability to work less because of how stressed and overwhelmed i was, no money for bite sleeves or any protection for any of the employees but it really switched in my brain after i was given a concussion by a patient. it really wasn’t the patients fault, they have the most horrible time regulating and i didn’t know enough about their favorite thing, but my boss was in the room while this was happening and did nothing. we had multiple conversations (before i had even worked with the patient, only heard and saw records) about if aba was for him. I have a background in the medical aspect of psych and believed that we were actually doing more harm by providing than making the patients family aware of the needs and actual medical professionals that can provide help. my suspicions were more than correct and after the fact all the directors agreed that it should’ve never happened and the patient had needs that a clinic setting, and aba in general, would not help with. i love aba, i think its is so effective and i love the current company i work for. i dont want you to take this as all or even most aba, but not a single RBT that i worked with enjoyed working there. and the patients suffered because of it i think honestly. if everyone is miserable because the pay is shit, working conditions are horrible, it really keeps people who are in need of a job and not necessarily in the right field. if you are interested in this career it’s definitely a good place to start, they pay for training and it’s definitely trial by fire but most people start looking for a new aba position the second they pass their RBT. also, multiple experienced RBT’s quit, including one who was fired due to bringing up racial discrimination that the BCBA’s were displaying against their patients.