Each week I interview an ABA company that treats its BCBAs well, then share what I find. This week I talked with Javon May, BCBA, the founder of Autonomous Behavior Solutions in Los Angeles.
Javon started the company six years ago, right at the start of COVID. It was just him. He did the direct therapy, the billing, and the credentialing. Today he leads a team of about 50 people. They run a clinic in Harbor City and serve families in homes and schools across LA.
He grew slow on purpose
Javon told me he could have hit 50 employees three years sooner. He held off. He wanted to keep the quality of care high and hire people he trusted. Most of his BCBAs are people he already knew. He worked with them before, met them at conferences, or got them through referrals.
He says the hard part of scaling wasn’t the hiring. It was letting go. His first BCBA hire now runs the clinical side as clinical director, and Javon had to learn to hand her the reins.
Nobody calls you after hours
I asked why his BCBAs stay. Two things came up.
The first is culture, and he means something specific by that. He works from the office, so the team actually sees the owner. They weigh in on decisions before he makes them. They do group outings together. It matches a lot of what we’ve covered about what actually keeps great ABA staff long term.
The second is boundaries. When the workday ends, nobody from the company reaches out. If there’s a true emergency, they call. That’s the whole policy. We’ve written about how caseloads and schedules drive burnout. A hard stop at the end of the day goes a long way.
Career growth gets real attention too. The company is still small, so the senior roles aren’t all filled. Every quarter, each clinician sits down with leadership and plans what they want to build next. Maybe that’s leading training. Maybe it’s running social skills programming. One lead RBT has already moved into a scheduling and operations role. It’s the same thinking behind mentorship-based onboarding, carried through a whole career.
What’s next
This fall the team is launching an early intensive behavior intervention program for kids two to five. A BCBA on staff wanted that niche, so they’re building the program with her. A summer social skills program is running right now.
The payer mix is deliberate too. They bill insurance and also hold school contracts, where BCBAs consult with teachers and admins. The team likes that work because there’s less paperwork. They audit session notes and supervision hours in their practice management system, so the documentation holds up if anyone ever checks. If one payer gets shaky, the jobs don’t.
“I probably could have grown faster and had 50 employees three years ago. But it just didn’t work for the purpose of providing quality care and getting the right people on my team.”
— Javon May, BCBA, Founder & CEO of Autonomous Behavior Solutions
At a glance
- Settings: clinic (Harbor City), in-home, and school-based services, including teacher and admin consultation
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Hiring status: hiring, with openings posted on their website
- Notable perk: nobody contacts you after hours
Want to see for yourself? Their team, their openings, and how they work are all at autbsolutions.com.
Do you run an ABA company that treats its BCBAs well? Reply to any Book Club email and tell me about it. I’d love to hear the story.
This is not a paid placement. I interviewed this company myself and receive no compensation for featuring them.