A 2021 study by Slowiak surveyed over 800 ABA professionals and found that 72% experienced high to medium levels of burnout. That figure alone warrants serious clinical attention — but the contribution Portia James makes in this course is to reframe what burnout actually is for behavior analysts.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Women in Behavior Analysis
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Join Free →A recent study of over 800 ABA professionals revealed that 72% of practitioners experience high to medium levels of burnout (Slowiak, 2021). Reasons for burnout are often masked as general overwhelm, poor time management, or heavy workloads. The purpose of this workshop is to explore the impact of misalignments in personal and professional values as an underlying cause of perpetual burnout among ABA professionals. Misalignment can often be the result of a lack of personal boundaries as it pertains to workplace distractions, competition, and assimilation. These issues may be more prevalent for professionals in the BIPOC community where practitioners feel a heightened sense of obligation to prioritize the expectations of others over their own mental and emotional well-being. In early 2022, Genius Operations® surveyed 48 ABA professionals; 92% reported difficulty maintaining a healthy work/life balance and 88% of ABA business owners reported a lack of confidence in their ability to use data to make organizational decisions. It is hypothesized that professionals who engage in work-related actions that are closely aligned with their personal and professional values sustain better work-life balance and higher fulfillment in their work, and thus yield improved outcomes for the clients that they serve.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | Supervision |
Portia James has spent nearly two decades shaking conference tables — challenging systems that prioritize efficiency over dignity and outcomes over people. As the founder of Behavior Genius, she built the organization from the ground up with a singular conviction: that sustainable performance is impossible without care, clarity, and human-centered leadership. Today, Portia serves as Chief of People & Performance, where she focuses on the lived experiences of both staff and families. Her work centers on organizational behavior management (OBM), mentorship, psychological safety, and performance systems that support people without burning them out. She partners closely with clinical and operational leaders while maintaining a visible, front-line presence — meeting families during intake, mentoring leaders, and ensuring the mission is felt through every interaction with the people she serves. Known for blending rigor with relational leadership, Portia believes that accountability and compassion are not opposites — they are partners. Her leadership reflects a deep commitment to stewarding people well, protecting culture, and “mothering the mission” under the core belief that growth should not cost anyone their humanity. She is also the author of Radical OBM, where she reimagines traditional organizational behavior management through a human-centered, systems-driven lens — challenging leaders to design environments where people can perform, grow, and belong. At her core, Portia views leadership as service — a calling to be present, responsible, and faithful with what (and who) she has been entrusted to lead. Her work is rooted in healing the systems we’ve survived — and building workplaces that people don’t have to recover from. Outside of work, Portia is a wife, a homeschool mother of three, and a collector of experiences in the form of concert tickets, sky miles, and recipe books.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
239 research articles with practitioner takeaways
188 research articles with practitioner takeaways
187 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.