Thanks but No Thanks: How to Say No, Stay Professional, and Still Be You A Neurodivergent-Informed Approach to Boundaries, Burnout, and Sustainable Behavior Change is the kind of topic that looks straightforward until it collides with the speed, ambiguity, and competing demands of supervision meetings, staff training, clinic systems, and performance review. In Thanks but No Thanks: How to Say No, Stay Professional, and Still Be You A Neurodivergent-Informed Approach to Boundaries, Burnout, and Sustainable Behavior Change, for this course, the practical stakes show up in better performance, lower drift, and more sustainable team development, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Saying "no" is a deceptively simple skill, yet for many neurodivergent professionals, it can feel unsafe, guilt inducing, or even impossible. This presentation explores the behavioral and contextual roots of that difficulty and offers practical strategies for building sustainable, values aligned boundaries at work. Through a neurodivergent informed lens, participants will examine how masking behaviors such as suppressing needs, opinions, or authentic expression can maintain cycles of overcommitment and burnout. Drawing on Pearson and Rose (2021), we will discuss masking as a learned safety behavior shaped by reinforcement and social contingencies. Then, integrating findings from Hagberg et al. (2023) and Ito et al. (2025), we will explore how assertiveness and "no-saying" can be strengthened through behavioral skills training and ACT based values work. Attendees will leave with reflection tools, customizable "no" scripts, and an individualized action plan for integrating "no" into their professional repertoire without losing authenticity, compassion, or connection.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
Melissa Booth-Simonsen is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with more than 20 years of experience across diverse settings including foster care, brain injury rehabilitation, schools, in-home programs, and workplace coaching. She is a late-diagnosed autistic professional who brings both lived experience and clinical expertise to her work. Melissa specializes in Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), burnout prevention, and neurodivergent advocacy. She is the creator of ND-affirming CEUs and trainings designed to help BCBAs build sustainable, ethical practices that honor neurodiversity and professional well-being. See the full CEU Library here.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
244 research articles with practitioner takeaways
You earn CEUs from a dozen different places. Upload any certificate — from here, your employer, conferences, wherever — and always know exactly where you stand. Learning, Ethics, Supervision, all handled.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
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.