Hello,
When I was a young teenager I remember people wanted to know what I wanted to be and what I was going to do about it. I knew what I wanted to do, but just didn’t know what to call it. My primary interest was in figuring out why people did what they did and how they could change that if they wanted. At the time, the early 80′s, I didn’t know if there was any job title that included learning that information.
So I wandered around adulthood looking for jobs that fit me somewhat and keep looking for where I fit. I received my A.S. in Sign Language Interpreting in 1986 and worked as an interpreter for twelve years. I am fluent in American Sign Language and Deaf Culture. In 1992 I got my B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Hampshire College where I mostly studied why people do what they do. In 1996 I received my M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.
I’ve had quite a few different jobs and have gotten different things from each of them. I’ve worked in group homes with mentally retarded adults, mentally ill adults and substance abusing adults. I’ve worked in battered women shelters, fixed computers, written for a newspaper, been a foster parent, started and ran a retail store, created and ran an Internet retail site, taught Deaf and Hard of hearing High School students and many more things.
While volunteering in my son’s first grade classroom, I saw a man come in and deal with a particularly challenging student. A friend of mine knew the man and I asked him what his job title was. He told me “behaviorist”. I decided that I wanted to be able to be hired to do that. I went home and searched the Internet and found information on Board Certified Behavior Analysts. I already had the Master’s degree so I just needed to take 5 graduate-level courses and get many hours of supervision. I am now able to focus on writing and supporting people in making the changes they want.
-Aileen