On Monday, Willow Mentorship & Consulting held the first Clinical Collaborative. This meeting was developed to create an opportunity for a group of BCBAs to meet as a group, discuss an article, and connect on a topic. It is the same concept as a journal club, but I liked the meaning behind “Clinical Collaborative.” The term clinical is likely obvious in terms of a group of BCBAs talking about an article. I picked the term collaborative to reference us as a group working and talking together. BCBAs often work alone, while many have colleagues, find mentors, or have connections with other BCBAs they’ve met, many BCBA jobs are independent and with limited exposure to other BCBAs on site. I hope the Clinical Collaborative will provide learning to BCBAs and create a new group they can access when support is needed.
We had a great group on Monday. Each BCBA comes from a different background. During the meeting, we talked about Broadhead (2018) article on Scope of Competence, a topic I wrote about in the blog several weeks ago. It was great hearing everyone’s thoughts on this topic. Two shares from BCBAs that are helpful when considering scope of competence
One BCBA, a Clinical Director, reflected that there is variability in BCBAs levels of confidence about their scope of competence. Some BCBAs may be too comfortable to “roll with it,” while others might not try or find ways to gain knowledge to expand their scope.
Another BCBA, who currently supervises BCBAs and has a caseload, has a worldview to always prioritize client’s services. When this BCBA has been given cases out of their scope of competence, they work diligently to learn more information or find a colleague to gain additional support. To this BCBA, it is second nature to get support to ensure cases are within their scope of competence AND to prioritize client’s services.
I feel I have learned more about Scope of Competence in the last month and expanded my view of the concept through the Clinical Collaborative. It is such an individual concept that is important for BCBAs ethically, for growth, and for client services. The next Clinical Collaborative will be on Thursday October 29th at 7:00p. I am excited to see how our conversation will go next time!