Time as a BCBA: 11 years
Time at AnswersNow: 2 years and 9 months
Location: Edwardsville, IL

How Kristen Found Her Calling as a BCBA

Kristen Azotea, MS, BCBA, LBA, always envisioned herself in a helping profession. That pull became personal when her cousin's son was diagnosed with a disability. She wanted to know what she could do to help others like him. She shadowed his occupational therapist in college and, after graduating, set her sights on OT school. She didn't get in.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She ended up working at what's now Easterseals, where she watched a colleague come in to update a behavior plan and found herself asking, "What is this? What is it that you do?" She knew immediately: "That is what I want to do."

She went back to school, became a BCBA, and hasn't looked back. "If I had to pick a job, I think it's the perfect job," she says. "It's allowed me to not just understand it and apply it in regards to what we do every day for work, but even beyond that. We can apply it to so many other things in life."

Finding a Company that Matches Her Values

Before AnswersNow, Kristen worked at a few other ABA companies. She ultimately didn't want to stay at those companies because she didn't feel the values were a match. She spent months searching for a company that was, but found that many ABA companies would offer her a role the moment they saw her license, with little real vetting. 

AnswersNow, on the other hand, offered in-depth conversations that made her feel excited to work for a company that valued quality patient care and truly cared about their clinicians. Before accepting the role, she had detailed conversations and "really thoughtful discussions" with both the founder Jeff Beck and members of the AnswersNow clinical team. She loved it, accepted the job, and hasn't looked back since. She's been at AnswersNow for over two years now.

Why Kristen Loves the Virtual, BCBA-Direct Care Model

As a working mom, the flexibility of working at a remote company is great for Kristen, and cutting out a two-to-three-hour daily commute means more efficient, productive time she can direct toward her patients' care, instead of being stuck in traffic.

But the greatest benefit of delivering virtual, BCBA-direct care, Kristen says, is caregiver engagement. In previous in-person settings, she often found parents treated ABA sessions as a break rather than an opportunity to be actively involved in their kid’s therapy session. "Especially in a clinic setting, I saw that a lot," she says. "There's such a disconnect in regards to having the caregivers involved that oftentimes kids would do certain things within the clinic and those skills would just never generalize to home."

At AnswersNow, caregiver training is embedded into the model itself, making it easier for parents to generalize skills with their child outside of the therapy session. It's also highly adaptive to the clients. Depending on a client's age, skills, and needs, Kristen's caseload is a fluid mix of direct sessions, caregiver-mediated sessions, and caregiver-only coaching — and that mix can shift over time as a family's needs change.

How Kristen Works with Caregivers Everyday

Kristen loves teaching her clients and their caregivers alike how to implement various skills outside of session, whether that’s helping a parent motivate their child with positive reinforcers or helping a parent build a deeper connection with their child.

She recalls a particularly memorable story of how she helped a client build a harmonious relationship with his parents, who worked through and learned to respond positively to his use of coping skills. This kid used to punch holes in the wall, break windows, and throw tantrums. Now he actively wants to spend time with his parents, even initiating requests to watch TV shows with them regularly. 

"In having our caregiver sessions, they were able to be more consistent in their approach and be stronger in how they communicate,” Kristen says. “They were able to grow stronger in their communication with each other."

What Kristen Loves Most about Working at AnswersNow

For Kristen, the most rewarding part of the job is watching caregivers celebrate their own wins. Speaking of a recent caregiver session, gushing about how excited the family was, Kristen says, "When caregivers are excited, it's really cool."

She also values that AnswersNow makes room for bigger-picture conversations with each family. In addition to tracking measurable targets, she also gets to talk with parents about their values and their vision for their child's life. "I'm not telling them what to do," she says, "but I'm there to guide and support them in regards to what makes sense to them."

Working with patients and caregivers is what makes Kristen so happy, and why to her, being an AnswersNow BCBA is the “perfect job.”