Women in Behavior Analysis - WIBA

01/16/2026

When You Didn’t Feel Like You Belonged

Let's have an honest conversation many women in behavior analysis quietly share.

Almost every woman in the field can point to a moment, a meeting, a classroom, or a conference session, where she looked around and thought, “This isn’t my space.” Sometimes it is subtle, like your ideas being overlooked until someone else repeats them. Sometimes it is obvious, like not seeing anyone who looks like you at the front of the room or never seeing the topics you care about represented.

It is easy to internalize those moments as personal failure. But let's reframe them as data about our systems and culture, not about individual worth. Belonging in behavior analysis is not just about personal resilience. It is about the environments we create.

When we talk honestly about these experiences, we make it easier for the next person to stay, to speak up, and to help build better rooms.

If you are willing, share in the comments one time you didn’t feel like you belonged, and if you are comfortable, what helped you stay anyway. Your story might be exactly what someone else needs to read today.

01/16/2026

Good morning, bold women! ☀️
Who’s ready for Day 2 of Women Behaving Boldly? More courage, more connection, more magic—let’s do this! 🙌

01/15/2026

What Keeps You in This Field on the Hard Days?

We invite you to reflect on a question many behavior analysts have asked themselves.

Almost everyone in this field has had moments of wanting to leave. The paperwork, the systems, the pay, the burnout can be heavy. We do not stay because it is easy or because we are tougher than other professions. We stay because of the small, powerful moments.

A learner using a new skill independently. A supervisee finding their voice. A family finally feeling supported and heard. Those moments are data about what matters to you. They point to the kind of impact you want your work to have, even when the systems around you are not there yet.

When we share those reasons with each other, we are reminded that we are not carrying this work alone. One person’s “why” might be exactly what someone else needs to hear on a discouraging day.

Tell us in the comments: what is one thing that keeps you here, or brought you back when you were questioning whether to stay?

01/15/2026

🎉 Today’s the day! 🎉

Women Behaving Boldly kicks off today, and we cannot wait to welcome you.

Two days of powerful conversations, evidence-based practice, leadership, and community with women who are shaping the helping professions.

If you are registered, grab your coffee and log in.

If you are on the fence, it is not too late to join us. https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/wiba-boldly26/registration

Let’s behave boldly—together.

01/15/2026

01/15/2026

We are thrilled to announce that Beacon of Hope ABA Beacon of Hope ABA has joined us as an Official Silver Sponsor of Women In Behavior Analysis’s Women Behaving Boldly Virtual Conference happening Thursday and Friday this week!

Beacon of Hope ABA provides high-quality, compassionate Applied Behavior Analysis services across Southeast Alabama with 10 locations. Their team is dedicated to maximizing skill development, reducing target behaviors, and supporting families through trauma-informed, evidence-based ABA therapy for children and individuals in their communities.

We are grateful for Beacon of Hope’s commitment to advancing behavior analysis and for investing in the professional growth of women in our field. Sponsors like them play a vital role in making Women Behaving Boldly an empowering and impactful experience for all attendees.

Thank you, Beacon of Hope ABA Services, for your support and partnership. We look forward to celebrating with you at the conference!

Be sure to check them out here: https://www.beaconofhopeaba.org/

01/14/2026

How to Make Conferences Actually Change Your Practice

Here's some advice for anyone who has left a conference with a full notebook but little real change in their day-to-day work.

Conferences cost time and money, so the goal is impact, not just CEUs. Here are three practical strategies:

Go in with one real problem. Before the conference, write down a specific challenge from your setting, such as staff turnover, parent training, or supervision. Choose sessions around that question. If you come home with one clear next step, the conference did its job.

Be intentional socially. Set a simple rule, like having one brave conversation per day. Ask a follow-up question, introduce yourself to the person next to you, exchange contact information, and jot down what you discussed. Those connections often matter more than any slide deck.

Plan implementation before you leave. Schedule a short block of time within three days of returning home to choose three or four ideas you will actually try. Put those actions on your calendar and plan a follow-up check-in a month or two later.

If you are attending a conference this year, save this as your checklist and share it with a colleague you want to grow alongside.

01/14/2026

🚨 It starts tomorrow! 🚨

Women Behaving Boldly kicks off tomorrow, and you don't want to miss this opportunity to join an event designed to challenge, inspire, and equip women behavior analysts to boldly lead with confidence and intention.

✨ Two days of meaningful conversations
✨ Practical insights you can apply immediately
✨ A community that values data, ethics, and bold professional growth

There is still time to register! Do not miss your chance to be part of this experience.

👉 Register now and join us for two full days! https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/wiba-boldly26/registration

01/13/2026

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01/13/2026

🌸 Our lives shape our practice—and justice begins there.

At Women Behaving Boldly, Mawule Sevon, PhD, NCSP, BCBA invites us into a powerful conversation about identity, growth, and justice-oriented practice.

📌 Blooming Into Justice: How Our Lives Shape the Justice-Oriented Practitioner Within
🗓️ January 16, 2026
⏰ 2:10 – 3:10 PM EST
🎓 1 COA Hour | 1 BACB® General CEU

This session centers the idea that our personal journeys do not sit outside our professional work—they actively shape how we show up as behavior analysts, leaders, and advocates. Drawing from her own lived experiences, Dr. Sevon frames professional “blooming” as both a developmental process and a justice-oriented act.

Participants will engage in intentional self-reflection to examine how identity, history, and values influence decision making, leadership, and equity-centered practice. This session offers concrete ways to translate reflection into justice-oriented action, particularly for practitioners from marginalized communities.

A must-attend for anyone committed to aligning behavior analysis with equity, advocacy, and meaningful change.

🎟️ Join us at Women Behaving Boldly
January 15–16, 2026
Register via BehaviorLive:
https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/wiba-boldly26/registration

01/13/2026

On Belonging in Behavior Analysis

Have you ever wondered, “Do I actually belong in this field?”

Many of us start our careers as the new person, the youngest in the room, the only woman, the only person of color, or the only one asking certain questions. It is easy to confuse feeling out of place with not belonging. They are not the same.

Fitting in often means shrinking or editing yourself to match the room. Belonging means you can bring your full self, your values, and your questions and still be welcomed. If you have been trying to fit in for years, it makes sense that you are tired.

We encourage you to look for small data points of belonging: the colleague who backs you up in a meeting, the supervisor who seeks your perspective, the learner or family who lights up when you walk in. Those moments are signals that you do belong, even if some rooms have not caught up yet.

As you grow, you also get to help build the rooms where others feel that sense of belonging. In our field, belonging is not something handed down. It is something we create for each other.

If this resonates, share one moment when you felt like you truly belonged.

01/13/2026

🗣️ Communication is behavior—and it’s beyond our scope alone.

At Women Behaving Boldly, Nikia Dower, MS, CCC-SLP, BCBA, LBA challenges the field to rethink how we approach communication intervention.

📌 Beyond Our Scope: Why BCBAs Need SLPs at the Table (Not Just on Speed Dial)
🗓️ January 16, 2026
⏰ 3:20 – 4:20 PM EST
🎓 1 COA Hour | 1 BACB® Ethics CEU

Too often, interprofessional practice is treated as a checkbox rather than a cornerstone. Drawing on dual certification as both an SLP and BCBA, Nikia examines why communication goals demand true collaboration—and why working in silos persists despite ethical mandates in both professions.

This session delivers practical strategies to move beyond referrals toward sustainable BCBA–SLP partnerships, clarify what “scope of practice” really means for communication, and advocate for accessible SLP consultation and training within organizations.

If you’re ready to behave boldly by admitting what we don’t know—and who we need at the table—this session is for you.

🎟️ Join us at Women Behaving Boldly
January 15–16, 2026
Register via BehaviorLive:
https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/wiba-boldly26/registration