Why Non-Clinical Directors Put Silicon Valley Children at Risk: A BlackRock BCBA Shares Their Personal Story

As a BCBA who spent years working under non‑clinical directors, calling the experience “scary” or “concerning” doesn’t come close, and saying it was “bad” is an understatement. I’m not saying every non‑clinical director is harmful. I am saying they are not bound to a clinical ethics code, and many lack the competence to design safe, realistic workflows. Their decisions often make no clinical sense, prioritizing validation of authority over clinical excellence, and the fallout lands directly on people like you and your family. Most parents assume the person overseeing their child’s ABA program is a trained clinician who understands behavior, ethics, and what is actually feasible in therapy. They assume the “director” is qualified. Hi everyone, my name is Troy, and unfortunately, that assumption is often wrong...

Raising a child in Silicon Valley means living in a world where excellence is the baseline. Tech giants like Google, Tesla, Meta, Apple, and Nvidia set global standards, and parents feel that pressure to give their children every advantage. Whether you’re leading a team at a Fortune 100 company or stretching every paycheck to cover rent, you want your child supported by someone who truly knows what they’re doing — not someone cutting corners to save money. This is why the ABA industry’s hidden leadership problem is so dangerous. Non‑clinical leaders aren’t just cutting budgets. They’re cutting your child’s access to better treatment and limiting his or her potential.

What a Clinical Director Should Be

In most cases, a high‑quality ABA program employs a clinical director who is a Board‑Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with advanced training. This is a master‑level clinician who understands behavioral assessment at a scientific level, is trained in ethics and/or safety, mentors newer clinicians through complex decisions, and protects your child from unsafe shortcuts. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board defines proper supervision as the process of improving and maintaining a clinician’s professional and ethical skills to ensure the highest quality of care (BACB, 2018, as cited in Sipila‑Thomas & Brodhead, 2023).

Exceptional BCBAs aren’t mass‑produced. They’re developed through apprenticeship, mentorship, and hands‑on guidance — a process supported by research shows that high‑quality supervision is essential for developing competent clinicians (Hartley et al., 2016). Meanwhile, most “operations managers” are generic roles with no specialized training in ABA service delivery, meaning that operations management of an ice-cream truck is considered sufficient experience to carry over when leading operations at an ABA clinic... Without a clinical credential or an ethics code tied to the field, they become another cog in the machine. Your child deserves better — and that’s exactly what they get at BlackRock Behavior Group.

The Industry Reality: Many Directors Aren’t Clinicians

To cut costs and scale quickly, many ABA companies quietly place non‑BCBA administrators in director roles. These individuals often come from HR, operations, or billing, or are promoted through nepotism. They are not clinicians, not trained in behavior analysis, and not bound by the BACB ethical code. Yet they supervise BCBAs and influence your child’s treatment. Parents are rarely told this. Children feel it immediately.

Why This Hurts BCBAs — and Your Child

When an administrator runs a clinic, the focus sometimes shifts from your child’s progress to the company’s profit margin. While yes, business is business and all companies need money to operate, it shouldn't come from methods that exploit vulnerable populations. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, I can tell you exactly what happens next: they misidentify “waste,” raise prices, hire inexperienced staff at low rates, and push out competent clinicians to avoid giving raises. Clinical operations generate different forms of waste, and as someone with credentials in both lean management and Applied Behavior Analysis, I have found that excessive administrative staffing has the greatest implications.

Reverse psychology? Not quite. It's pretty simple: administrative work does not generate billable cash flow, so their paychecks are expenses, not investments like the clinicians'. But that's aside from the point.

Between 2010 and 2022, demand for BCBAs exploded by 7,296% (McElroy et al., 2023). Most clinicians working with your child are early in their careers and need mentorship. Instead, they are micromanaged, pressured to increase billable hours, told to “do more with less,” and denied the support they need. Research shows that poor supervision is one of the strongest predictors of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and reduced clinical confidence (Sipila‑Thomas & Brodhead, 2023). A burned‑out BCBA cannot give your child the care they deserve.

Because non‑clinical directors aren’t bound by the BACB ethics code, they often pressure clinicians to recommend more hours than necessary, rush assessments, use cookie‑cutter treatment plans, and accept unsafe caseloads. Parents never see this pressure, but their child feels it. When business decisions override clinical judgment, progress slows, behavior plans become shallow, and staff turnover explodes. Direct‑care turnover in ABA averages 50% per year (BHCOE, 2018, as cited in Cymbal et al., 2022). High supervisor turnover causes high technician turnover, and a revolving door of staff destroys consistency, trust, and progress. Inadequate supervision is also one of the most frequently reported ethical violations in ABA (McElroy et al., 2023). Your child deserves better.

Parents Should Ask Questions

You’re not being difficult or confrontational. You’re advocating for your child. Ask who the highest‑level clinician overseeing your child’s program is, whether that person is a BCBA, how often they review treatment plans, whether they supervise the BCBA directly, and who makes final decisions about hours and goals. If the answer is “no,” or “talk to your BCBA, not me,” you’re staring at a red flag. A good company answers confidently. A bad one deflects.

How BlackRock Behavior Group Does It Differently

Silicon Valley, a region defined by innovation and excellence, BlackRock Behavior Group operates at the boutique, high‑integrity standard families deserve. A BCBA makes all clinical decisions. There are no non‑clinical supervisors, no pressure to inflate hours, no corporate quotas, and no ridiculous caseloads. Care is ethical, individualized, and centered entirely on your child — not crafted for executive benefit. This is what ABA should look like. ABA therapy works best when your child has a BCBA‑led team that protects their progress, dignity, and future. BlackRock Behavior Group is committed to delivering the gold standard of ethical, high‑quality care.

References

Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. (2018). 2018 Annual Report. Los Angeles, CA: BHCOE. (cited indirectly via Cymbal et al., 2022).

Daniel J. Cymbal, Sara Litvak, David A. Wilder & Gary N. Burns (2022). An Examination of Variables that Predict Turnover, Staff and Caregiver Satisfaction in Behavior analytic Organizations, Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 42:1, 36-55, https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2021.1910099

Fran Echeverria & David A. Wilder (2025) Further evaluation of the performance diagnostic checklist 1.1: Outcome agreement between supervisors and employees, Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 45:4, 297-306, https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2024.2430787  

Hartley, B. K., Courtney, W. T., Rosswurm, M., & LaMarca, V. J. (2016). The Apprentice: an Innovative Approach to Meet the Behavior Analysis Certification Board's Supervision Standards. Behavior analysis in practice, 9(4), 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0136-x

McElroy, A. R., Van Stratton, J. E., & McGee, H. M. (2023). A Preliminary Investigation of a Tool to Measure BCBA Supervisory Behaviors. Behavior analysis in practice, 17(2), 486–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-023-00849-2

Sipila-Thomas, E.S., Brodhead, M.T. A Survey of Barriers Experienced while Providing Supervision via Telehealth: Implications for Future Research and Practice. Behavior Analysis Practice 17, 70–86 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-023-00860-7