Black in Behavior is comprised of three professionals in Applied Behavior Analysis, based in Portland, Sacramento, and Atlanta: Senior Behavior Technician Nikki Robinson, Program Supervisor Jeremy Roberts, and BCBA Sharon McCollum. They discuss social issues and navigating the field and its barriers, while being unapologetically Black. The purpose of BIB is to offer insight, guidance, their truth, and most importantly, their mission to decolonize ABA.

"We be queer out here." - Nikki 

On this episode, Nikki and Jeremy discuss the history of Juneteenth and how little they both knew about it growing up. They also discuss Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" and what Pride Month means to the both of them as Black Queer individuals, and how vital it is to protect the autonomy of queer clients. On Jeremy's Decolonization segment, he discusses the intersection of Black and queer.

If you'd like to provide feedback, request a topic, or be a guest on the show, you can email [email protected]!

Intro, transition, and outro beats credited to: Jimmy Easton of Posterchild Media

Artwork by Clara Emiliana ([email protected])

On this episode, Nikki, Jeremy, and Sharon discuss their experiences with the police and how the police should be better trained to compassionately handle situations that involve a Black person or a disabled person. They also discuss how companies can intentionally support their team members to ensure meaningful growth and development professionally. In Jeremy's Decolonization segment, he discusses alternatives to calling the police and how vital it is to be aware that you as an clinician may not understand your teammates' or clients' backgrounds and traumas, but it's imperative to check in regardless.  

If you'd like to provide feedback, request a topic, or be a guest on the show, you can email [email protected]!

Intro, transition, and outro beats credited to: Jimmy Easton of Posterchild Media

Artwork by Clara Emiliana ([email protected])

On this episode, Nikki and Sharon are joined by the show's first guests Kia and Shaunna. Kia (she/her) is a 6 year BCBA who lives in Texas and Shaunna (she/her) is working on her BCBA credentials currently and lives in Sacramento. Together, they discuss their careers, imposter syndrome, the importance of having Black supervisors, and the barriers that stop other Black individuals from pursuing a career in ABA.

If you'd like to provide feedback, request a topic, or be a guest on the show, you can email [email protected]!

Intro, transition, and outro beats credited to: Jimmy Easton of Posterchild Media

Artwork by Clara Emiliana ([email protected])

On this episode Nikki, Sharon, and Jeremy share their experiences being Black in behavior. They also discuss 3 important topics:

Note: the 2022 BACB Ethics Code has additional requirements regarding diversity, biases, and cultural competency. This will be part of the requirement for Behavior Analysts in 2022 (though this would not be required for RBT). Here's the RBT Ethics Code and the RBT Task List.

If you'd like to provide feedback, request a topic, or be a guest on the show, you can email [email protected]!

Intro, transition, and outro beats credited to: Jimmy Easton of Posterchild Media

Artwork by Clara Emiliana ([email protected])

This special episode previously aired on the Kadiant podcast, It Takes a Village: An ABA Podcast, a podcast about the autism community and everyone who is a part of it. ITAV's Black History Month special events saw Nikki hosting her own episode along with Jeremy and Sharon, but due to the long list of topics they wanted to talk about, they decided to host their own show to cover the many different facets and topics relevant to ABA and the Black community.