The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

In this episode of Behavioral Observations, I chat with Drs. Florence DiGennaro-Reed, Derek Reed, and Gregory Madden. While we talked a bit about their new book, An Introduction to Behavior Analysis, we framed the discussion around the process of teaching itself, textbook notwithstanding. Before getting into the content itself, let me introduce our guests: Dr. DiGennaro-Reed is an Associate Professor in and Chairperson of the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas where she directs the Performance Management Laboratory and Performance Management Center. Her research examines effective and efficient staff training and performance improvement practices. She also conducts translational research in on-campus laboratory facilities. Dr. Derek Reed is a familiar voice to long-time BOP listeners. He is, among other things, an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas where he directs the Applied Behavioral Economics Laboratory. Dr. Gregory Madden teaches and conducts research at Utah State University. Here is an excerpt of his bio in his own words: "I am a Professor in the Department of Psychology. I teach PSY1400/1410, which is the introductory course in behavioral processes. Topics range from free will to interventions designed to treat depression and drug dependence. I also teach an upper-division course on applying behavior-change technology to workplace settings." It turns out that they've been working on this book for roughly six years. We talked about why they thought a new ABA text was necessary, what makes this book stand apart from other really good ones that are out there, and how they attacked the massive challenge that is the writing process itself. Along the way, we ended up getting into what makes for good university instruction, the need (perceived or otherwise) to "sell" students on Behavior Analysis, and lots of other interesting nuggets and tips for those who have the important task of teaching the next generation of behavior analysis students. As such, I think there are a lot of meta-lessons embedded in this episode that are relevant whether or not you teach this material. Here are the links for this episode: An Introduction to Behavior Analysis * (Madden, Reed, and DiGennaro-Reed, 2021). Studyblue.com (online flashcard maker that was referenced). A blog post explaining what Habit Stacking is, based on the book * by S.J. Scott. Derek Reed on Session 17 and Session 113 on the BOP. LeBlanc, Heinicke, and Baker (2012). Expanding the Consumer Base for Behavior-Analytic Services: Meeting the Needs of Consumers in the 21st Century. This podcast is brought to you with support from: If you want to study ABA and Positive Behavior Supports at a top-notch setting in Europe, then look no further than the Tizard Center at the University of Kent. Since 1986, they've been training professionals to support individuals with disabilities. Their primary focus has always been promoting values-based and ethical approaches to supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. If you would like to learn more about ABA and PBS training on an international stage, check out www.tizard.org. Gateway Learning Group, and their Autism Leadership Academy. Designed for new Regional Directors, the Autism Leadership Academy develops motivated BCBAs into successful leaders in the autism field. If you’re interested in running your own regional center and want to learn the skills to do so successfully, check out gatewaylg.com/BOP. Note: Immediate openings available in Texas. BCBAs across the U.S. are encouraged to apply! Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. Consider joining the BOP Patreon. Patreon members get early access to podcasts, bonus podcast material, discounts on CEU events from FTF and other continuing ed purveyors, occasional Zoom hangouts, and more!

In the sixth edition of the Inside JABA Series, I'm joined by Inside JABA regulars Drs. Linda LeBlanc and Claire St. Peter, as well as Dr. Jesse Dallery, to talk about the paper he and his colleagues published in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. This paper fits nicely in JABA's ongoing series on Public Health and Telehealth, and is a great example of the potential for Behavior Analysis to be used for so much more than the type of work many BCBAs are doing currently. As Linda states during the show, "public health is all around us," and that public health challenges, at the end of the day, are behavioral in nature. As an aside, if you're not currently subscribed to JABA, you can do so here.  Here are some of the topics we discussed: The current scope of cigarette smoking in the United States. How cigarette smoking occurs disproportionately in individuals of lower socio-economic status. Previous research in the contingency management (CM) of cigarette smoking. The logistical challenges of previous work in CM. How Jesse and his research team addressed these challenges in the current study by developing a mobile system of carbon monoxide sampling. The relationship between the literatures of CM and Delay Discounting, and more generally, Behavioral Economics (I couldn't' help myself from butting in and asking a few questions about this). Here are the links to papers, podcasts, apps, and other resources we talked about: mMotiv8: A smartphone-based contingency management intervention to promote smoking cessation. Dallery, Stinson, Bolivar, Modave, Salloum, Mendoza Viamontes, and Rohilla (2020). Quitbet (smoking cessation app). Smokefree.gov (smoking cessation resources from the US Federal Government). Jesse's homepage at the University of Florida. Previous episodes discussing Behavioral Economics: Session 11 (Dr. Erin Rasmussen), Session 17 & Session 113 (Dr. Derek Reed), and Session 99 (Dr. David Cox). New Evidence That Cigarette Smoking Remains the Most Important Health Hazard (Schroeder, 2013). As with previous Inside JABA Series Podcasts, this one is eligible for BACB approved Continuing Education, click here to learn more! While we're on the topic of CEUs, allow me to suggest subscribing to the Behavioral Observations' Patreon page, where enrolled patrons get access to discounts in the BOP CEU store, as well as other purveyors of behavior analytic training. To learn more, head over to patreon.com/behavioralobservations!

In Session 145, I speak with Deidre Sturm and Anne Denning from The Consultants for Children, an agency that supports individuals with ASD based out of Colorado. Together, Anne and Deidre tell the story of how they completely revamped their agency’s approach to supporting individuals with problem behavior. After not seeing much success with their existing functional assessment practices, they dove deep into the work of Dr. Greg Hanley and his colleagues. After taking all the online professional development that’s available on the IISCA or PFA approach, Deidre and Anne, along with the rest of their colleagues at The Consultants for Children, began slowly rolling out this process on an agency-wide basis. During this conversation, we cover how they got started, what they’ve learned from implementing these procedures “in the real world” – especially in the context of telehealth – and lots more. Here are the links to the resources we discuss: FTF Behavioral Consultants’ online course library (Patron discount available!). Greg’s companion website, Practical Functional Assessment. The IISCA App. Cusp Emergence University (Dr. Camille Kolu’s online training resources for Trauma Informed Care). CEU’s from The Behavioral Observation Podcast (Patron discount available!). Greg Hanley’s appearances on the BOP. Camille Kolu’s appearance on the BOP. WYZE Indoor Cameras (Amazon associate link). Children’s Habilitation Rehabilitation Program Waiver (CHRP; State of Colorado). As an aside, an ad-free version show has already been shared with members of my Patreon group, which you can learn more about at patreon.com/behavioralobservations. Also, if you're a member of the All-Access Patron Tier or above, you have access to 20% discount codes to FTF's online trainings. There are more benefits available too, but this one alone is literally worth the cost on its own. Session 145 is also brought to you with support from: Gateway Learning Group, and their Autism Leadership Academy. Designed for new Regional Directors, the Autism Leadership Academy develops motivated BCBAs into successful leaders in the autism field. If you’re interested in running your own regional center and want to learn the skills to do so successfully, check out gatewaylg.com/BOP. Note: Immediate openings available in Texas. BCBAs across the U.S. are encouraged to apply! HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.

I've been wanting to interview Dr. Carl Hart ever since I first heard him speak at the 2015 Mass ABA conference. Put differently, when asked who would be a 'bucket list' interview, Carl Hart was usually the first name that I answered with. Ever since learning about Carl's work, I've admired his ability and willingness to advance science-based arguments in the popular press media. If this is your first time hearing his name, let me share a little of his background information. Carl is the Ziff Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, where he's been researching the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans for nearly 20 years. Carl's research, along with his personal experience and observations, has shaped an honest and refreshing point of view as to how society treats the behavior of drug taking, and what we need to do in terms of changing public policies in this area. Even if you disagree with his main thesis, I encourage you to listen all the way through our interview. Personally, I have my own homework to do in terms of thinking through whether the full legalization of all classes of drugs is a good idea, but I think in general, it's good to challenge our assumptions and views, even if only periodically. One of the other things that I like about Carl is that he has been successful in communicating complex and nuanced scientific findings in the area of mass media. He's been featured in the op-ed pages of major newspapers and on network television. Carl has also been a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, which is, by audience standards, very likely the largest podcast out there right now. Even more impressive though is how Carl has taken the time to share his views in popular press books. His first book, High Price, was a New York Times bestseller, and I have no doubt that Drug Use for Grown Ups will meet or exceed the success of it. Long story short, I think there are lessons for dissemination we can all learn from him.  Here are the links to the various sources we mentioned: Carl's latest book, Drug Use for Grown Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear. His debut book, High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society. The Declaration of Independence. The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. Carl's website. Carl's Twitter. Carl's appearances on the JRE. The difference between a Coroner and Medical Examiner.   Today's episode is brought to you with the generous support of the following: Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. How-to-ABA. Being a BCBA can be lonely and overwhelming.  At howtoaba.com, we help BCBA’s feel supported and confident by providing easy to access printables, CEU's and a collaborative community. Also, your monthly pro membership includes access to CEU’s! Along with the community of over 1000 ABA professionals, howtoaba.com will help you save time, feel confident and master what you love! For more information, Go to howtoaba.com/joinbxresource.  When you join today and use code BOP, you’ll receive 10% off a yearly subscription (includes CEU’s!). The long-awaited Behavioral Observations Patreon. For the last few years, I've run a private membership group on my website, and I'm excited to announce that I'm transitioning this over to the Patreon platform. There are several different options based on your needs and budget, so if you're interested in getting awesome discounts for professional development from Greg Hanley's company, FTF, accessing an ad-free podcast, listening to bonus patrons-only content, and more, head over to patreon.com/behavioralobservations.

In Session 143, I chat with John Capodilupo, co-founder of Whoop, the maker of the Whoop strap system I've been talking about for the last several episodes. At the risk of sounding like an informercial for this neat product, I've really enjoyed using the Whoop strap for the last few months. If you aren't familiar with it, the Whoop strap is a wearable device that tracks all sorts of cool metrics, including sleep, calorie burn, heart rate, and more. As John notes in the podcast, the folks at Whoop are using data science and machine learning to optimize personal health. And they do this through these proprietary metrics that are generated from the device. John gets into the weeds on this topic, and regardless of whether you're in the market for wearable tech, I think you'll find it quite fascinating! We also discuss Whoop's involvement in research in detecting the early stages of both Covid-19 and Alzheimer's disease. I think this device and the data it produces, is giving us a window to the future of big data and public health research. Fascinating times we live in for sure! If you're interested in trying out a Whoop strap for yourself, check out join.whoop.com/matt and save $30 in the process. You can also go to behavioralobservations.com/whoop, and that will take you in the right direction too. At the request of a listener who's been a Whoop user for quite a while, I've created a Facebook group, Behavior Analysts who Whoop, so feel free to join the group, ask questions, and so on. Here are the links to the resources we discussed: The Plos One article on Covid-19 detection. Research from Cornell on Alzheimer's. The Locker, Whoop's blog. The Whoop Podcast. I also wanted to let you know that I've decided to start a Patreon for Behavioral Observations. I arrived at this after much consideration. When I first heard about Patreon, it felt like a mechanism for asking for a handout... kind of like an internet tip jar, and I didn't start one because there was not enough value in it for the listener. Fortunately, Patreon has really stepped up their game to the point where they are able to offer subscribers really cool benefits. Specifically, depending on which membership tier is chosen, subscribers can access an ad-free podcast feed, subscribers-only bonus content, discounts in the Behavioral Observations CEU store, and much more. Earlier today, I just uploaded a great Q & A session with Greg Hanley that we recorded last spring, which is available for All Access and Institutional level subscribers. I'm also working with a few different companies and I hope to be able to offer subscriber-only discounts for products and services from other folks in the ABA space. So if this sounds good to you, head over to patreon.com/behavioralobservations to learn more!

My friends over at ABA Inside Track - Robert Parry-Crews, Diana Parry-Crews, and Jackie Macdonald, got together for our third annual year-in-review collaboration. And suffice to say, what a year it has been. In this episode, we discuss the events of 2020, both in the world of Behavior Analysis and beyond. We spoke at great length about the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the provision of services, as well as how Behavior Analysis responded to the challenges of racism, policing, and the like. Finally, we round out the episode by honoring the memories of some of the pioneers in our field who passed away in 2020. So grab a beverage of choice, put your earbuds in, and join us in kicking 2020 to the curb and look forward to a hopefully more reinforcing 2021! Here is a very likely incomplete list of links to things we discussed: Previous Year in Review Shows: 2018 Year in Review. 2019 Year in Review. Cox, Plavnick, and Brodhead (2020). A Proposed Process for Risk Mitigation During the COVID-19 Pandemic. LeBlanc, et al. (2020). The Role of Compassion and Ethics in Decision Making Regarding Access to Applied Behavior Analysis Services During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Response to Cox, Plavnick, and Brodhead. BOP Covid-19 Facebook Banter Part 1. BOP Covid-19 Facebook Banter Part 2 (140 comments!). Session 116, Wendy Machalicek on Telemedicine. Session 13, Megan Miller on Telemedicine. Session 113, The Behavioral Economics of Toilet Paper with Derek Reed. Session 114, Keep your kids learning at home with Amy Evans. Session 121, Coping in Quarantine with Russ Harris. Session 128, Mary Jane Weiss. Session 120, Listening to Perspectives that Matter (please check out if you missed this one!!!). ABA Inside Track 128, Diversity and Inclusion with Adrienne Bradley and Kat Jackson. Session 124, Behavior Analysis and policing with John O'Neill. Session 138, More on policing with Tina Long and Officer Joe Schlenz. BACB Podcast on global certification changes. Operants fall issue with Adithyan Rajaraman re: Online instruction. In Memoriam: Jack Michael. Jose Martinez-Diaz. Patricia Krantz. On a final note, I'd be remiss if I didn't say how grateful I am for everyone who listens to and supports the show. I was raised to not discuss money in public, but the pandemic has cut the revenue of my consultation practice by more than half, and despite that, we managed to get through the worst of it because of the support from the audience. So whether you've purchased CEU's, subscribed to the membership community, patronized my wonderful sponsors, or simply shared favorite episodes with friends and minded behavior peeps, you've really come through and helped me avoid what could have been a financial disaster. For all of this and more, to say that I am thankful doesn't even scratch the surface. I'm looking forward to 2021, and I'm excited to continue to produce and share these conversations. And from my family to yours, please have a happy and safe holiday! Special thanks to the following (apologies in advance, as they're likely to be folks that I forgot to mention): HRIC Recruiting. Behavior University. Gateway Learning Group's Autism Leadership Academy. How-to-ABA.com. New Hampshire Association for Behavior Analysis. FTF Behavioral Consulting/Greg Hanley. Essential for Living/Pat McGreevy. Brett DiNovi and Associates. Central Reach/Rick Kubina. The Applied Behavior Analysis Center/Adrienne Fitzer. Connections Behavior Planning and Intervention. Britton Behavioral Consulting/Lisa Britton. Praxis Continuing Education and Training. Hillcrest Educational Centers. University of Kent Tizard Centre ABA Program. Rich Brooks and the crew at Flyte New Media. My friends over at WHOOP.

In Session 141 I speak with Sasha Shtern and Dr. Eric Moody about using the Goally Learning Device with families. Sasha is the CEO of Goally and Eric holds the title of Research Professor at the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities. Goally is an Android-based stand-alone device that allows users to program visuals schedules, create task analyses, manage token economies, and even log problem behaviors. In this episode we talk about the conditions that motivated the creation of this device, the research and implementation science that's been conducted with it, and how both clinicians and parents have been using it to support children across their day. If you'd like to learn more about Goally, click here to check them out. While there, be sure to check out their blog (I found the articles on supporting kids in remote learning situations particularly interesting... here is one of them). In the spirit of transparency, I'd like to make clear that as of this writing, Goally is not a sponsor of Behavioral Observations, nor is there any affiliate relationship. However, this episode is brought to you with the support of the following: How-to-ABA. Being a BCBA can be lonely and overwhelming.  At howtoaba.com, we help BCBA’s feel supported and confident by providing easy to access printables, CEU's and a collaborative community. Imagine, having an all-in-one resource to save you time and help your clients, having getting your toughest questions answered, and being part of a collaborative group of professionals to share ideas. Plus, your monthly pro membership includes CEU’s! Along with over 1000 ABA professionals, howtoaba.com will help you save time, feel confident and master what you love! For more information, Go to howtoaba.com/joinbxresource.  When you join today and use code BOP, you’ll receive 10% off a yearly subscription (includes CEU’s!). The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, just click here! HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away.

In Session 140, Dr. John Michael Guercio joins me to talk about best practices for supporting adults with Autism. He is well suited to do just this, as John has been working with adults with various developmental disabilities for decades. He is currently the Clinical Director for Benchmark Human Services in St. Louis, Missouri, and is the author of the recently published book, "Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: Teaching Skills to Adults with Autism and Severe Behavioral Challenges." As you'll likely tell, I really enjoyed talking with John, and I think you're likely to learn a lot from his knowledge and expertise in the area of serving adults. In this episode we obviously get into John's formative experiences in the field of Behavior Analysis and talk about his book for a bit. But we also spend quite a bit of time discussing Behavioral Relaxation Training, escalation, crisis management, and so much more. I really think there's something in here for just about anyone in the field. Also, early on in the conversation, John and I discover that we both saw the original line up of The Grateful Dead back in the day. Don't worry though if you're not interested in this because we got back on topic right away. However, after the official interview concluded, we resumed this discussion on our favorite jam bands for about 15 minutes, and this bonus footage is available to those who are signed up in the Behavioral Observations Membership group. John mentioned numerous resources during our chat, and I have attempted to note them all here: John's book. The Controversial Exchange #16, reacting to Skinner's address to the APA (highly recommended!). Guercio et al, 2004: Using stimulus equivalence technology to teach emotion recognition to adults with acquired brain injury. Guercio and Dixon, 2011: The Observer Effect and Its Impact on Staff Behavior in an Acquired Brain Injury Neurobehavioral Treatment Setting. Guercio and Dixon, 2010: Improving the Quality of Staff and Participant Interaction in an Acquired Brain Injury Organization. Wilson, et al., 2014: Exploring the Clinical Utility of a Stimulus Avoidance Model to Enhance a Relaxation Training Model. Dr. Camille Kolu's BOP episode on Trauma. Dr. Merrill Winston's BOP episode on Restraint. Jay Moore: The Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism.* Singh, et al., 2003: Mindfulness on the Soles of the Feet study. Dixon, et al., 2015: Research Rankings of Behavior Analytic Graduate Training Programs and Their Faculty. LeBlanc, Sellers, and Ala'I, 2020: Building and Sustaining Meaningful and Effective Relationships as a Supervisor and Mentor.* The Aura Ring. Carr et al, 2013: The original Performance Diagnostic Checklist article, An Assessment-based Solution to a Human-Service Employee Performance Problem. Felitti, et al., 1998: Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. LaFrance, et al., 2019: Multidisciplinary Teaming: Enhancing Collaboration Through Increased Understanding. Adler, et al., 1987: Relaxation Induced Panic (RIP): When Resting Isn't Peaceful. This show is brought to you with support from the following: Gateway Learning Group, and their Autism Leadership Academy. Designed for new Regional Directors, the Autism Leadership Academy develops motivated BCBAs into successful leaders in the autism field. If you’re interested in running your own regional center and want to learn the skills to do so successfully, check out gatewaylg.com/BOP. Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations. The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, head over to behavioralobservations.com/whoop!

A few months ago, a few BCBA's from the Boulder Valley School District reached out to me and offered to share the story of how they are fielding a team of Behavior Analysts in the public school setting. As someone who has spent a career consulting to public schools, I was instantly sold. I believe that as if this recording, the BVSD employs about 10 BCBA's, and in Session 139, I'm joined by four of them: Kelly Miller, Cosmina Barbat, Stephanie Gregory, and Shelly Roberts. We were also fortunate enough to be joined by their fearless leader, their Director of Special Education, Joy Larson. Someone who understood the value of developing internal behavior-analytic resources to support the district's students. In this episode we cover the following: How the district decided to invest in the hiring of internally placed behavior analysts. How the district BCBA's work collaboratively with professionals in other disciplines. How BCBA's support students not just with specialized educational and behavioral needs, but also in mainstream educational settings. How working as a public school employee is different than working in an at-home or clinic setting. And advice for schools that want to hire their own BCBA's, as well as advice for BCBA's who want to dip their toes into the public school waters. Lastly, I think the argument for having more Behavior Analysts in school settings speaks for itself. As we discuss in the interview, these amazing BCBA's have contributed to reducing Boulder Valley's out of district placements by 70%! Here are the links for Session 139: The Boulder Valley School District. Just in case you're thinking of relocating. Well Managed Schools curriculum. The Mystery Motivator. Questions / comments for these guests? Kelly Miller has agreed to field them. Contact her here. Session 139 is brought to you with generous support from: How-to-ABA. Being a BCBA can be lonely and overwhelming.  At howtoaba.com, we help BCBA’s feel supported and confident by providing easy to access printables, CEU's and a collaborative community. In the howtoaba.com membership, Shira Karpel and Shayna Gaunt share their best resources from years of practice in the field.  Whether you’re a beginner or a long time practitioner, you will benefit from both these resources as well as a supportive community.  Imagine, having an all-in-one resource to save you time and help your clients, having getting your toughest questions answered, and being part of a collaborative group of professionals to share ideas. Plus, your monthly pro membership includes CEU’s! Along with over 1000 ABA professionals, howtoaba.com will help you save time, feel confident and master what you love! For more information, Go to howtoaba.com/joinbxresource.  When you join today and use code BOP, you’ll receive 10% off a yearly subscription (includes CEU’s!). The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, just click here!

Shortly after I published Session 124 on Police Academy training with John O'Neill, Tina Long, a BCBA from Northern Virginia, emailed me to share the outreach work that she has done with her local police department in Fairfax County. Specifically, in the wake of the nationwide re-examination of the role of policing, Tina felt compelled share what she has learned about the ACT Matrix with local law enforcement personnel, and after leaning more about her story, I thought it was definitely worth sharing on the podcast. Tina and I had a brief conversation that we recorded back in August. At the time, she had the opportunity to do a training with the police department, but unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, her allotted time was cut to 20 minutes. As such, we made plans to connect later on and record another segment once Tina was able to get deeper into the material. So this podcast consists of both the original conversation from August, and our follow up, which was recorded in November 2020.  For Part 2 of this conversation, Tina was able to get Officer Joe Schlenz, the lead crisis intervention training instructor, from the Fairfax County Police Department to join us as well. In this segment, Joe provides a wide-ranging perspective on the role of empathy and compassion in policing, de-escalation, triaging and managing risk, officer burnout and suicide, and so much more. If you're concerned about policing in America, I hope that the work he and his colleagues are doing will give you a sense of optimism. And as I've said in previous shows, it is always great to talk about how people from different fields consume and apply concepts from the behavioral sciences.  Here are some of the resources we discussed: Tina's website for NV Instruction (clearinghouse for lots of related content).  Facebook Group for clinicians using the ACT Matrix. Tina's Crowdcast page (lots of free training resources). The ACT Matrix: A new approach to building psychological flexibility across settings and populations (Polk and Schoendorff 2014)* Crisis Intervention Team International. University of Memphis CIT Center. I think this is really the first podcast where we talk about the ACT Matrix. If you're a long time listener, we've done many shows on ACT itself, but I'm looking forward to learning more about the ACT Matrix itself, so you can probably expect to hear more about it in 2021.  This podcast is brought to you with the support of the following: HRIC Recruiting. Barb Voss has been placing BCBAs in permanent positions throughout the US for just about a decade, and has been in the business more generally for 30 years. When you work with HRIC, you work directly with Barb, thereby accessing highly personalized service. So if you're about to graduate, you're looking for a change of pace, or you just want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side, head over to HRIColorado.com to schedule a confidential chat right away. The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for just a few weeks and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, head over to behavioralobservations.com/whoop! CEU's from ... Yours Truly... or, more specifically, podcast guests such as Greg Hanley, Steve Hayes, Mark Dixon, Megan Miller, Pat Friman, and much more. Head over to behavioralobservations.com/get-ceus to learn more about which trainings are available, as well as some pretty steep discounts for multiple event purchases.  *denotes Amazon Affiliate link