In honor of our 20th Anniversary, we found several people who were at the first VABA Conference (and therefore members) and who are members still today. Our first honoree is Barbara Kaminski.
What were you doing in behavior analysis back when VABA first started?
During the early 2000’s, I was a mom of two young children living in northern Virginia but working part-time in Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Behavioral Biology. An early adopter of working remotely, I worked some of my time at home and only needed to travel to Baltimore 1 or 2 days each week. My work at that time was in grant-funded behavioral pharmacology and was focused on behavior maintained by access to alcohol and environmental and pharmacological variables that could decrease alcohol-maintained behavior. I was 100% an EAB/lab-based behavior analyst who loved research!
What are you doing in behavior analysis today?
While I will always love EAB, many years of getting up at 4am to commute to Baltimore, combined with a tightening budget for grant-funded research, led to a decision in 2013 to shift gears professionally. Today, I work as an applied behavior analyst. I am Clinical Director at an agency providing insurance-based services in NOVA. I also work as an adjunct instructor for George Mason University and The Chicago School DC campus, as well as provide in-person and webinar-based CEUs for certified individuals. I am passionate about issues related to soft skills, ethics, and the intersection of behavior analysis and social issues. Oh, and I still love EAB and am likely to be found attending the EAB presentations at conferences!
Any lessons learned that you want to share?
The lab is about breaking things down to learn about the small units; the real world is about putting the units back together. The best behavior analysis, both basic and applied, comes from considering both the context and the small units. In our alcohol research, we were systematically looking at context. In my clinical work, I consistently reference basic research. There is so much cool stuff that has been learned through basic research, it’s only boring or seemingly irrelevant if you fail to use analytical skills to see how it applies.
What surprises you the most about the field today?
I will be honest that I struggled with this question. I really wanted to highlight the most positive “surprise.” Truthfully, the positive things about this field, I don’t think are that surprising to me. Behavior science has always had strong potential to make a positive impact in socially significant ways and there have been talented behavior analysts working in a wide variety of domains for many years. What is surprising to me is that progress in behavior science is still faced with so much headwind and that we still haven’t figured out how to communicate with others in ways that elucidate our contributions, past, present, and potential.
What value do you find in being a VABA Member?
I am very grateful to VABA for the work that it does to promote behavior analysis as a valuable asset to behavioral health through the advocacy and legislative work that it does. It is behind-the-scenes and it is easy to miss the impact on everyone who works in the behavioral health space. I appreciate that VABA makes an effort to include EAB in the conference program (I will never get off the “EAB is important” soap box; sorry, not sorry). And, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I love the opportunities to network with and learn from others during conferences, webinars, and other events. Seriously, given the membership rate, VABA is an extremely good deal.