Director-At-Large

Catherine Jessel is a BCBA, LBA (NY), and RBA (Ont.). She completed her M.S. in Behavior Analysis at University of North Texas with an experimental thesis. During her time at UNT, she worked at Denton State Supported Living Center under the supervision of Dr. Rick Smith, conducting functional analyses, implementing medical and dental desensitization, designing individualized support plans, and training direct care staff. While in Texas, she also worked with Dr. Einar Ingvarsson at a clinic providing intensive 1:1 services, where she participated in research of the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) and skills-based treatment along with Dr. Joshua Jessel and Dr. Rachel Metras. 

After leaving Texas, Catherine worked as a behavior analyst in New York City and Long Island for 7 years, where she provided behavioral consultation for public school districts and supervised in-home and community-based services through a BCBA-owned agency. She worked with clients between the ages of 2 – 21, though her primary focus was middle and high-school aged clients. Catherine’s goal through her consulting and supervision, was to support the implementation of compassionate, values-based, and assent-based interventions for all her clients regardless of verbal ability or diagnosis. In the school consult, Catherine supported multi-disciplinary teams working with students in grade-level special education and general education classes with a variety of needs (e.g., autism, anxiety, OCD, depression, trauma, etc.). Before moving to Ontario, she served as assistant clinical director at the agency, Long Island ABA, and taught ABA graduate courses as an adjunct lecturer at Queens College focusing on child development and behavior intervention for developmental disabilities. 

Catherine also works as a Lead Consultant with FTF Behavioral Consulting, where she provides primarily distance-based training and support to professionals who wish to improve outcomes for the children and adults they serve using practical functional assessment and skills-based treatment (PFA – SBT) and universal protocol. Beyond clinical services, Catherine has published research on the practical functional assessment and co-authored a textbook chapter on the topic. 

Catherine is now embarking on a new adventure in Ontario, where she is continuing her work as a behavior consultant, with the goal of building capacity in compassionate and trauma-informed care in the professional community in Canada.