Integrating Behavior

podcast

Mar 27

with Dr. Pauline Tolentino Pablo

Dr. Pauline Pablo is a Filipino woman with wavy light brown highlighted hair

Behavior Bites Podcast - Ep36

Mar 27, 2024

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Spotify | Apple

How often do you stop and celebrate your wins and accomplishments?

How often do you seek mentorship and networking outside of your immediate environment?

During today’s meal— I speak with a behavior analyst, business owner, and co-founder of APIABA about being trauma-informed in our caregiver coaching sessions, her favorite insult, and her accomplishments in the past 10 years.

Amuse-Bouche
- With so many accomplishments, how are you celebrating yourself and your family?
Appetizers
- How did you get into Behavior Analysis?
- Something you wish you could have told yourself when getting started?
Palate Cleanser
- Your favorite usage of ube?
Entrees
- Key knowledge from your behavioral health program you feel is important to bring into ABA?
- Could you talk about trauma-informed caregiver coaching?
Dessert
- An “insult” you’ve received that you’re proud of?
- Your favorite thing about what you do?
Nightcap
- Tell us about creating APIABA (Asians & Pacific Islanders Association for Behavior Analysis) and what’s on the horizon?

Excerpts from the Episode

(*Paraphrased highlights)

As a newly minted BCBA, I would have told myself to look for mentors outside of my current company. I went from BT to trainee to getting my mentorship and becoming a BCBA, all at the same company.
My first supervisor after I became a BCBA was amazing. When she left, I felt like I was on my own. Yes, I had co-workers but it’s different. I wish I knew I could look outside of the company to find those mentors or just people that understood what I was going through.
Now, I tell my BCBAs, I mentor you, but listen to this podcast. Go check out this person. It's good to learn from different sources.
Whole-person / person-centered care, one where we're paying attention to the social determinants or social drivers of health and paying attention to co-occurring conditions.
We can't just go in and tell a parent, Hey, these are the ABCs of behavior, this is what you should do— without understanding what that parent is going through.
For example, postpartum anxiety and depression can last longer than six months. A lot of times these parents are on survival mode and not in a mode where they’re learning.
We need to pay attention to what they need and address those things first. When we get them to a state where they're relaxed and regulated, then they’re ready to learn. It's the same thing we do with our kids.

ABOUT Pauline

Dr. Pauline Tolentino Pablo, DBH, BCBA, IBA (Doctor of Behavioral Health)

Dr. Pauline Tolentino Pablo is a trauma-aware behavior analyst, mother, wife, and healthcare advocate. She has over 15 years of ABA experience within the home, community, clinic, and school settings.

She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology at California State University Northridge (CSUN) and obtained her master's degree and BCBA certification in 2013. Pauline has held positions as a behavior therapist, supervisor, clinical director, and clinical consultant.

She obtained her Doctorate in Behavioral Health in 2023, a degree that focuses on issues that are impactful to today's healthcare systems such as integrated health, population health, trauma-informed care, and medical literacy. Her doctoral degree project focused on providing integrated behavioral gerontology within elderly care facilities.

As someone who has a younger sister diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she saw the value in ABA therapy for clients and their families. However, she recognized that there is a need for an integrative and person-centered approach to care for clients and their family.

Pauline, alongside her husband who is a nurse, Benjamin, decided to build Symphony Behavioral Health, a family and clinician owned company that focuses on addressing gaps in care by providing quality services to our clients, and quality support to our team members.

Pauline is also the co-founder of Asian, Pacific Islanders, and Behavior Analysis. This group aims to disseminate the science of ABA within the Asian and Pacific Islander population, as well as promote diversity within the field to better serve diverse clients. The organization advocates for API representation through promotion and dissemination of work produced by API professionals. Pauline hopes that her lived experience as a Filipino immigrant as well as her professional knowledge will help her goal of supporting the API community.

CONNECT with Pauline