Beyond the Behavior Plan: Your Next Career Moves After Being a Behavior Intervention Specialist
So, you’ve been in the trenches as a Behavior Intervention Specialist (BIS). You know the challenges, the breakthroughs, and the immense satisfaction that comes with supporting individuals to navigate behavioral hurdles. But maybe you’re feeling ready for a new challenge, a different setting, or a role with greater responsibility. The fantastic news? Your skillset is a golden ticket to a diverse range of meaningful career paths. Let’s explore the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.
Your Core Skills: The Launchpad for What’s Next
Before diving into specific roles, remember the powerful foundation you’ve built:
Deep Understanding of Behavior: You analyze the why behind actions using functional assessments and applied behavior analysis (ABA) principles.
Intervention Design & Implementation: You create and execute effective, individualized plans.
Data Wizardry: Collecting, tracking, and interpreting behavioral data is second nature.
Collaboration Mastery: You work seamlessly with teachers, parents, therapists, and administrators.
Crisis Prevention & De-escalation: You remain calm and skilled in managing challenging situations.
Empathy & Communication: Connecting with individuals facing significant behavioral challenges is your strength.
Problem-Solving: Finding creative solutions to complex behavioral puzzles is your daily work.
These aren’t just job skills; they’re highly transferable competencies valued across numerous fields. Let’s explore where you can take them:
Path 1: Advancing Within the World of Behavior & Special Education
This path leverages your existing expertise directly, often allowing for progression without starting from scratch:
1. Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA): This is the most natural advanced step for many BIS professionals. BCBAs hold a master’s degree, complete specific coursework in ABA, gain supervised fieldwork hours, and pass a rigorous exam. As a BCBA, you move into a leadership role: conducting assessments, designing comprehensive behavior plans, supervising RBTs and BISs, training staff, and overseeing program implementation across various settings (homes, schools, clinics). Salary potential increases significantly. (Note: Requires additional education and certification).
2. Special Education Teacher: Your deep understanding of behavior management and individualized support is invaluable in the classroom. Many states offer alternative pathways to licensure for professionals with relevant experience. You could specialize in teaching students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or other significant needs. This path offers stability, benefits, and the direct impact of shaping academic and social growth.
3. School Counselor (with relevant credentials): Your skills in understanding behavior, building rapport, supporting social-emotional learning, and collaborating with stakeholders align well with school counseling. Transitioning usually requires a master’s degree in school counseling and state licensure. You’d shift focus from intensive behavioral plans to broader academic, career, and personal/social development support for all students, while still utilizing your behavioral insights.
4. Clinical Case Manager/Social Worker (Behavioral Health Focus): In mental health clinics, hospitals, or community agencies, your BIS background is incredibly valuable. You’d coordinate care for individuals (often children or adolescents) with behavioral health diagnoses, connecting them and their families to resources, advocating for services, and monitoring progress. A master’s degree in social work (MSW) or counseling is typically required for licensure.
Path 2: Expanding into Related Therapeutic & Support Roles
These roles utilize your behavioral expertise in slightly different, but highly relevant, contexts:
1. Registered Behavior Technician (RBT): While sometimes seen as a step into the field, experienced BIS professionals might choose RBT roles in specialized settings (like intensive in-home ABA therapy) if seeking a change of pace or environment while staying hands-on, often under BCBA supervision. RBT certification is required.
2. Behavioral Health Technician (BHT)/Mental Health Technician: Working in hospitals, residential treatment centers, or group homes, BHTs provide direct support to individuals with mental health or behavioral challenges. Your de-escalation skills, behavior management strategies, and ability to implement treatment plans are directly applicable.
3. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Specialist/Consultant: Focus your expertise specifically on supporting individuals with ASD. You might work for school districts as a consultant, train staff, help develop district-wide programs, or work for non-profits providing specialized support services.
Path 3: Leveraging Skills in “Unconventional” (But Fulfilling) Fields
Don’t underestimate how widely applicable your core skills are:
1. Corporate Training & Development: Your ability to understand human behavior, design effective interventions, deliver training, and manage group dynamics translates powerfully. Focus on roles involving employee onboarding, soft skills training, performance improvement, or even diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. You understand how to shape behavior and foster positive workplace cultures.
2. Human Resources (HR) – Specialized Roles: Particularly in areas like employee relations, conflict resolution, performance management, or organizational development. Your skills in de-escalation, communication, problem-solving, and understanding motivation are highly valuable in navigating complex workplace dynamics.
3. Corrections/Rehabilitation Counselor: In juvenile justice facilities, prisons, or community reintegration programs, your behavior management expertise is crucial. You’d work on developing pro-social behaviors, anger management, and life skills with individuals navigating challenging life circumstances. Specific state certifications or degrees (like counseling or criminal justice) may be needed.
4. Non-Profit Program Coordinator/Manager: Organizations focused on disability rights, mental health advocacy, youth development, or social services need program staff who understand behavior, can manage cases, train volunteers, and develop effective support structures. Your frontline experience is invaluable.
Choosing Your Next Step: Key Considerations
Passion: What population or issue energizes you most? Children? Adults? Mental health? Education? Corporate environments?
Environment: Do you thrive in schools? Clinics? Hospitals? Offices? Community settings? Home-based work?
Responsibilities: Do you want more direct client work, supervision, program design, or administrative leadership?
Education: What level of additional education are you willing and able to pursue? Some paths (BCBA, School Counselor) require significant investment.
Salary & Benefits: Research typical compensation and benefits packages in the roles and locations you’re considering.
Making the Transition Smoothly
Network: Talk to people already in the roles you’re interested in. Informational interviews are invaluable.
Highlight Transferable Skills: On your resume and in interviews, explicitly connect your BIS experience to the requirements of the new role. Use their language. Don’t just list duties; frame them as achievements demonstrating relevant competencies.
Tailor Your Resume: Avoid a generic resume. Emphasize the skills and experiences most relevant to the specific job you’re applying for.
Pursue Necessary Credentials: Be realistic about any required certifications or degrees and start planning if needed.
Leverage Your Experience: Your time as a BIS isn’t just a job; it’s proof of resilience, adaptability, empathy, and critical thinking – qualities every employer seeks.
The Bottom Line
Your journey as a Behavior Intervention Specialist has equipped you with an incredibly powerful and adaptable toolkit. You are not limited. Whether you want to deepen your expertise within behavior analysis, move into related therapeutic fields, or leverage your skills in a completely different sector, your options are vast and meaningful. Identify what drives you, assess the practicalities, and confidently step into the next chapter of your impactful career. The skills you honed supporting individuals through behavioral challenges are precisely what will make you a valuable asset in countless new roles. The path forward is yours to shape.
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