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THE BEHAVIORAL TEAM Kelly Hall, LCPC, and Director of the Hope
Behavioral Health Department is thrilled at the
growth of her team. “I have immense pride and
Hope’s Behavioral Health Department plays an admiration for my team,” said Hall. “I am very
integral role in the success stories of our youth! excited about the expansion of my team. We are
Virtually all of our Springfield Learning Academy diverse and each person brings their own strengths
and Residential Academy students have a behavior to the table, allowing us to offer the very best care
plan in place, but what is a behavior plan? What to our kiddos.”
is its purpose? And how are they created
and implemented? Kelly’s team consists of Dr. Kim Pollock, LCP; Aubry
Tarr, LPC; Kelly Johnston, LSW; Jessica
The Behavior department works directly with the Landendorf, LCPC; BCBA’s Tori Branda, Karen
educational and residential teams to assess Brown, and Bridget Gilliam; RBT’s Nate Mayfield, Will
specific behaviors that may be impeding the Porter, and Amanda Ikejiaku; Amanda Gahm, who
learning and/or independence of a student. During is working towards her BCBA; and intern, Shelby
the assessment phase, behavior analysts use Button.
scientific methods to predict why the behavior is
occurring. Once they have identified the what The Behavioral team places a strong emphasis on
and the why, they design positive intervention making decisions that are in the best interest of
strategies in order to address and change the Hope’s students. They continually monitor each
behavior. This in-depth behavior plan is shared student on their case load and work with Hope
with the family and support staff that work with staff to ensure each student’s success. This kind
the student so that the behavior strategies can be of teamwork and level of care is what makes The
worked into every aspect of the student’s life. The Hope Learning Academy in Springfield unique.
team then monitors the behavior plan by collecting
and analyzing data using software like catalyst and
Therap to determine if the plan is on track or if it
needs adjusted.
