The Mentor’s Role: Shaping the Future of ABA Professionals through Supervision

Mentorship in ABA is essential to shaping confident, ethical professionals. Learn how to mentor with impact and why it matters now more than ever.

The Future of ABA Supervision Is in Our Hands

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis is growing at exponential rates. At face value, this is great for our field, but growth without guidance is risky. As seasoned behavior analysts step back or transition to new roles, we face a critical question: Who is carrying the torch? Without intentional mentorship within supervision, we risk losing more than institutional knowledge. We risk losing the culture of ethical, values-based practice that defines a great clinician.

Mentorship isn’t just about meeting supervision requirements; that is just the beginning. It’s how we pass on the why behind our work; the reasoning, compassion, and clinical judgment that can’t be found in textbooks.

When Guidance Is Optional, the Whole Field Suffers

In almost every helping profession, newly licensed practitioners are mandated to engage in mentorship. Why is the same not true for behavior analysts?

In our field, mentorship is treated as a luxury instead of a necessity. New behavior analysts may find themselves managing full caseloads with minimal support, expected to make complex ethical decisions, manage teams, and ensure client progress all while still learning how to translate the skills they learned in fieldwork to their assigned clients.

When mentorship is missing, clinicians are more likely to experience burnout, doubt their abilities, and feel isolated in their decision-making. Without strong models to learn from, early-career professionals may develop inconsistent habits, misunderstand core principles, or miss out on the kind of reflection that leads to growth. The result is a profession that looks stable on paper but cracks under pressure.

We all know and understand the research behind supervision and mentorship, so why is it so undervalued in our field? There are endless reasons.

Individuals may have had poor mentor or fieldwork experiences- some new clinicians may have been taught that seeking mentorship is a sign of weakness or incompetence.

We may have a fear of being judged. If we find a mentor we truly look up to, we may be afraid to look or sound incompetent in front of them.

The lack of consistent mentorship in our field may make it difficult for someone to identify the path to mentorship.

Society in general has moved from a collectivist nature to valuing individual accomplishments and we can see that mirrored in the field of behavior analysis.

While these are all true and valid- the easiest solution to each of these roadblocks is mentorship. All of the fears we have around mentorship melt away when we find that those we look up to also have the same fears. The common humanity in each of us is there to bring us closer together, not push us further apart.

The fears that hold us back from mentorship are often the very things that make it so powerful. Vulnerability, uncertainty, self-doubt aren’t signs that we’re unqualified. They’re signs that we care. And when we meet those moments with support instead of silence, we create space for growth, reflection, and connection.

If you're a newer clinician, you're not supposed to have it all figured out. And if you're more experienced, reaching out for mentorship is seen as a sign of strength, not incompetence. Mentorship isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about showing up with honesty, curiosity, and a willingness to walk alongside someone to learn and grow together.

The future of our field will be shaped by the relationships we choose to build today. Let’s make them strong, supportive, and rooted in shared humanity.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Take a moment to reflect: who helped shape the way you practice today? And who might be looking to you for that same support now?

Mentorship doesn’t need to be formal or perfect. It starts with a conversation, a check-in, a willingness to be real with each other. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to reach out, or to offer your time to someone else, consider this your invitation.

Let’s build a field that honors growth, connection, and the people who keep showing up for one another. We all rise when we rise together.