Supervision and Mentorship in Applied Behavior Analysis

Is there a difference between supervision and mentorship, especially in the field of ABA? ABSOLUTELY! Why not? Although, in my educational and professional experiences, there has never really been an emphasis on mentorship. The primary focus has been on supervision and getting all of your hours completed in a “best practice” and well rounded experience.

After reading a bit more and talking with some other BCBAs (both supervisors and non supervisors), I realized that mentorship can and definitely should play a role in professional development of behavior analysts. According to Bailey and Burch’s 25 Essential Skills for Behavior Analysts (2010), mentoring requires a longer commitment from the mentor and can be indefinite in its time period. Whereas, BCBA supervision has specific time constraints that must be made and maintained.

“A mentorship after completion of supervision can benefit both the mentor and mentee.”

Mentoring allows for the mentee to set goals throughout the relationship. Under BCBA supervision, goals are mentioned as a recommendation in numerous supervision contracts, but are not necessarily a requirement. Should they be? Should specific goal setting and monitoring be a requirement of the practicum/internship experience? Wouldn’t this add a measurable, and therefore, more behavioral? In my mind, this would, in a way, be more of practicing what we preach, by adding a behavioral component to practicums/internships.

A mentorship after completion of supervision can benefit both the mentor and mentee. This relationship can become collaborative in the sense that it has the potential to be a sort of sounding board for both parties in sharing new ideas and research.