Have you heard of the Stone Soup Conference? I’m so proud to join a group of amazing presenters to share lessons and ideas with folks in the behavior analysis community. All proceeds go to Lake Ridge Community Support Services, and (in their words) “build capacity to provide applied behaviour analysis services to children, youth and their families who are in financial need and waiting on service through the ABA for All Fund”. That’s a pretty great mission and I’ve worked with them before… this organization was one of the “early adopters” of anything trauma-related! Years before anyone wanted a keynote about trauma, these folks were simply interested in helping their practitioners get mentorship and consultation for “tough clients” struggling with their returns to communities. I think this type of consultation helps newer practitioners, and ones whose existing clients grapple with new challenges, to fulfill this piece of our Ethics code: “Being aware of, working within, and continually evaluating the boundaries of their competence” (Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, p. 4).

That’s why I was so eager to say “yes!” to this invitation (and thanks so much for our connection, Matt! Your podcast continues to bring exciting topics to forge new paths for behavior analysts interested in growing our repertoires… like exposing us to Rajamaran’s article (finally!) putting trauma in the pages of JABA where it belongs. I loved hearing the stories behind it).

So next week, join me as I talk about horses and love and most of all, why I believe it’s so important to honor the SPIRIT in addition to the LETTER of the Ethics Code: You will find “Treat Others with Compassion, Dignity, and Respect” on page 4, but you will not be able to find a specific code number about it. That might make it seem like it’s not as worthy of an ethical goal. However, it’s actually such an important idea that it pervades and breathes life into every single other component of the Code.

More on this during my talk next Friday. If you can, join us. Check out my teaser video here, then check out other folks’. Come for the CEUs and stay for the stories. I can’t wait to see you in the virtual space!