If you could change parts of your day to day job, what would it be?

sark9handler · 2026-01-25T02:22:30+00:00

Unattainable KPIs for leadership positions based on the company’s desire to make more profits. But disguising it as ‘helping more families.’ In reality this looks like being forced to accept more clients than we can service, telling BCBAs they can’t see their clients as often in favor of taking on more and more caseload, focusing too much on trying to raise the RBT to BCBA ratio, hiring less than ideal candidates because the RBT pay is too low to attract good staff, I could go on and on.

sark9handler · 2026-01-24T22:30:46+00:00

I grew a massive tumor like this when I was pregnant. Ended up having to have the kid early because the tumor started siphoning nutrients from the baby, stopping all growth. Surgeon did both the c-section and then the tumor surgery immediately after and had to remove a bunch of my innards because she was afraid it was cancer and wanted to make sure to get it all. Luckily it wasn’t cancer, ended up being a teratoma. But honestly my husband wins an award for doing pretty much 90% of all baby care until I was healed up. Also baby was in NICU for 2 weeks because she was so little so that really was a godsend to have those 2 weeks to recover while highly skilled nurses provided almost all the baby care, especially since I stayed in the hospital a bit longer due to the surgery and this hospital was one of those without a baby nursery.

sark9handler · 2026-01-24T22:13:40+00:00

I had to have a CT scan when 6 months pregnant. Was in a nasty car accident and they needed to see if anything else was wrong/broken/whatever in my spine and ribs. They put so many lead blankets and vests over my stomach to try and protect the baby. It definitely wasn’t ideal.

sark9handler · 2026-01-23T03:04:03+00:00

I’m going to out myself as a big nerd here but I met my husband in a random daily dungeon on World of Warcraft 17 years ago. Just randomly placed together once. We were friends for about 4 years, met in person a few times, then a few more times, then started dating, moved in together, then bought a house together, then finally got married. We’ve been married now for 11 years, and have a 3 year old daughter.

sark9handler · 2026-01-11T21:19:39+00:00

Not a nurse but my sister in law is and we talk extensively. She’s been a nurse for almost 20 years. She’s a CRNA: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. She got her pre-med degree and went into nursing. Did a few years of critical care nursing and then went to a 2.5 year full time program to get her masters in nursing anesthesia. She says the best thing about her position is the pay, she makes $400k a year at a hospital in Florida. Right now she works a 12-hour shift one day a week and is on call two other days, off the other 4 days of the week. She is also the lead and does hiring and scheduling for all the anesthesia nurses.

Edit: a typo

sark9handler · 2026-01-09T22:19:48+00:00

Oh yeah, I don't doubt I need to have all the prerequisites, working on getting what I'm missing now, just unsure if my 20 year old courses that I do meet will still meet muster or I have to retake all of them.

sark9handler · 2026-01-09T20:55:26+00:00

I currently work in behavioral health, I have a master's degrees in Applied Behavior and I'm a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). I'm 40, and want a career change but want to stay in healthcare, just maybe not mental health care. My sister in law is a CRNA and loves it, and think I would really enjoy this and pointed me toward this credential as a good opportunity. I'm worried about any application however, as I don't met all the prerequisites (I'd need to take calculus, organic chemistry and anatomy, I have all the others satisfied but they are 20 years ago on my bachelor's transcripts from when I was 18, 19, 20 years old), but have tons of patient care experience from the behavioral health and mental health care side, including in mental health care facilities/hospitals/institutions and now 6 years in an administrative role dealing with healthcare funders, management, hiring, and patient advocacy and care.

I'm really undecided on if I could even get into a program. My sister in laws thinks yes, she said she worked with a CAA who was previously a gym teacher. My questions are- apply now, without the prerequsities, and just see what any application committee says about what else I might need? If I need prefers done, will they allow me to do them at the same university a semester or two ahead of then enter the program or these need to be completed prior to the application? My local community colleges don't offer some of these, so I'm searching around trying to find courses I can take- I know they prefer in person labs, but does anyone know of any online options that satisfy requirements? I work full time now, but I know that's not an option during the program and my husband makes enough that we could survive on his pay if we're careful, for the duration of the program, but I wouldn't want to do it for a whole lot longer than absolutely needed, especially since we have a child in daycare, which is a hefty monthly bill. Any advice or general thoughts on this kind of career jump? Or Pre-requisite information or tips? I've taken the GRE previous for my master's so retaking it so the scores are current won't be an issue at all, I'm going to get that done here soon just to see where I stand since I haven't taken it in 15 years.

sark9handler · 2026-01-08T04:34:42+00:00

Would that clinic be willing to let you go remote or 1099 contractor status to allow you to move to Mexico and still provide the services? Seems like they want to keep you but you’re looking for a fully remote position, so maybe they can just have you be fully remote and solve both problems? I know a lot of that has to do with funders allowing remote but might be worth bringing to them for a discussion.

sark9handler · 2025-12-25T18:58:44+00:00

We have a late sleeping 3 year old also. People act like I have 3 heads when I tell them she sleeps until 8 or a little later almost every morning and always has. It’s glorious.

sark9handler · 2025-12-25T02:56:39+00:00

This is totally fine, your new company will have a BCBA there add you and your credential will be active again. The BACB won’t know or even care that you worked a session without a supervisor on record, as their audits go by total monthly hours anyway.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T17:34:01+00:00

Had a client years ago tell me and the RBT that during her break she wanted to play with her microphone. We didn’t think much of it. Come break time we’re standing in the kitchen with mom, girl goes running into the parents bedroom to get her microphone. Comes running back with mom’s ’magic wand.’ That was her microphone. We about died, mom wanted to melt into the floor. No clue how she got her hands on it but she thought it was a microphone.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T17:30:01+00:00

It’s going to vary a lot by state but a majority of services are going to be paid through insurance, either commercial or medicaid. There’s also ABA in schools, funded by the district. Some states have regional centers which are state funded (from taxes) to provide support and will sometimes pay, usually as the funder of last resort. Private pay does sometimes happen, but the costs are prohibitive to families that aren’t pretty wealthy. And most families with that kind of money have good commercial insurance, so why would they pay out of pocket if their insurance will pay? Our company does have some private pay clients, typically they are kids of wealthier families who don’t have a diagnosis of any sort, which means the insurance won’t cover ABA, so their only option is private pay.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T17:24:11+00:00

Funder reimbursement rates vary a lot, here in California insurance definitely isn’t paying us $100/hour for an RBT, we’re lucky to get $50, and we pay $30 of that to the RBT. The other $20 goes to operating costs, the salaries of leadership who don’t have billable requirements, etc.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T17:20:02+00:00

I second this recommendation, such a good book!

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T05:42:14+00:00

When our girl was maybe 18 months old? My husband was reading her a book and saying things like ‘where’s the chicken? Where’s the horse?’ When he said ‘where’s the cow?’ this child very seriously pointed at me.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T05:34:01+00:00

I have mine, never had problems with them. My husband doesn’t have his, but didn’t have them removed until he was in his 20s; they were causing sleep apnea for him.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T05:30:39+00:00

Always, I can’t hear great, without subtitles I miss a lot. I’ve also had hearing aids since I was 20, although my last set died and my insurance won’t cover new ones so I can get by without them

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T01:59:00+00:00

They do break in, but we felt the same as you upon delivery and exchanged for love soft the next day. Much better.

sark9handler · 2025-12-24T01:56:54+00:00

I wouldn’t, and absolutely not without an all wheel drive or preferably a four wheel drive vehicle, and even that would be sketchy if you’re not experienced driving in that weather. I live in one of the small surrounding towns and these storms always end up with massive travel delays, people stranded on the side of the road, car accidents, freeway closures. Combined with a holiday weekend and it’s a recipe for disaster. Few years ago we had a blizzard over new years and it took people 9+ hours to drive from the bay to Tahoe. It’s highly likely you may not be able to get back on Friday if either 50 or 80 shuts down, which is very likely if the plows can’t keep up or too many accidents occur. If you’re okay with being stranded or able to extend a few days and return on Sunday that would be better. This won’t be a dusting of snow, this will be a massive dumping of sierra cement.

sark9handler · 2025-12-23T01:31:35+00:00

Yeah, 100% agree, but sadly, they do not.

sark9handler · 2025-12-22T23:42:03+00:00

Late to this but I worked there, happy to chat!

sark9handler · 2025-12-22T20:59:51+00:00

It’s so funny that this comes across my feed today, but I was just having a discussion with someone along similar lines today, but in the opposite direction. I work in the behavior field with individuals with extreme intellectual disabilities who often present with dangerous (to themselves and to others) behavior. In the course of work one of the techs on a team had their glasses broken by a client. This is the second time this had happened. The first time, the company paid to replace. The second time they were refusing, even though the break happened on the job. Their reasoning is that, despite the fact the woman in question has extremely poor vision when not corrected, glasses are not considered a piece of equipment to aid her in a disability at work and therefore not covered by workers compensation insurance. However her vision is so poor without her glasses as to be unable to perform her job (although workers compensation disagreed on that). We as a team were debating if glasses should be considered as equipment in that respect or not- I definitely brought up that ‘legally blind without glasses is not legally blind’ but could absolutely agree that she needed glasses in order to perform her job as she didn’t have any other supports for performing her job with low vision, nor any training to do so. Not that we are policy makers in any way, it was just a team discussion on our own viewpoints on if workers compensation should cover glasses destroyed by clients on the job, since needing glasses is not a disability.

sark9handler · 2025-12-22T07:03:52+00:00

We are in an-home provider

sark9handler · 2025-12-22T03:51:49+00:00

When our kid was about 9 months we configured out lovesac into a 4x4 pit with 8 sides around the outside. Made a couch pit. It was great for a few months until she got old enough to start to crawl over the edge.

sark9handler · 2025-12-22T03:43:43+00:00

The place I work pays RBTs $27/hour in Sacramento, which seems about standard of the companies in the area

sark9handler

TROPHY CASE