You Belong
with Jeron Trotman
Behavior Bites Podcast - Ep14May 10, 2023Do you ever feel unsupported and like you don’t belong because you’re different from the people around you?
During today’s meal — I chat with President and Founder of Black Men in Behavior Analysis, Jeron Trotman, about the challenges Black male BCBAs face and the vision for the field’s future.
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Amuse-Bouche
How do you practice self-care?
Appetizers
How did you get into Behavior Analysis?
Palate Cleanser
What’s your go-to snack?
Entree
What is BMBA and the history behind it?
3 biggest challenges facing Black male BCBAs?
Something you wish you could have told yourself when getting started?
Dessert
What’s your mission moving forward?
Excerpts from the Episode
(*Paraphrased highlights)-
BMBA stands for Black Men in Behavior Analysis.
In grad school and my internship days, I was usually the only black person and definitely the only black man. My supervisors, who are amazing, were middle-aged white women and couldn't relate to certain things culturally.
It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta and started working for Dr. Ajamu Nkosi, a prominent black male BCBA, that I saw the value of having representation and people who look like you and can understand certain things about you. I saw the value in that.
The big domino to fall was in 2020 when the BACB released demographic info. At the time it showed that less than 4% of all BCBAs were black, and you're looking at about less than 2% (closer to 1%) of BCBAs were black men. That's the problem, because if you don't have a lot of people who look like you, you don’t have anybody to emulate or get mentorship from. It becomes very difficult.
For a while I had that journey, and a lot of people come to me now when they're just getting into our group saying, “Wow, I've never even met another black male BCBA until this group.”
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* Lack of support — There are so many people that I've talked to within this past year, who don't have support. When you don't have support, you can easily feel down. You can feel like you don't have anybody to talk to about not only clinical issues, but personal issues. If you don’t have people who understand you, it just becomes really hard. It's something we talk about all the time in our group and try to provide each other with that support.
* Lack of buy-in — A lot of individuals, particularly black men in our field, at times struggle to get buy-in from people. I've encountered it myself. On the BMBA website there’s an e-book where I go into detail about how to get that buy-in, how to know you belong, how to pair, and how to make sure that you are coming with reliable data….
* Lack of mentorship — I can't speak enough about this mentorship and supervision piece. There's so much value in having somebody that understands you, that you can go to for advice, and that you can emulate on a personal and a professional level. It was difficult for me, but I was blessed to be able to find an amazing mentor. Having that mentorship is a huge challenge for black men in our field.
(Download the free e-book to learn more about these 3 challenges at bmbanetwork.org/overcoming)
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I love to meditate and love to work out. Big basketball player and tennis as well. Music is also huge for me. I will sit in a dark room sometimes or drive a car on the highway. It's part of my self care process, listening to music—happy or sad.
Then probably the biggest thing for me is family time. It's a form of self care for me to be able to speak to family members about certain things going on in my life. Particularly, I have a twin. So speaking to my twin really helps me a lot.
ABOUT Jeron
Jeron Trotman, MS, BCBA
Jeron holds a Master of Science degree in Psychology with a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). He has worked in the field of ABA for over a decade. He currently resides in Atlanta, GA and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.
Jeron is the President and Founder of Black Men in Behavior Analysis and is currently an active member of several organizations devoted to upholding the professional practice of applied behavior analysis. These organizations include: the Association for Professional Behavior Analysts, Black Applied Behavior Analysts, and the Georgia Association of Behavior Analysis.
His focus interest includes: teaching and instruction, the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, behavior analytic consultation to schools, dog training—and training, coaching, and mentoring in health and fitness.
Connect with Jeron
* Follow BMBA on Instagram — @blackmeninaba* Visit the BMBA website — bmbanetwork.org
* Contact BMBA — contact@bmbanetwork.org* Follow Jeron on Instagram — @J_trotman35
Visit my Podcast page to learn more about Behavior Bites!
