Update by Loretta Hall 08/05/2022
I am very proud to announce that Perch Junior Supervisors, Gabrielle Gersten and Adrienne Ashley, are now officially Board Certified Behavior Analysts! Gabrielle and Adrienne were both Behavior Technicians at Perch prior to entering UW’s M.Ed. program and Perch’s fieldwork supervision in Fall 2020. They began their apprenticeship as Junior Supervisors in Fall of 2021.
Our agency has truly embraced growing from within and I am so fortunate to be going into my fifth year as our fieldwork practicum supervisor. Providing guidance to these budding BCBAs is my favorite part of this work I love with my entire heart. I’m humbled and honored to be a part of their incredible story…
Adrienne Ashley M.Ed., BCBA
I met Adrienne in 2019 after she’d been with Perch for several months, but I had heard about her beforehand. Her reputation as “the BT that takes a ferry and rides an electric scooter to her sessions” preceded her. Adrienne became somewhat of a legend. How did this woman manage to take a ferry to Seattle each day, jump on an electric scooter (with Seattle’s notoriously hilly terrain!!), often in the rain, and never show up late to her sessions? To a client on Queen Anne?! And she’s a Veteran? I had to meet her. Little did I know then that we’d be embarking on a great adventure together in the Fall of 2020.
At the onset of our supervisor-supervisee relationship, Adrienne made it abundantly clear that she showed up to work hard and would put forward everything she had inside of her. Right away, she introduced a new perspective to our monthly supervisor meetings. When COVID forced us to host our quarterly all-staff meetings online, Adrienne took on the challenge to make our time together more engaging than ever. She revolutionized our BT Ambassador program (and gave it a name).
As much as she loves Perch, though, Adrienne loves her family even more. After graduation, she was called away to care for her family in Wyoming and is now one of 35 Board Certified Behavior Analysts in Wyoming where she will work as a BCBA for Uinta School District!
Gabrielle Gersten M.Ed., BCBA
Gabrielle is one of those clinicians you see and you think “wow, she makes it look so easy”. She’s sharp and steady and presents herself as a seasoned professional well beyond her years. I knew right away she’d be a very special addition to our team and that we’d all be better with her by our side.
Very few of our supervisors had the opportunity to work with Gabrielle when she was a Perch BT. This was because the first supervisor she was assigned to recognized how invaluable she was and then immediately monopolized her time. Later, during her fieldwork supervision, I found that assigning her to shadow the other Perch BCBAs within our agency was as much a learning experience for her as it was a joy for them. Her pointed questions help us to evaluate our own practice, as we constantly should; her empathy is a reminder that we should always come forward with solutions first.
Though Gabrielle passed her BCBA exam three days ago I already cannot imagining our leadership team at Perch without her!