We recently connected with Francesca Salazar and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Francesca, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I want to say that one specific incident was my last straw, but that wouldn’t be true. Before deciding to launch Limitless, I worked at a variety of ABA clinics across 3 states. I started my ABA journey in California (2014) where I had phenomenal mentors; women were passionate about the work they did and eager to teach their subordinates. In 2017, I relocated to Michigan and had a very different experience. Regional directors were inundated with work and overrun by the growing demand for behavioral services. I watched as the directors begged for a pause in intake or additional support, but all of their cries went unanswered. As a result, client’s and families suffered silently. The client’s had outdated programs, therapists were burnt out, and turnover was high. As much as I wanted to impact the lives of those I worked with, I was stuck on repeat with little to no supervision and I was disheartened. I decided to push forward and finish my Master of Education in Applied Behavior Analysis, and in 2021, I moved to Georgia for my husband’s job. Georgia is the 41st state to mandate ABA coverage, therefore I was excited about the opportunity to bring my experience to the state. To date, I have worked for three clinics in Georgia, two of which were driven by monetary results versus an authentic concern for the population they served. I’ve been forced to watch another chain reaction where resources are scarce, staff members are underpaid and overworked, and patient’s do not receive the quality care they deserve. So, with all of this in mind, I have to say that it was the culmination of several events that forced me to my breaking point. I didn’t want to work at a clinic that didn’t have hand soap or give tours to prospective families while there were holes in the walls. This journey was extremely stressful mentally, physically, and emotionally; however, as my days grew more uneasy, my path became very clear. So to answer the question, several events and defining moments changed the trajectory of my career. Persistence and dedication are the foundation of Limitless ABA.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Absolutely! My name is Francesca Salazar and I’m a 36 year old woman that currently resides in Georgia. I grew up in Detroit, MI where my father was a Detroit Police Officer and I went on to graduate with a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan (U of M). During my tenure at U of M, I dabbled in a lot of outreach programs including AmeriCorps, mentoring troubled youth, and volunteering at psychiatric wards. I knew that I wanted to help people, much like my father, I just wasn’t sure about the capacity. After graduating I moved to California and stumbled into ABA, which is really where my career began. Being a behavioral therapist was easy for me. I loved watching my client’s progress and their families overjoyed by the growth. The fun days outweighed the challenging days and I knew this was my calling.

For those who do not know, Applied Behavior Analysis is an evidence-based treatment that has been utilized for decades as a means of combating deficits/excesses for individuals with Autism. ABA is data driven and continually evolving to ensure best practices are being implemented. ABA allows clinicians to evaluate the presence or absence of behaviors, explore the functionality of behavior(s), and identify ways in which behavior(s) may be influenced by the environment. The overarching goal of ABA is to increase meaningful behaviors and decrease dangerous behaviors, ultimately leading to an enhanced quality of life for our clients. ABA therapy has been endorsed by a variety of leaders in the medical community including, but not limited to: the US Surgeon General, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Neurology, American Academy of Family Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association.

I am incredibly proud to be a founder of Limitless, as our entire existence revolves around the client. We’ve developed Limitless to be an innovative clinic, still rooted in scientific, evidence-based practices, but client led. Too often, we enter clinics that break our hearts. Children are forced to sit at tables, make eye-contact, suppress their self-stimulatory behavior; to that, we say no more. We know that 1 in 6 children in the U.S, have one or more developmental disabilities/developmental delays and according to the CDC (2023), 1 in 36 children are being diagnosed with Autism. This tells us that the need for behavioral services will continue to increase, however we refuse to watch it grow this way.

When it comes to potential clients, followers, or even future employees, what we want you to know is that we see you. We want to help in any capacity that we possibly can. If you need an advocate, we’re here for you and we remain neutral regardless of where you pursue services. If you want a work/life balance, we’ve done our best to make this happen with 4 day work weeks, PTO, mental health days, and other monetary systems in place. If you know someone with Autism and you follow us, ask us questions! We want to provide education and change the way Autism is understood. A significant amount of time is spent on teaching individuals with ASD how to interact with others; let’s change the way those without a diagnosis interact with those on the spectrum.

If you can take away one thing from this, know that we vowed to leave the world better than we found it by revolutionizing the way ABA services are delivered… we won’t stop until that happens.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was a kid, I was certain that I would have life figured out by the time I was thirty. I look back and laugh because while timelines are important for progress, there are a lot of outside factors that can disrupt your path. Since the outset of my ABA career, I have had three children, moved to three different states, lost my father to Kidney Cancer, and battled my own illnesses. Most recently (2023), our home was struck by lightning and burned down. We lost everything. When I say we lost it all, I mean it; every single item in our home was incinerated or water damaged. We were forced to start over and all that we had were the pajamas we ran out of our home in.

That was exactly how I told the story for several days as I was absolutely devastated by the event. Now, I change the way I tell it:

At 3:00 AM, our home was struck by lightning and caught fire. It burned down, but thank God we are all alive. We were displaced for a month, but we have amazing friends who allowed us to stay with them. We lost all material things, but our communities rallied around us and gave us so many items. We struggled to find a home, but we found a beautiful community that our children love.

I’m still heartbroken when I think about what happened to us and what my children had to endure. There is no timeline for processing the trauma of this experience, but there is resilience. Resilience manifests differently for everyone and sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes you will display resilience by getting out of bed, by going to work, by attending an event, or opening up about trauma. Sometimes you’ll display mental toughness by working through the bad and accepting that simultaneously, some “good” was displayed. Resilience doesn’t mean forgetting, it simply means continuing to move forward.

Everyday since the fire, I applaud my family, and myself, for the mental and emotional toughness we display. My 6 year-old son returned to school within the same week and opened up to counselors about his experience. My husband accepted help for the first time in his life. My twins were brave enough to explore a new home and pick a new room. My mother moved across the country to help us get back on our feet. I returned to Limitless with the same enthusiasm and dedication that I had before.

If one thing is certain, it’s that life will throw you curveballs. Some you will dodge and others will derail you. Take your time, show yourself grace, but get back up. The dream has been planted within you for a reason.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We believe that the key to management and high morale is remembering that everyone is an individual. The field of ABA is built around the delivery of reinforcement, however we have found that ABA staff members are rarely reinforced. As much as we love pizza, we don’t want it once every sixty days to show that we are appreciated. What motivates me, may not be motivating for you, and that’s ok. Upon hire we present a questionnaire that will allow our teammates to fill us in on the ways they feel reinforced. We’ve built staff reinforcement into our budget to ensure we invest in our team! When companies have been forced to cut costs, we see this fall on the shoulders of staff- this is not acceptable and not something we are willing to do. Therapists are at the core of our business and they deserve to be honored as such.

My business partner and I have done our best to build our model around feedback we’ve received at other clinics. Some of the ways we plan to keep morale high is by offering a 4-day work week, competitive pay, staff outings/events, and opportunities to earn gift cards, swag, and additional PTO. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it’s some of the systems we have in place to show our appreciation and commitment to our team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.limitlessabaga.com
• Instagram: Limitless.aba.ga
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/limitless-applied-behavior-analysis/about/?viewAsMember=true
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/limitless-aba-cumming?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)