We recently connected with Lindsay Milnes and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lindsay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I would say first big risk I took was moving across Canada to follow my passion of supporting neurodivergent children. I had just graduated with my Honors in Psychology (major: Behavioural Neuroscience) from Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and lived at home in Nova Scotia for the summer while I job searched. I didn’t find a job related to my education and prior work as an Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Home Therapist, but found a decently paying cash job working on a haskap farm for the summer. Although it wasn’t ideal, only working 4-hour days allowed me to .also volunteer at a Speech & Hearing clinic to further obtain experience and network at a workplace with helping professionals.

I continued searching for a job more in line with my passion for helping others. Although there were very few job opportunities at that time (August 2015), I stumbled upon a couple positions. One was located in Halifax, an hour drive away from my hometown, and the other was located in Kelowna, BC, way on the other side of Canada. My younger sister was living and working in Kelowna at the time and wanted me to visit her at some point, so I thought why not look for a job just for the heck of it?

I never heard back from about the position in Halifax, but received an email about my application to the Kelowna position as a Behaviour Interventionist within the field of ABA. The owner invited me to an interview over the phone and while the interview went well and she was pleased with my education and previous job experience as an ABA Home Therapist, she could not guarantee me the position. I explained that I lived all the way on the East Coast of Canada and that I couldn’t drive all the way to British Columbia for a potential position, so she gave me more assurance by letting me know that I had the highest level of education compared to all the other applicants. Still, I felt uneasy and very uncertain about moving 7 provinces away for a potential job. But the other side of me was also craving an adventure I had always dreamed about seeing the mountains, so I made the decision to go!

After 5 days of driving and boondocking each night, my boyfriend at the time and I arrived in Kelowna around midnight. I fell in love with the adventure-life and mountain/lake views in Kelowna! When I wasn’t working as a Behavior Interventionist with neurodivergent children, I was outside hiking and dirt-biking new trails. While it all worked out, deep down, things still didn’t feel right. I realized that I didn’t necessarily agree with how we were teaching children at my workplace, but was just following orders and doing what I was told to get paid so that I could keep paying my bills and stay living in Kelowna. While we were teaching them through Applied Behavior Analysis methods that I used within my previous job, their methods were a lot more forceful and compliance-based. For example, children had to finish their ‘healthy” lunch before they were allowed outside to play and the owner even went as far as strapping them to the chair so they couldn’t get out.

There were many other instances of forcing children to comply rather than acknowledging when they weren’t interested in something or when they didn’t have the communication to explain why they couldn’t do something. I won’t get into all the details, but I had a couple arguments with my boss at the time while advocating for the children. I refused many work tasks that didn’t fit with my morals and eventually ended up leaving that company after 2 years and began working for another company that fit better with my morals of providing compassionate care and honoring children’s assent withdrawal.

Between 2018 and 2021, I obtained work experience in different settings/roles. I worked as an Education Assistant, providing 1:1 support for an autistic student in his Kindergarten class and then as a Senior Behavior Interventionist training staff at a center. In 2019, I realized that if I wanted to earn a higher wage for my work, I had to return to university. So I applied to Master’s programs aligned with my passion for helping neurodivergent children. I applied to both Speech Language Pathology and ABA programs. 2020 was a crazy year with Covid, my workplace closing down, my grandfather passing away, and anxiously waiting to hear back about my Master’s applications.

Another risk payed off! I received a letter that I was accepted into the Master’s Professional Education (ABA) program at Western University (in Ontario), an online grad program. So, at age 29, I was more experienced going outside of my comfort zone and taking a risk that things would all work out (rather than thinking about what could go wrong).

The biggest risk of them all was when I took the leap to leave my Senior Behavior Interventionist job at a workplace to work for myself, as a private/self-employed Behavior Consultant. Once I was told there was no more professional growth for me within that company, I knew I had to take that risk to prioritize myself and make future Lindsay proud. I was halfway through my Master’s program at that time, so although it was a stressful time to leave a stable job, I had to moving towards my professional goals.

Again, I made it happen and navigated how to work as a contractor with the government to continue helping neurodivergent children as a Behaviour Consultant. For the first year of my business, I only had a few clients and often questioned whether I was doing things right. As I completed my Master’s program in Aug. 2022, I became more confident, raised my rates and continued helping neurodivergent children in their homes. I built my own website through research and Youtube videos, then learned how to improve SEO. It took about a year, but I noticed my website was appearing higher on Google and I was getting more emails from families interested in my services.

Fast forward to now (Nov 2024), I have 11 clients and am so busy now that I have had to turn down some work opportunities. It’s been a crazy 4 years of learning as I go, messy action. I still have days where I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m doing the damn thing anyways. That’s what taking risks is all about, isn’t it?

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.

I have always been curious about people and why they do the things they do. Throughout my work experience within Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), I learned that even with a disability, diagnosis, or areas for improvement, that children could learn new skills by incorporating their strengths, interests, and individualized teaching. Now in my position as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst/Behavior Consultant, I’m not only directly supporting children, but I’m coaching parents and staff how to best support them in such a confusing, complex world.

I think what sets me apart from other helping professionals is that I prioritize compassionate care, collaborate with families on their values, and pay close attention to children’s reactions to ensure that I’m honoring their assent withdrawal. As a young girl, I often experienced social anxiety, whereby I made up excuses to get out of birthday parties and other social events. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was only making my anxiety worse and making me less likely to step outside my comfort zone for opportunities in social settings. All throughout middle school and high school, I often avoided events that triggered my anxiety and I still struggle with this today.

This was one of the main reasons I got into a helping profession, to help children who also experience anxiety or other challenges to growing into their true potential. I wish I was able to overcome social anxiety sooner in life, but am now grateful that I get to help neurodivergent children push through their comfort zone/challenges. Continuing this work also helps push through my social anxiety in a way, as I’m constantly meeting new families and collaborating/networking with other professionals.

Within my personal and professional life, I live by the motto, “Progress, not perfection.” As a past overachiever and perfectionist, I realized that continuing going down this path would lead me to burnout and no longer being passionate about what I do. So, while I strive to progress every day and encourage the same with my clients, my expectations are realistic and achievable. It’s so common for people to set the bar high for themselves or for others – instead, how can we meet people where they’re at and progress from there?

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Not taking things personally. I’ve done this a few times, but learned from those experiences that families were struggling mentally and that it wasn’t necessarily anything I did. Other times, there may have been lack of communication, and I had to remind myself that I’m only human and I’m learning too. It’s crucial to be able to receive constructive feedback in this field and be able to reflect and evaluate how to move forward while considering everyone involved. This is where ethics comes in. We are dealing with vulnerable populations within ABA and must prioritize client welfare first and foremost.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Collaborating with team professionals, even before becoming a business owner. I worked for bosses who frequently burned bridges with other professionals and only wanted to do things their way rather than collaborating. I learned to be receptive towards others’ ideas and initiate collaboration with professionals who shared the same clients as me. Surprisingly, years later, this led to referrals from past professionals who collaborated with me! In addition to collaborating, networking with like-minded professionals through social media also helped to build my reputation and increase traffic to my website.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lindsaybehaviourconsulting.com/
• Instagram: @Behavioral_Inspirations (this is my business account geared towards ABA grad students/professionals within the field to help them improve health & study habits using ABA)