Beyond the Protocol: The 3-Day PFA/SBT Workshop

Behavioral Artistry in PFA/SBT, from Individual Implementation to Organizational Change

You can know the steps of PFA/SBT and still feel uncertain when a real case doesn’t look like the training example.

Beyond the Protocol: Behavioral Artistry in PFA/SBT is designed to help you move from understanding the protocol to making sound, learner-responsive decisions across:

It’s built from a teaching team that has coached 500+ PFAs and SBT iterations and brings approximately 30 combined years of BCBA experience.

Whether you’re new to PFA/SBT or ready to go deeper, it meets you where you are.

🎓 Up to 24 CEUs · 💻 On demand anytime · 📍 Live in select cities · 🧩 Individual modules available

Want a live workshop near you? Check below for upcoming dates or ask about bringing it to your area or team.

Choose how you want to learn

Full On-Demand Workshop

Join Us Live

Course Bundles

Solo Modules

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What’s Included + Curriculum

Every format is built on the same curriculum. Here’s what each one includes.

The Full Workshop (on-demand)

• 24 CEUs, including 4 Ethics + 3.5 Supervision
• Six months of on-demand access with unlimited viewing
• Practical workbooks: caregiver interview, PFA design, SBT design
• Implementation supports: selection guides, supervision scaffolding, data supports, visuals, and boundary-planning resources
• All three parts of the curriculum (see below), from foundations to organizational change

Live Workshop Extras

• In-person coaching and feedback from the presenters
• Live Q&A to bring your own questions and cases
• Hands-on practice activities / small-group work
• Networking with practitioners doing this work across settings

Live workshops are offered in select locations. See upcoming dates or ask about bringing one to your area or team.

Solo Modules

• Focus on the topics you need most without committing to the full workshop
• Six months of on-demand access with unlimited viewing
• Workbooks and implementation supports specific to the module, when relevant
• Start with a module, upgrade anytime. Contact us and we’ll credit your module purchase toward the full workshop.

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Curriculum at a Glance

Part 1: Foundations & Getting Started
The ethical and conceptual groundwork for assent-based care

• Ethical values and trauma-informed care in PFA/SBT
• The Assent Loop and honoring assent withdrawal
• Turning assent-based principles into observable behavior
• The five-step PFA process and how it shapes treatment
• The overall structure of SBT, from assessment through generalization

Part 2: Implementing & Advancing SBT
The mechanics of treatment, and the decisions that guide it

• Each step of SBT (FCR through CAB6), including response selection, implementation, shaping, and data collection
• Nuanced microshaping, in-depth troubleshooting, and the clinical decision-making behind each step
• Designing and individualizing branches for each learner
• Microshaping, dosage, and making adjustments based on client needs
• Extending and maintaining gains across people, places, and time

Part 3: Making It Work for Everyone
The real-world settings and human systems that sustain quality care

• Adapting SBT for schools, clinics, homes, and telehealth
• Culturally responsive caregiver collaboration and training
• Supervision models that build fidelity, reflective practice, and independent decision-making
• Shifting organizational culture toward sustained assent-based care

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What Makes This Workshop Different

Most PFA and SBT trainings teach you the protocol. This one teaches you the judgment behind it.

The procedures of PFA and SBT are well documented and widely available. But anyone who has implemented this work knows the procedures aren’t where clinicians typically get stuck. They get stuck in the moments the manual can’t anticipate: the learner who escalates in a split second, the FCR that won’t stick, the family in crisis, the parent who needs the opposite of what the protocol prescribes, the branch that stalls for 100 trials.

What separates effective implementation from constant frustration isn’t knowing the steps. It’s the clinical decision-making, troubleshooting, and real-time artistry that live between them.

That’s what this workshop is built to teach.

It comes from practitioners, not theorists. The four presenters bring roughly 30 combined years of BCBA experience. Together they’ve coached more than 500 PFAs and iterations of SBT, mentored hundreds of clinicians, and supported thousands of clients across clinics, homes, schools, and whole organizations. They’ve done this work at a scale almost no one else has, and they’re honest about what they got wrong along the way. You’re not getting the idealized version from a controlled study. You’re getting what actually works, why it works, and what to do when it doesn’t.

It also goes further than clinical implementation alone. Across 24 hours of content, the workshop starts with the foundations of assent-based and trauma-informed care, works through every step of the SBT process in depth, and then moves into the parts most trainings leave out: adapting SBT across school, home, clinic, and telehealth settings; getting buy-in from caregivers and staff and training them to carry it out; and scaling assent-based care across a team or an entire organization. You’ll follow the whole arc, from a learner’s first communication response to embedding this model so deeply in a system that it outlasts the person who brought it in.

Who it’s for

The workshop works for both newcomers and experienced practitioners.

If you’re new to PFA/SBT, it gives you the full foundation—selecting responses, implementing each step, collecting data—without assuming you’ve done it before.

If you already implement this work, it takes you past the basics into nuanced microshaping, profile-specific troubleshooting, and the clinical reasoning that turns a competent implementer into a skilled one.

Whether you’re delivering this work directly, supervising the people who do, or trying to carry it into the real settings where behavior actually happens, it’s built to meet you there.

Meet Your Instructors

Hillary Laney, MA, BCBA, LBA spearheaded a company-wide transformation to assent-based care at one of the largest ABA organizations in the country. She built the mentorship infrastructure, data systems, and implementation frameworks that resulted in hundreds of clinicians and clinical leaders being trained and thousands of clients benefiting from PFA/SBT and assent-based care practices. She currently works as a Senior VP of Clinical Services at Centria Autism.

Liisa Podosek, MSW, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA built and delivered mentorship programs that transformed how hundreds of practitioners implement PFA/SBT and assent-based care, guiding clinicians from “I read about this” to “I can do this confidently.” She brings a trauma-informed lens to mentorship, helping practitioners navigate difficult cases and develop authentic caregiver partnerships. She currently leads the development and coordination of educational offerings through PFA & SBT Community.

Dr. Edward Sanabria, Ph.D, BCBA, LBA designed and implemented large-scale PFA/SBT mentorship systems that trained clinicians across the country in assessment and treatment approaches that prioritize client safety, dignity, and assent. His research interests in interdisciplinary collaboration, reflective practice, and the large-scale adoption of behavioral interventions inform his approach to helping practitioners develop humility-driven clinical practices that build strong therapeutic relationships. He currently serves as Senior Director of Functional Analysis and Treatment Implementation at Centria Autism, where he oversees national assent-based care training initiatives and PFA/SBT mentorship.

Beth Nelson, M.Ed leads with joy while bringing Skill-Based Treatment (SBT) to students in Bellingham Public Schools, where she has been coaching and supporting educators with implementation since her introduction to the process in 2019. Through strong relationships and collaborative practices, she initiated and partnered with colleagues to fuel enthusiasm for the safe and ethical outcomes of Skill-Based Treatment, fostering genuine buy-in from families and staff, and strengthening teams to better support students with complex behavioral profiles. Beth also has extensive experience with SBT as a parent, bringing a perspective few providers can offer — one grounded in both professional expertise and the lived reality of family life. Her 14-year-old daughter has been the recipient of SBT services and is now a self-proclaimed “my way expert” who loves to help teach staff how to implement the process.

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Ready to go beyond the protocol?

FAQs

I’ve already taken FTF’s 10-hour course or attended their workshop. Will this be valuable for me?

Yes! Many of our attendees come in having completed FTF’s 10-hour course or workshop, and they’ve told us this workshop was an extremely valuable next step. We designed it build on that foundation (as well as stand on its own), with more depth on the applied, day-to-day questions that come up once you start implementing PFA/SBT in practice.

What if I buy a single module or a smaller bundle and then decide I want the full workshop later?

Just email us! We’ll apply your previous workshop module purchase(s) towards the price of the full module.
Email: admin@pfsbtcommunity.com

Do you offer group discounts?

Sure do! Shoot us an email with the details of your needs and we’ll help you get set up with bulk discount pricing. (Bonus: This applies to any of the courses on our website, not just the workshop modules!)

How can we get a live presentation near us?

Shoot us an email with the details of what you’re looking for! We can adjust the content and the length of the training to meet your needs. Email: admin@pfasbtcommunity.com

Do you offer individual discounts?

Absolutely. We continue to be dedicated to our mission of supporting dissemination. If you are from an international country with a low exchange rate or are otherwise unable to afford the training you need, shoot us an email.