Jay Nolan is excited to introduce our new Clinical Director, Jei Manley-Stanley! We sat down with Jei to learn a bit more about their new role and how their work will help to further Jay Nolan’s mission of supporting individuals to live their best lives.

What is your role at Jay Nolan and what does that entail?

I am the Clinical Director. I am a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and I’m going to be helping Jay Nolan with transitioning our Adaptive Skills Services to the Regional Center’s 600 code to ensure compliance with the Regional Center’s requirement. This will include teaching staff about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) procedures and how to effectively collect data on their clients’ progress with their personal goals.

The nice part about data collection is the fact that it really shows all the work that they’ve done. It gives a nice reinforcement for what we’re doing, and if it’s not, then that gives us the cue that it’s time to change something up. I’m hoping it will make ABA not quite so overwhelming and scary for everyone.

What initially brought you to Jay Nolan and what made you stay?

I was very interested in the challenge of the role as Clinical Director. I have been a supervisor for over 9 years now, and honestly, my workday has been the same stuff, different day for a while. This really wasn’t very satisfying to me, and it wasn’t great for my mental health. I needed to find a new environment and a new situation; something that was going to change up my days and make them more interesting. I like challenging environments and I’m not really one to stay static, so that was one of the things that brought me towards Jay Nolan.

I really like Jay Nolan’s overall vision of helping people in whatever stage of life they’re in, and to be able to do whatever it is that they’re really aiming to do. I like that they try to keep families together and work to support people to be in their own homes versus in group homes. As my kids are getting older, it just gets more and more clear to me how important it is to look at our aging population, especially people on the autism spectrum and those who have developmental disabilities.

How would you measure success in your role as Clinical Director?

I feel the most successful when I help someone learn something new and feel more confident in what they’re doing. That extends to managers, supervisors, direct staff and the people that they’re serving. When somebody gets that ‘aha moment, as my professor used to call, it is really reinforcing to me. I measure my success in those ‘aha moments.’ In those moments of ‘Oh wait, I know what to do right now, I know what this is, I can do this’: that is where I find success in my role.

What are you looking forward to most in your role?

I’m looking forward to helping change people’s minds about what ABA can be. I want to help move the discussion away from the negativity of the past to the possibilities of the future. I fully acknowledge why ABA gets a bad rap; it deserves it. But I also honestly believe that ABA has the potential to do great good and I’ve seen it do great good in many of the people that I have worked with over the last 17 years.

I have seen a lot of really great things happen in the lives of kids that I work directly with, kids that I was part of developing their programs and supervising, and as their therapists as well. I want to help other people see what I’ve seen: that there is a better way. It isn’t about telling someone exactly what to do. Instead, it’s an effective teaching model. I’m looking forward to moving the conversation of what ABA can and should be in a better direction than its past.

Would you mind going a little bit into detail about what the 600 code is and ABA specifically?

The 600 code is the billing code that Adaptive Skills is being placed in and in order to have these programs, Jay Nolan is required to meet certain criteria based on the Department of Developmental Services‘ recent rate reform. One of them was hiring a BCBA, which is me. Another requirement is that people who are providing the direct service must have a certain baseline level knowledge of ABA, which translates to 30 hours of continuing education. Currently I’m going through the 40-hour training and picking and choosing what is going to be appropriate and effective for Jay Nolan and condensing it down to fit within those 30 hours. Additionally, I’m creating a training to break it all down and make it more user friendly. Especially because there is a lot of jargon in it.

ABA is the science of human behavior. It has been evolving for a long time and there may be negative connotations with it, but it is a very interesting way to look at how people learn things. It does not look to explain emotions or anything that we would call internal states, which would be anything happening inside of a person. ABA simply looks at an individual’s environment, everything around them, what they are saying, what they are doing, and the feedback they get. It is all about learning and figuring out if an individual, in their current environment, is able to reach their goals on their own. Or, ask if there is a space where I could teach them to be able to do more (or something different) to reach those goals. It depends on whatever the situation may call for.

“We are not looking to make robots or the perfect people. We are working to support people to be their best selves and give them the opportunity to do whatever it is that they really want to do in their life.”

– Clinical Director Jei Manley-Stanley

How would you say your responsibilities as Clinical Director contribute to the mission of Jay Nolan and the organization as a whole?

I think it contributes in a lot of ways. But I think it’s going to help streamline figuring out what it is that an individual needs to learn to be more successful. Plus it will help to have a framework of how to teach those skills so that our people are going to be more successful at what they do.

To be honest, I use ABA on myself. I know fully well what I’m doing, and it works with me doing it to myself. So if it could work on me, knowing full well everything that I’m doing and exactly how I’m shaping my own behavior, then I really consider it a pretty powerful tool. I’m really hoping that it is going to contribute a lot to helping people meet the goals that they’re hoping to meet.

What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?

Something I’ve learned in my career is to have belief in people and give them room to grow. Getting in the middle and trying to over prompt and over help is not functional. Once you teach the skill, you have to step back and give people room to grow and show what they know. But also give them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. People learn better from making mistakes than from some prompted success. That is going to be a much better teacher for most people than just getting it right off the bat.

But the other thing I’ve learned through the years is that many of the people that we serve don’t have a lot of what I call the ‘win’ in their life. They spend a lifetime of ‘No. Don’t do that. Stop doing that. Wrong, wrong, wrong.’ One of the most powerful things that we can give to people who have had that background is giving them opportunities to feel that ‘win’ and be able to say ‘I did it’ or ‘I accomplished something.’

What inspires you in your daily life?

It is the Mr. Rogers quote, “Look for the helpers.” It’s seeing people who have a greater good in their mind and in their heart; not just seeking the best or fastest way to get reinforced right in that moment. It is the people who are willing and want to see the big picture and can see the big picture. I acknowledge that there are some people in this world who cannot see the bigger picture. That big picture is: when we help everybody, we help ourselves. And when we help the world, we help ourselves.

The most inspiring thing to me is when you see the helpers out there who are doing good for the sake of doing good to try and help their communities, their friends, their families, and even complete strangers. I’m especially inspired by artists; I have a soft spot for artists. They’re good for the world in a different way, but it’s an important way.

What do you like to do for fun outside of work?

I listen to music, and I watch YouTube videos, mostly of people creating things. I like to see people create things, such as 3D artists or 2D artists. There’s a cute couple where the guy is an engineer and she is a visual artist and they make all kinds of crazy things, and I just enjoy that. I enjoy watching creation happen. I am also a bowler in a league. I haven’t recently, but I have been involved in cat rescue. I really like the organization Best Friends, I think they’re wonderful. I have fostered for them and done shifts at their facility where you clean out enclosures and socialize the cats.

A huge thank you to Clinical Director Jei Manley-Stanley! We are excited to welcome Jei to the Jay Nolan team. We look forward to how Jei’s expertise strengthens the mission of Jay Nolan Community Services to support individuals to live quality lives within their communities.

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