Tia Martin (Co-founding director)

I first learned about behaviour analysis whilst working on a summer camp in New York. I was a law student at the time but after that summer I knew my real passion was working with people with autism. I graduated (mostly out of stubbornness) in 2009 and went to work for a supported living provider to gain experience in the social care sector. It was a service supporting individuals with learning disabilities and mental health issues and I was lucky to have a manager who knew how to encourage her staff! She pushed me go on to further study.

In 2010 I moved to Stirling to complete my MSc in Developmental Psychology and began to work as a behaviour therapist on a home-based early intervention programme with two incredible twin boys that I admire to this day. Every day was a learning experience and I knew I was on the right track. I continued to work with the twins whilst going on to do my MSc in Autism with the University of Strathclyde. In 2012, I moved to Belfast to start a PhD under the tutelage of Prof Karola Dillenburger. I knew I wanted to focus on Applied Behaviour Analysis but I wanted to do something out of the box! I ended up focussing on issue of behavioural safety, specifically behaviour-based water safety and spent much of the following six years developing strategies (and ultimately a curriculum) to teach water-safety using behaviour analytic methods.

I continued to work throughout my PhD, operating as the National Autism Advisor for a large social care provider, the manager of a PBS team operating across Scotland and the North of England, and now as a founding director of PBS UK. I particularly love the variety of the work we get – sometimes children, sometimes adults, sometimes schools etc., but always a privilege. I believe that by working together we can achieve better things for these individuals and there are few things that give me greater satisfaction – except perhaps my lovely family, and my incredibly gorgeous Frenchie, ‘Odin’.:)