Ep. 35 - Beyond the Behavior: The Heart, Humanity, and Healing Behind The Play Base
About this episode
The episode features a discussion among The Play Base senior team about their personal journeys in behavior analysis and the importance of compassionate support for children and families.
In this deeply personal team episode of The Play Base Podcast , Frances Fishman sits down with five members of The Play Base senior team: Jennifer Leonard, Danielle Goodman, Katrina Abutog-Manon, Wendy Dominguez, and Diana Puentes. What begins as a conversation about how each clinician found the field of behavior analysis becomes an honest exploration of what it truly means to support children, families, educators, and therapists with compassion. The team shares the personal experiences that shaped their work, including sibling loss, motherhood, raising neurodivergent children, working within schools, supporting overwhelmed families, and witnessing approaches that focused more on compliance than connection. They reflect on why The Play Base feels different and why meaningful care must begin with seeing the whole person—not simply observing and changing behavior. Together, Frances and the team discuss the nervous system, co-regulation, intuition, empathy, energy, family dynamics, and the powerful relationship between a clinician, a child, and the adults surrounding them. They also speak openly about the emotional weight parents carry, the vital role of RBTs, and why clinicians…
More episodes of The Play Base
- Ep. 36 - From Diagnosis to Empowerment: Finding Community, Purpose & Joy with Lauren Stewart
- Ep. 34 - The Heart Behind The Play Base: Frances Fishman on ABA, Motherhood, Purpose, and Healing
- Ep. 33 - Finding the Right Path: Education, Creativity, College Counseling, and Parenting with Bekka Goldberg
- Ep. 32 - Understanding the Nervous System from the Inside Out with Dr. Ally Durrieu
- Ep. 31 - One Connection Away: Growth, Purpose, and Leaning In with Liat Horovitz
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Play Base podcast page.