Autism Campaign Targets Recent Grads To Reverse Critical Staff Shortage 

A non-profit founded by family members and professionals who serve people with autism is trying to fill a critical shortage of behavioral health workers in West Virginia.  

Mountaineer Autism Project (MAP) has launched a statewide campaign to attract recent high school and college graduates considering jobs and long-term careers in healthcare.  

In addition to online ads, billboards from across the state show a smiling mother and a young child with the words, “Change a Life. Build Your Future.”

The message they send: “West Virginia needs behavior therapists.”  

“Right now only 4% of our population that have autism spectrum disorders are getting services,” said Angie Wood, a MAP executive committee board member and CEO of Augusta Levy Behavioral Services in Wheeling. “We all have long wait lists at the clinics that we have trying to meet the need.” 

Wood said high school and college graduates can qualify for positions as Registered Behavior Technicians who work directly with autistic children and a wide range of behavior health clients. She said those positions pay more than double the current minimum wage and offer both training and on-the-job experience.  

“In order to provide the services, you need those frontline therapists to be doing the one-on-one work with the clients, so we need to build that up,” Wood said. “We have hundreds of people on our wait list, but we can’t take more people off the wait list until we have more staff.” 

Click here for more information on how to apply for a position as a registered behavior technician, as well as details on training and certification.