Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Beyond the Classroom: Abby David and Erin Nealy's Vision for Autism Education | Healthcare Series

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Beyond the Classroom: Abby David and Erin Nealy's Vision for Autism Education | Healthcare Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and today's guests plural are Abby,
0:31
David and Erin Neely, Co founders and Co CE OS of two non
0:35
profits, Bridgeway Academy and Bridgeway Therapy Center, which
0:40
provide a centered approach to educational and therapeutic
0:43
services for people with autism and other disabilities in
0:47
central Ohio. Their services include school
0:50
day education from preschool to age 22, life skills training,
0:55
vocational skills training including community based
0:58
instruction, and transition to adulthood support.
1:03
This dynamic duo has LED Bridgeway to remarkable success,
1:07
earning accolades such as Columbus CE OS Top Workplace
1:11
Award for five consecutive years and the title of Columbus's Best
1:16
Nonprofit in 2019 and again in 2024.
1:21
Their dedication to the well-being of children in
1:24
Central Ohio is evident not only in their professional
1:27
achievements, but also in their advocacy efforts.
1:30
Recognized as influential voices in their community, Aaron and
1:34
Abby have been honored with prestigious awards including
1:38
Business 1st 40 Under 40 in 2013, Nabo's Visionary
1:43
Leadership Award in 2018, and Smart Businesses Smart 50
1:48
Leaders in Central Ohio Award in 2019 and 2024.
1:53
And now just hot off the presses, they've also been named
1:57
as a top place to work by USA TODAY.
2:00
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2:31
All right, now back to our guests today, the Co founders
2:35
and Co CEOs of Bridgeway. Abby and Aaron, I appreciate you
2:39
making the time to Share your story today.
2:40
Thanks. For having us, we're excited to
2:42
be here. Thanks.
2:44
It's a real honor, Anthony. Glad to have both of you.
2:47
So tell us how the idea to start Bridgeway first came about.
2:52
I guess I can start there if you want.
2:55
So Aaron and I were both therapists working in the
3:00
community. So Aaron is a music therapist by
3:02
degree and I am a speech therapist by degree.
3:05
And we both, at the time that we met, actually both had private
3:09
practices. Aaron had employees working for
3:13
her, but I was kind of a A1 man show or one woman show I should
3:17
say. I had worked in the public
3:19
schools but had a caseload of over 70 kids and I really didn't
3:23
feel like it was making much of a difference so went out on my
3:27
own. Aaron and I both have strong
3:29
backgrounds, specifically working for children with
3:32
disabilities but with autism as well.
3:36
We both have worked for home teams as as therapist in the
3:41
past and so it was kind of a background for both of us when
3:45
we met. So Aaron and I would meet as we
3:47
passed, working in people's homes providing therapy services
3:51
and actually met, started showing up at the same team
3:56
meetings together and realized we had the same ideas and
3:59
philosophies about working with individuals with disabilities,
4:03
especially those with autism. So Erin one day asked me if I
4:08
would like to go to a jewelry making party and I asked her
4:11
instead if she'd like to go for some wine.
4:13
And our friendship actually started there.
4:17
And then we started to Co treat together and started to
4:21
collaborate, realizing that there was a really strong
4:24
synergy with therapies and how it really showed improvement for
4:28
our clients if we worked together providing music and and
4:32
speech together at the same time.
4:35
During all this, we also watched all of our families going in 100
4:38
different directions. So we'd see some of our families
4:41
who had their educational services being provided by the
4:44
school district and then they had outside speech therapy and
4:48
speech at school and other therapies that they were going
4:51
to. And it can never really be a
4:52
family unit and it can never be on the same page as to what
4:56
therapies should we really be listening to?
4:58
Which ones are the best for my child?
5:00
So Erin and I started talking about wouldn't it be awesome if
5:04
one day there was a place where we could bring all your
5:07
academics and all your therapies into one space to really help
5:12
maximize our outcomes for our students and, and clients.
5:16
And so there were some things that came up in 2005 where there
5:22
were some funding changes and it kind of became a are we going to
5:25
do this or not? And we kind of jumped at the
5:30
opportunity with not the strongest business plan in
5:33
place, but just their strong, strong passion for the work that
5:37
we do. So that happened all in February
5:40
and we opened our doors in August of 2005.
5:44
And we had 12 students and eight staff by the end of that that
5:50
first year. And it was preschool in
5:52
kindergarten and it was 1/2 day program and we had speech,
5:55
music, OT and psychological services at the time.
6:00
So 2 follow up questions for you there, Abby.
6:02
What? Why was it that you felt like
6:04
you weren't making a difference in your earlier position?
6:08
My caseload was so high, I had 70 plus kids on my caseload.
6:15
And So what would happen is that you had only, you know, one to
6:19
two sessions a week with them. They tended to only be 20
6:22
minutes by the time you went and got your student or by the time
6:27
if you found them or if they're out on a on a field trip.
6:31
I didn't ever really see that I was making a difference.
6:33
And then for those children who were more affected by their
6:37
disability, it was even less so. So I really just felt like I
6:41
needed to be able to be with the kids more and be able to have
6:46
longer sessions to really truly see that I was making a
6:50
difference in their lives. And what were the 2005 funding
6:54
changes that came about that sort of lit fire under you?
6:58
So we have some different contracts with different
7:01
agencies in the city and in the long run they had talked about
7:06
either really lessening how much they provided or getting rid of
7:11
certain services that were provided through those agencies.
7:15
In the long run, music therapy unfortunately did get canceled,
7:20
so there was no funding any longer.
7:21
But we really strongly believe in the power of music.
7:25
Aaron can talk way more about that than I can.
7:28
And Aaron had employees and we knew that we were making a
7:31
difference and we just really felt like we needed to have a
7:35
space where we could still utilize those services and
7:38
implement them for our clients and students.
7:42
Aaron, how about your perspective on sort of the
7:44
inspiration for starting this? What was kind of going on for
7:47
you? You know, Abby, Abby nailed the
7:51
story back in the 2000 and four, 2005.
7:56
I will say both of us having a background in applied behavior
8:00
analysis was a big part of our passion for wanting to provide a
8:07
school based setting for our students to come and have those
8:12
services integrated into their school days.
8:14
A lot of families after receiving a diagnosis of autism
8:18
for their child, are told that they that the American Academy
8:24
of Pediatrics recommends doing this therapy called ABA and
8:29
having their children in entered into an ABA setting for up to 40
8:34
hours a week. And back in the late 90s and
8:37
early 2000s, most families were operating these programs out of
8:42
their homes. If they could.
8:45
So, you know, they were getting this diagnosis for their child
8:48
and then they were told, now you need to run a home program 40
8:52
hours a week in your home for your child.
8:55
And we saw our families struggling with that.
8:59
Everything from finding appropriate consultants to help
9:02
them set these programs up to finding the clinicians to work
9:06
in their homes, which were often college students or recent ads
9:10
who were inconsistent at best. And then not to mention the
9:15
families that had two working parents in the home that could
9:18
not possibly operate a session or these sessions.
9:23
For 40 hours a week. So we saw families really being
9:26
pulled in a tug of war between what their pediatrician or their
9:30
psychologist was recommending what the school district could
9:33
provide, because school districts were saying we can't
9:36
provide one-on-one therapy for your child for 40 hours a week.
9:41
That's something you'll have to do on your own.
9:43
So I think that we both just felt a real passion for getting
9:47
our students access to these, you know, really important
9:51
critical therapies and making that happen for families that
9:54
had those barriers where they couldn't find staffing or they
9:58
had families that were working outside of the home and couldn't
10:01
run those programs. And so we wanted to be able to
10:05
provide that in a center based setting and incorporate that
10:08
into their school day. The other piece that we saw a
10:12
lot of our kids struggling with our our clients and students was
10:16
generalization of skills across different environments.
10:21
So some children who were fortunate enough to be able to
10:25
have a 40 hour a week. Home.
10:27
Program of intensive therapy we're able to master a lot of
10:32
skills and and make a lot of progress in the home in one room
10:36
in their house with one person but when going out into the
10:39
community to practice those skills back in their.
10:42
School or in their place of worship or at the park.
10:47
A lot of times those skills didn't translate or generalize,
10:51
and so we really felt passionate about bringing those skills into
10:54
the education setting, into a group classroom environment
10:58
where our kids could still have access to those critical
11:01
therapies and have really individualized treatment models,
11:05
but be able to learn in that group setting that was a little
11:08
more conducive to the way that their life would be ongoing.
11:13
Say more about ABA for the uninitiated.
11:16
What? What is this?
11:18
Sure, it's a field that has really grown over the last 20
11:22
years. ABA stands for Applied Behavior
11:25
Analysis, and there is now a board for behavior analysts.
11:32
This requires a master's level degree and certification to kind
11:39
of help students and families with an ABA program.
11:44
And basically, ABA is a methodology or an umbrella of
11:50
services that help students reduce the barriers of behavior
11:56
in order to make gains with their educational goals, with
12:00
their developmental goals and things of that nature.
12:03
So Abby and I, while neither of us are Bcbas at Bridgeway, we
12:08
actually employ over 20 board certified behavior analysts and
12:14
they're responsible for helping our educators and our students
12:18
and families work through barriers that get in the way of
12:21
our students learning everyday. So help help paint a picture for
12:27
us about what your setup there is like is a child or an adult
12:33
in the program? Are they coming in there, you
12:35
know, like Monday to Friday for sort of a full day?
12:38
Are they getting like more traditional education?
12:42
Is that something that's accessible to them?
12:44
Is it more about life skills that help me understand?
12:49
It's, it's all the above. I mean it, it truly is all the
12:52
above. So in our Academy, we are a
12:56
chartered non public or private school that's recognized by the
13:00
state of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Education.
13:02
So when our students come here, they will get a meaningful
13:06
diploma from Bridgeway if they choose to stay here through
13:10
their whole educational cycle. And if they also decide not to
13:15
move forward to our Bridge to Adulthood program after the 12th
13:20
grade year. So they can get a meaningful
13:22
diploma, so they can go out into the community and they can get
13:25
the jobs or they can go to college and do all that after
13:29
they graduate from Bridgeway. So our students, so in our in
13:33
the Academy, we have preschool programs all the way up to 12th
13:37
grade. Our something that is really
13:39
unique about us, that makes us really special is our classroom
13:44
ratios. Our typical classroom sizes are
13:47
around 10 students with four to five students, four to five
13:51
teachers per per classroom. So.
13:55
We it's mostly a almost like a 2 to one.
13:59
Correct, correct. And we do that because we want
14:02
best outcomes for our students and we see that that's the way
14:05
we can individualize our education plans for each of them
14:09
to best meet their needs. So, so typically that's how
14:13
you'll see them. They'll be here Monday through
14:14
Friday for a full day schedule. And then we also have, you know,
14:21
we have like hours that we have to maintain and make sure our
14:24
students all complete each year, just like the public schools
14:28
because we are accredited. So we have to make sure that we
14:31
meet those hours. So they're here throughout the
14:33
week getting those. And then when it comes to our
14:35
therapy services, we do have the, I mean the therapy center
14:39
like we've talked about, our therapists are able to
14:42
collaborate and come and help in the classroom if they need.
14:45
We have a number of students who are non verbal who utilize
14:49
augmentative communication devices as their speech.
14:53
So the one thing is you can have this device, but if you're not
14:56
using it in the classroom, you're not using it at home.
14:59
It'll never get used and this child will go their entire life
15:02
without a communication system. Basically it's like a screen
15:05
where they can kind of push on a a symbol to generate a word to
15:09
help communicate what it is that you know they need to say.
15:13
Correct. Absolutely.
15:14
Yeah, right on. And, and that's, So what we do
15:16
is like, so if it's speech therapy, they'll come into the
15:19
classroom, help those teachers utilize that device with the
15:23
student and show them and demonstrate how to utilize it.
15:27
So it is being used in the classroom.
15:29
And then on top of that, there's so much family support because
15:33
the families do a lot to make sure that their students can
15:35
come to Bridgeway, right? Like they, it's an investment
15:38
for them to be here. They know this is where their
15:41
kids need to be. So they want to be an integral
15:44
part. And we want them to be an
15:45
integral part because again, we could do everything in the world
15:48
at Bridgeway, but if our families can't do it at home or
15:51
aren't going to do it at home, then it's never going to
15:54
transfer, not going to generalize the skill, and then
15:57
they're not going to have their best outcomes.
15:58
So the nice thing also is that when Aaron was talking about our
16:03
behavioral therapists, our our BCBAS, we have a lot of the
16:07
students who the behaviors do get in the way of their
16:11
learning. So until we can get it at
16:14
helping those behaviors, they're not going to get the educational
16:18
games that they need or to graduate.
16:22
So we're able to really kind of work on those skills right away
16:26
from the get go, identify what the cause of those behaviors are
16:29
so that we can get back to what our students need to do, which
16:32
is learning. So a student throughout the
16:35
week, when it comes to therapies, they could get speech
16:40
therapy four to five times a week while they're here, if
16:44
they're in our Academy, if that's what they ethically and
16:48
they need, if and if that's what they need for their growth, like
16:51
they have no communication system, you know, we can work on
16:54
that. So we can provide a lot more
16:56
services than the public schools can.
16:58
Same thing for OT and PT as well.
17:01
And then in our therapy center side, our clients will come in,
17:06
you know, once or twice a week and maybe while they're here,
17:08
they'll get their OT, their speech, their music therapy.
17:13
You know, we have a lot of groups that we also do, we have
17:16
an adult theatre group twice a week that's fantastic.
17:21
I always recommend everybody come out and watch them in
17:23
action because it's so much fun. But they create a whole theatre
17:27
thing themselves. But anyways, so that we kind
17:30
it's kind of a traditional therapy location for outside
17:34
clients who come in for those. So Bridgeway Academy is the
17:38
school. Bridgeway Therapy Center is more
17:41
more outpatient, kind of a a clinic setting where they can
17:44
come. People don't have to be
17:45
attending the school in order to get the services.
17:48
Correct, That is correct. And I think you, you sort of hit
17:52
on this, you, you mentioned that it's an investment for the
17:54
parents. So is this fully private pet or
17:57
are there also any, you know, federal or state funds that are
18:01
available to kind of help bridge the gap for folks that need
18:04
that? Yeah.
18:06
So go ahead, Erin. We have a variety of different
18:10
One of our goals is to and as a nonprofit.
18:13
Initially, Abby and I were passionate about setting up
18:17
Bridgeway Academy and Therapy Center as a nonprofit
18:20
organization because families are often spending upwards of 60
18:26
to $80,000 a year if they have a child with a disability on
18:30
healthcare, on specialized therapies and treatments.
18:35
And we knew when we started to build this organization that we
18:39
didn't want financial need to be a reason that a child couldn't
18:43
access services at Bridgeway. So what we have set out to do is
18:49
try to. Put together a puzzle for
18:52
families to help them access as many different funding
18:55
opportunities as possible to help keep their out of pocket
18:58
expenses down. In the end, they do have every
19:03
family usually pays something to attend Bridgeway Academy.
19:07
But we have some programs in the state of Ohio that allow
19:11
families to have choice for their schools.
19:14
And specifically, a program called the Autism Scholarship
19:18
that allows individuals with autism who are enrolled in a
19:21
public school to be able to transfer some of the funds that
19:26
would normally be going to the school district to choose their
19:30
provider of choice and so families can use.
19:34
Those sorry, sorry to interrupt, Aaron, you're getting a a little
19:36
quiet maybe. I don't know if the mic is
19:38
slipped away. Yeah, I'll hold it up closer.
19:41
Sorry about that. So our families can access the
19:45
autism scholarship through the Department of Education and they
19:49
can use those funds to help to pay for their school of choice.
19:57
We also try to offset the costs for families by opening our
20:01
therapy center so that we could have families using insurance,
20:06
Medicaid. And then private pay, as well as
20:10
certain counties do offer some support to families with
20:14
developmental disabilities to help pay for some therapy
20:17
services. So we're able to kind of put
20:20
together a puzzle kind of individually for each family to
20:24
help keep the cost as low as possible.
20:27
And then as an organization, being a nonprofit, we fundraise
20:31
every year and are able to then give out scholarships to our
20:35
families directly from Bridgeway to help offset the costs for
20:40
those families that have the highest need.
20:42
And so I believe we've figured out, we're in the, over the last
20:47
20 years, we've given out over $1.3 million in scholarships and
20:52
financial aid to our families to help them be able to attend
20:57
Bridgeway. So we're really just thrilled to
20:59
be able to do that every year, but it gets more and more
21:02
challenging as costs continue to rise.
21:06
What are some of your biggest cost drivers?
21:08
Is it is labor? Is it?
21:10
Yeah. It's 100% labor.
21:13
Yeah. If you look at our budget as an
21:16
organization, over 90% of our organization's dollars go back
21:23
to our teachers and our therapists and our staff.
21:27
So those dollars are coming in for therapies and education,
21:32
tuition and going right back out to pay for our staff.
21:38
I, I would like to say, you know, an opportunity that we
21:41
just became involved with last year, it really helped us with,
21:47
we're able to provide some scholarships to our families and
21:50
we're hoping to see it grow as something called a scholarship
21:54
granting organization. It's an SGO and that is a tax
21:59
that becomes from your taxes each year.
22:02
So you can get back $1500 from taxes that you're already
22:06
paying. And so it's kind of like you get
22:09
a a refund, it costs you nothing, It's already the money
22:12
you've spent. And so we had a lot of people
22:15
who participated last year. We know there's a lot of other
22:19
opportunities there and would be happy to talk more about those,
22:22
but just that has been a huge what, what can be a huge game
22:26
changer for us so that we can provide more dollars to our
22:30
families too. As the cost for labor goes up
22:35
for us, that means it goes back to the family.
22:37
And so we're trying to really offset those costs for our
22:40
families because it is a a, it's a large expense for them.
22:43
So what was the name SGO? Yes.
22:47
And so and so. How does this work?
22:49
Who is this available to? How do they access it?
22:53
So anyone in the state of Ohio that pays taxes, This is an Ohio
22:56
based program. We're told that other states
22:59
have this as well, but in Ohio the law changed a couple of
23:03
years ago to allow for private schools to be able to access a
23:09
scholarship granting organization.
23:11
So we actually partner with the state's scholarship granting
23:16
organization and any individual or couple that files taxes and
23:22
pays taxes in the state of Ohio can make a contribution through
23:27
the SGO. And those dollars will go
23:30
directly to Bridgeway to pay for scholarships for students.
23:35
And then as Abby said, if it it comes out as a tax credit.
23:39
So individuals that are paying taxes already to the state of
23:43
Ohio, they don't have to itemize, they don't have to be
23:46
huge donors or give a huge amount of of their dollars to
23:51
other nonprofits in order to qualify for this.
23:54
Anyone who pays taxes can have a direct credit back after
23:59
donating the $1500 when they file their taxes.
24:04
So it's a great time to be thinking through the end of this
24:07
year. They also extend it until the
24:10
April 15th tax date so, so folks can actually give and then turn
24:16
around and file their taxes and get that credited right back to
24:20
them. So it's it's really just a win
24:22
win. What's?
24:23
What's kind of the net effect for the family?
24:26
Is it sort of like being able to pay for the part of the tuition
24:30
with pre tax dollars? Am I kind of wrapping my head
24:33
around that? Really, we're not.
24:35
We are not marketing this at our families.
24:38
This is anyone that pays taxes can contribute into the
24:42
scholarship fund. So this helps Bridgeway, but in
24:46
the past, Bridgeway has done our own fundraising and it's come
24:50
from our own bottom line in order to give dollars to our
24:54
families and scholarships. This has allowed anyone in the
24:57
state of Ohio to be a participant in helping to pay
25:02
for scholarships for families that otherwise wouldn't be able
25:05
to come to Bridgeway. OK, so let me frame it
25:08
differently then. It sounds like I'm going to pay
25:11
$1500 in taxes this year anyways.
25:14
Rather than having it go to who knows where I can, I can say,
25:18
hey, I want this to go to Bridgeway Academy and it's going
25:22
to reduce my tax obligation. Exactly.
25:26
That I would have to the federal government or or to the state
25:29
government. This is for.
25:29
States it's just. For state, yes, but that's
25:31
exactly right. And, and any individual can do
25:36
it and any couple that's filing jointly can do it up to $1500.
25:42
Well, that's tremendous. And if you were going to get a
25:44
return anyways, if you were going to get those dollars back,
25:47
you will get that plus any money over that you from the 15 up to
25:53
$1500 that you put in. So it's not like, oh man, I only
25:57
owed $750. So now I, I did pay 750.
26:02
Nope, you will get back that full value if you put in the
26:05
full $1500. So it, it really is a win win.
26:08
You're, you're getting back your money no matter what.
26:12
So it sounds too good to be true.
26:14
And so, and since last year was the first year we participated,
26:17
I will say there was a lot of skepticism and you know, like,
26:20
did it happen? I mean, we did it.
26:22
And I mean, well, Aaron and I, both our families did it and it
26:27
it worked as it was supposed. To works as advertised, huh.
26:30
Correct, correct. And how did people go to access
26:33
this or sign up or what do they tell their CPA?
26:37
So we actually have a link on our website, I believe still
26:39
that can direct folks to the SGO.
26:44
And yes, they would talk with their accountant when they're
26:48
filing taxes. My family did ours virtually
26:53
well through a portal, you know, on our own.
26:56
And we just had to submit a separate letter when we filed
27:01
our taxes online. So that was the only real hoop
27:04
that we had to jump through was filling out the form and sending
27:07
it in. But yeah, most accountants are
27:10
are now becoming aware. But it's been interesting that
27:13
it is a confusing kind of concept for people to wrap their
27:19
heads around. And I feel like everyone is
27:20
fairly skeptical of taxes in general.
27:23
So that hasn't helped the cause. But every little bit that we can
27:27
raise through the SGO just helps Bridgeways put online for those
27:31
dollars to go back to the students.
27:34
That's great. So for folks listening, the
27:37
website isbridgewayohio.org. I'm not exactly sure where the
27:42
the link for this is, but maybe you guys can get that to us and
27:45
we'll make sure we include it in the show notes.
27:47
That would be great. We'd be happy to do that.
27:49
That's a terrific program there's going.
27:51
To be a drop down menu just so that people know and then they
27:54
would pick Bridgeway out of the you have to pick which entity
27:58
because there's a lot of, you'll get a whole list of all the
28:00
different, you know, participating.
28:02
Schools. So Bridgeway, Bridgeway,
28:05
Bridgeway, Bridgeway, Bridgeway, in case you didn't get it,
28:08
Bridgeway. So you guys started in 2005,
28:13
pretty small to be expected, you know, to start with, but seems
28:18
like you've grown quite a bit in the last 20 years.
28:21
Talk to me about the sort of the size and scale.
28:24
Our goal has always been quality over quantity, right?
28:28
And so when we started, we wanted to make sure we had a
28:32
good program that we were doing right by our students and our
28:36
staff. So we started off very, very
28:38
small. It was 1/2 day, like I said
28:40
earlier, preschool and kindergarten day program.
28:43
And we, we quickly realized that our students were making a lot
28:47
of gains and it would be, it would be a good opportunity for
28:50
us to move to a full day program.
28:51
I think if you talked to Aaron and IA long time ago, we would
28:54
have told you that we would have just been a preschool and
28:59
kindergarten day program or we would have gone through
29:02
elementary school and then that would have been where we're
29:04
going to go. But we are very lucky.
29:08
I very blessed as an organization to have amazing
29:11
people who work for us and have worked for us for a really long
29:15
time. Some people who've been here
29:16
with us for 19 or 20 years, going on 20 years now.
29:20
And when our students started to age out, when they started
29:24
getting to 5th grade, it was, hey, there's not a lot of great
29:29
programs in some of our cities and we know we can do a better
29:33
job. So what do you guys think about
29:35
moving to middle school? And you know, we sat down, we,
29:40
we talked about a plan, we talked about how we thought it
29:42
would work and that's what we did.
29:45
And it happened again when our students were going into high
29:48
school and started to talk about, OK, what are we going to
29:52
do? And at that time, we weren't a
29:53
chartered non public. We weren't, we weren't licensed
29:56
for through ODE. So our students weren't getting
29:59
diplomas. And that became part of our plan
30:01
too. It's like, well, we need to make
30:02
sure our students can, can stay here because if not, they would
30:07
have received a home school diploma, which isn't always
30:10
accepted at all the colleges and all, you know, all job sites and
30:15
workplaces. So we wanted to make sure our
30:17
students had the right credentials that they needed for
30:19
when they graduated. So work to get alongside our
30:23
amazing staff to move towards that.
30:26
And then when we came to our Bridge to Adulthood program, we
30:30
had some students who weren't quite ready maybe to go on to
30:33
post secondary education or into the workforce yet.
30:37
And they still need some skill development, which we already
30:39
start working on in middle school with our our students.
30:44
But we realized that some of our students needed some more
30:47
opportunities to really grow those skills so that they could
30:50
become employable. So they weren't just sitting at
30:53
home or in day hab facilities or even in a facility in general.
31:00
You know, unemployment for our individuals with disabilities is
31:06
really high. We don't, the employability rate
31:10
is not very high for our clientele, so we wanted to make
31:14
sure that we were helping them through those barriers so that
31:17
they could have meaningful employment, be a part of their
31:19
community and be a part of their families.
31:23
And so we kind of just have organically grown as the needs
31:27
have grown as well. We did go through a name change
31:31
as well back in 2015 sixteen. We realized people didn't know
31:38
who we were. Our name at the time was helping
31:40
hand Center for Special needs. We had kids that were going to
31:43
start graduating from here and it was not a very grown up name
31:48
and people thought that we were a really small daycare is what
31:53
they people thought we were. And we actually literally had
31:57
people in the donor community tell us not lying that our name
32:00
sucked. I mean, they they used those
32:01
words because when they would come out well, not here.
32:05
We moved to this building in 2019, but when we we have two
32:09
separate sites, but when people came out to those buildings,
32:11
they said this is so much more than what I ever thought It was
32:17
like I did not realize the work that was going on in your
32:20
building. You know, even as much as we
32:22
would tell them and we would talk about it, it's really about
32:25
seeing the work that goes on here and coming into our, our
32:29
environment and our community to really see that work.
32:33
So we knew we needed to change our name.
32:35
So that's where way became reality back in 2016.
32:40
So it's really been an organic growth over the last 20 years.
32:43
We're really excited about celebrating 20 years and but
32:47
it's really been again, quality over quantity.
32:51
But give us give us a size as I think you said you were able to
32:55
serve. Was it 12 students in that first
32:57
year or you know when you first opened and how many are you able
33:00
to help now? So we're, we have sorry, both of
33:06
us wanted to talk at the same time.
33:09
We have 245 students enrolled in our preschool through 12th grade
33:14
plus into our Bridge to Adulthood program.
33:18
So those are the students that come every day for their school
33:21
services. And then we serve another about
33:25
200 students in our therapy center.
33:28
We estimate that we have close to 800 visitors every day to our
33:32
building. So it's a pretty large facility,
33:36
115,000 square feet on 22 acres here in the southeast side of
33:41
Columbus. So, yeah, it's a pretty, it's a
33:44
big operation that's. That's a lot of land are are
33:48
there a lot of outdoor activities?
33:50
Yes, we have huge play spaces for our students.
33:54
Our school is kind of split into two separate wings. 1 is a
33:58
preschool and elementary wing, the other is our middle and high
34:01
school wing. Both of those wings have a
34:03
separate playground. We are very unique in that we do
34:07
send our middle and high schoolers out outside to play at
34:12
least once a day on our large playground and there are many
34:17
opportunities for them to swing and have their sensory needs
34:20
met. We believe that having that
34:23
outside time is really imperative for our students and
34:27
clients. We have kids that actually
34:30
travel up to an hour and a half of for a commute to get to
34:34
Bridgeway Academy every day. And so they need to run and jump
34:40
and play and doing that really helps them to then focus in the
34:45
classroom when they have to go back to to work.
34:47
So we believe that play and outdoor time and that kind of
34:52
unstructured time is really important for all of our
34:55
students. So we have a large playground
34:57
for each of those wings of the building.
35:00
And then we have unfortunately a very large parking lot as well
35:04
to house 275 staff and then all the families that have to drive
35:10
their kids to and from school and to therapies every day.
35:13
So unfortunately, a large parking lot is.
35:16
Also part of that. It's it's necessary to do what
35:19
you're doing there, to do the good work that you're doing.
35:22
We actually purchased this building in 2019, right before
35:28
COVID. So we actually, we're going to
35:30
launch our capital campaign at the beginning of April before
35:34
the world shut down. So we still successfully had a
35:37
campaign. We began to do everything we
35:39
wanted to do at the building, but we're able to move from 2
35:42
dilapidated buildings that we were in.
35:44
Our students and our staff and our families deserve so much
35:48
more. And so when we found this place,
35:51
we've been looking for about two years.
35:53
And so we finally found it. And so we were successfully
35:56
rolled movement in 2021. So it it definitely, and it's
36:01
allowed us to, you know, expand a little bit more over the last
36:04
couple years since COVID. And it seems like with 22 acres
36:08
you would have room to add on to that should the need arise.
36:13
Correct. Yeah, that's correct.
36:15
We're recording this episode the tail end of November 2024.
36:20
You guys started in 2005, coming up on 20 years.
36:24
Is there a a celebration being planned here?
36:28
Yes. We are here, that's.
36:31
Exactly what I was gonna say. Celebrating all year, really
36:34
taking advantage of this time of celebration.
36:36
This is we're actually in our 20th.
36:39
School year right now and so our big.
36:43
Our big birthday is technically, you know, August of 2025, but
36:48
really celebrating the 20 years of Bridgeway for this whole year
36:53
into 2025. We have already had a little bit
36:57
of a kick off celebration for our students.
37:00
It was a little bit of kind of a carnival.
37:04
Unfortunately, it rained that day, but we made the most of it
37:07
and just had some really fun activities for our students and
37:10
families to come and, and just start that celebration and that
37:13
kick off and we'll be celebrating in April.
37:17
We have a huge signature event every April and we'll be
37:22
celebrating then for sure and and throughout the year.
37:26
So there's fundraising events, there's that tax program SGO
37:31
that we talked about. Are there other ways for people
37:35
to get involved to, I don't know, are you looking for more
37:38
full time employment or are there opportunities for
37:40
volunteers? What what exists here?
37:44
Yeah, we have many different opportunities.
37:48
We there is a national teacher shortage that has definitely
37:53
impacted all schools, especially smaller schools like ours, and
37:59
so we are continually looking to add to our teachers.
38:07
Abby shared that we have four to five teachers in every classroom
38:12
and not all of those teachers have to be a licensed teacher.
38:17
We have many people with varying backgrounds that are supporting
38:21
the classrooms. So but we still always need
38:25
intervention specialists and licensed teachers.
38:29
We also are are always hiring in our therapy departments,
38:33
especially our speech therapists right now and as there is a
38:38
shortage of speech therapists and we have a lot of.
38:42
Goals we have. Some.
38:44
High, high goals for growth in the future, which include
38:49
continuing to grow our Academy and our therapy center.
38:53
And so that requires amazing staff members to come alongside
38:57
us in that journey. And so always looking at that,
39:00
excuse me. And then we have a Board of
39:03
trustees and we have many corporations that are involved
39:06
with us from a volunteer standpoint.
39:09
So there are a lot of ways to get involved, whether it's
39:12
employment or volunteering. Yeah, and I will also just add
39:16
on that you know, coming up is Giving Tuesday.
39:20
So we are very active on social media.
39:22
You know, we always love to do special things and, and raise
39:27
funds on special on Special Tuesday, on Giving Tuesday, it
39:30
is a special day. So we encourage our families and
39:36
our friends of Bridgeway to take a look at that.
39:38
I, I can't give away exactly yet what we're raising funds for
39:41
because it's kind of a build up right now, but encourage
39:44
everybody to go out and look at that.
39:45
We, you know, we like Aaron said, we encourage people to
39:49
come out and, and take a, a tour with us and get to learn how
39:53
they, they can be involved from all different from volunteering
39:58
to financial support to all the above.
40:02
That's great. Aaron, I want to follow up on
40:04
something that was mentioned earlier in the interview and
40:08
maybe we can get you to bring your mic back up because I want
40:10
to make sure everybody hears this because I know you've got a
40:13
background in music. Tell me more about the power of
40:17
music and the type of work that you're doing there.
40:20
Sure, Music, as Abby said is a is a very powerful tool.
40:25
Music therapy is something that's close to my heart.
40:28
That's how I started as a a certified music therapist and we
40:33
employ still to this day 5 full time music therapist at
40:37
Bridgeway and incorporate that into our students day-to-day
40:42
learning and therapies. And music is a a real tool for
40:47
our students to be able to learn to express themselves, but also
40:53
in communication and socialization.
40:56
And so while music therapy, a lot of people think, oh, so you
40:59
have them listen to, you know, to music, recorded music.
41:03
And that is just only a very small part of what music therapy
41:07
can be. The majority of our students are
41:10
participating in active music making through singing songs,
41:14
writing instrument play, group instrument play and and
41:18
activities together to incorporate opportunities and
41:22
facilitate socialization experiences and then the
41:25
self-expression piece. But we have a lot of students
41:29
that are so motivated by music intrinsically, it's a part of
41:32
our culture that we kind of take for granted.
41:35
And so, so many students can be motivated by music to even speak
41:40
or sing some of their first words.
41:43
And so it's a really, it is really a powerful part of our
41:46
program, something that our families really want their kids
41:51
to participate in. And, and we've had the just the
41:54
joy of seeing kids come alive through music, music making
41:58
opportunities with their therapists.
42:00
So obviously I'm passionate about it, but I believe our
42:03
teachers and our therapists and our families and our students
42:07
really believe in the power of music therapy as well.
42:10
That's cool. I want to go back to something
42:13
we're talking about with the the teacher shortage.
42:15
And, you know, you've got open positions there because, you
42:19
know, whether it's an education or, you know, the other
42:21
industries I get to talk to, I still hear a lot of folks talk
42:24
about, you know, a pretty tight labor market.
42:26
So I'm curious to hear from your side, maybe things that you've
42:29
tried that you see have been effective in either recruiting,
42:34
you know, new folks to join you or once you have good folks, how
42:37
do you hold on to them? How do you retain them?
42:41
That's great. It it is really kind of an art
42:44
and science that we're continuing to learn about.
42:47
I think one of the things that we try to do at Bridgeway is
42:51
ensure that we have a really healthy working culture and that
42:56
our culture and our value systems are really up in the
43:00
front of what we do as an organization.
43:03
And so we try to recruit staff members that obviously fit into
43:10
that culture and that helps with the retention.
43:14
But we have been as creative as we can be.
43:17
We have a recruiting partner in our organization.
43:22
We have someone that's main goal, main job and role is
43:26
recruiting and they go to college fairs, job fairs.
43:33
We have obviously our our ads for our workforce and as many
43:41
different platforms as possible, but bringing in really quality
43:45
individuals into Bridgeway really helps our teams to be the
43:50
best that they can be. When you're working closely
43:53
there, there's a true it's, it's a true win for our teachers
43:58
coming in because they get to work closely with four to five
44:02
other teachers in a classroom. And so that is a huge recruiting
44:06
tool that we use is just sharing about our model because there's
44:09
so much support built into our classroom structure at
44:13
Bridgeway, but it's getting the word out about that.
44:18
But teachers really report that they feel supported with having
44:22
those Co teachers and having supervisors that are BCBAS and
44:27
masters level educators that can really support the work that
44:30
they're doing in their classrooms.
44:31
So that's something that we really try to highlight when
44:35
we're recruiting our staff is the just the unique nature of
44:39
the work that they do and the fact that our teachers really
44:43
get to focus. In on the the sole needs of our
44:47
students and individualize the the lesson planning that they're
44:51
doing and the work that they're doing with our students with the
44:54
support of a whole team of teachers and therapists behind
44:58
them. So that's a really important
45:00
part of our recruitment is, is our storytelling about the
45:03
culture at Bridgeway. Yeah.
45:05
I'd say our training like Aaron was saying, and you know, I will
45:09
say that Erin and I think that we're we're pretty fun.
45:13
So we tried. Well, I.
45:14
Heard about how you met? First it was going to be a
45:16
jewelry making party, but then it turned into a wine drinking
45:19
party and that sounds like a great way to start a business
45:22
partnership. Exactly.
45:24
But we know that the work that they do because we've both done
45:27
the work, right. We've we've not only have we
45:28
both been therapists, but we've both worked on home teams
45:32
before. And so it's kind of we, we knew
45:35
challenges and we know it can be really difficult, especially if
45:38
you're on an island by yourself. So like Aaron talked about with
45:41
having lots of support, but we also try to just do things
45:45
around here to show that Aaron and I are real people and that
45:49
we want, we hope that they, they feel appreciated, not just by
45:54
their directors or their managers, but by us as well.
45:57
So we try to do some fun things throughout the year to show our
46:01
silly sides. And I mean, we'll do anything
46:04
for this organization. We've done flash mobs before.
46:07
We've got, you know, we, we'll do it all you ask us.
46:10
There's probably not much we wouldn't do.
46:13
Aaron wants to fly in sometime at one of our galas.
46:16
If anybody has any opportunities for that, we'll do it.
46:19
Fly in? What do you mean parachute?
46:21
Parachute. In or parachute in or you know,
46:25
zip line. Zip line in you know so.
46:30
Bit of a daredevil are you, Aaron?
46:32
I, I do seek some adrenaline and, and, and fun.
46:36
Like Abby said, we really try to not take ourselves too
46:40
seriously. And I think what I've, what I
46:42
share with new staff when we're bringing in and and doing
46:45
onboarding is that fun is one of our kind of unspoken, unwritten
46:49
values that we celebrate all the small wins at Bridgeway and try
46:55
to include the staff in that. And I think over the years,
47:01
we've really tried to continue, even though we are now
47:04
considered a large organization with the number of employees we
47:07
have, we've really tried to keep and maintain that family feel
47:12
with the teams that we have and the support that we show.
47:16
And then the other piece to that is that Abby and I have really
47:19
been intentional, especially since COVID, because you know,
47:24
COVID was a really challenging time, especially in the
47:28
education setting. And the work that we do that is
47:31
so close contact with our students and clients that we
47:35
really tried to be intentional about giving our staff
47:38
opportunities to be heard. And so we're intentional.
47:42
We actually meet with every single staff member in our
47:45
building, either in a small group or one-on-one several
47:49
times a year, just to listen, just to hear what life is like
47:52
from their perspective. To see if there's anything that
47:55
we can do as administrative traders, working with our board
47:59
and working with the strategic plan of Bridgeway to meet the
48:02
needs of our staff better or meet the needs of our students
48:05
in a better way. And so we've been really
48:07
intentional about listening to staff and taking feedback.
48:12
And I'm really trying to make changes anytime we can to help
48:17
our staff and our our school and therapy center just be the best
48:20
that we can be. So I think that that's something
48:23
that's unique about Bridgeway. I'd like to hear about maybe a
48:28
personal or professional challenge that each of you have
48:30
gone through, overcome something, and some of the
48:34
lessons that you learned going through that experience.
48:38
I think we brought both. We could probably give one of
48:41
each, you know, So I will say professionally one that together
48:47
Aaron and I have had to face, you know, because we're in this
48:52
together. So we do a lot of together is
48:56
Aaron and I don't give up. I mean, it's, it's one thing
48:59
we'll tell you we, we will like I said earlier, we will do
49:01
whatever it takes. When it came to purchasing this
49:06
building, it took a lot of work to 1st find somebody who a bank
49:13
that would help support it. Our our getting our board
49:18
involved and making sure that we could have a place because we
49:23
weren't able to grow any longer. Like there was no more room for
49:26
growth. Again, the buildings that we
49:28
were in weren't in great condition.
49:31
We were leasing and we knew how much better we could be if we
49:33
were all back together again. So, you know, we have fought for
49:37
everything for Bridgeway professionally.
49:40
We have have had to, you know, and so, you know, I even had a
49:45
board member who after we, we got the building, he called and
49:51
he's just like, I don't know why I ever should doubt the two of
49:54
you, because you make it happen. I mean, it was like, it was like
49:58
what, like the NTH hour, right, Aaron?
50:00
Like we were at that hour and it was you're not, you're not going
50:05
to be able to purchase it. You're not going to have the
50:06
money. And we found a way.
50:08
I mean, we, we found some people to believe in us and we got our
50:11
bank support behind us. And it has and it turned out
50:15
that somebody internally had a student, a child of their own,
50:20
our grandchild of their own who had autism and understood the
50:23
need for the work. And so it so that professionally
50:28
is one on a on a personal one. This is pretty personal, but I
50:34
can I'll tell it because that's who I am.
50:36
I when we started Bridgeway back in 22,005, I was having a really
50:44
hard time having children. And so for me at that time, that
50:50
gave me an opportunity to put my hands on something that was more
50:56
reachable, right? Because I, I wasn't able to have
50:58
children. And so I was like, I'm going to,
51:02
I'm going to dig my heels in here.
51:03
And I want to be a part of this. I want, I want to join forces
51:06
and I, I want to make this happen because it sounded like
51:08
something greater than myself and something that was truly,
51:11
truly needed and to be a part of it.
51:14
So it, it gave me something, it gave me hope.
51:18
I mean, I guess that for me personally at the time, it gave
51:20
me hope and it gave me something.
51:22
I will let you all know that I I did successfully get pregnant
51:25
with triplets. Oh goodness.
51:29
So about a year later, yeah, it was a year.
51:34
You know, I, I, Erin, I, I, I did leave for a while 'cause I
51:37
went on bed rest. So I don't know that that might
51:39
be a professional thing that Aaron had to go through.
51:41
I went on bed rest and but I came back after being gone from
51:47
middle March to August. And so I had I have triplet boys
51:54
who are just all started college this year.
51:56
So that was also a personal issue this year with them all
51:59
leaving me, but I'm OK, I've made it.
52:03
So thank you for sharing that. How about you, Aaron?
52:07
So I think I'll go in the same order as Abby and Cher.
52:13
It's kind of cliche and I know everyone is sick of hearing
52:16
about COVID, but I am really convinced that we we took on
52:26
that COVID challenge. Like Abby said, we don't we
52:29
don't take no for an answer. We don't give up.
52:33
And I think that that really that really helped pave the way
52:39
for Bridgeway to come out on the other side of COVID where a lot
52:43
of nonprofits did not did not succeed.
52:46
A lot of them did not survive COVID.
52:50
And even just the aftermath that the years after COVID, if they
52:53
did survive COVID, they they didn't in the years after.
52:57
And I honestly believe that our organization is stronger today
53:01
than it was and that we were able to.
53:06
Really overcome a lot of challenges and move very quickly
53:12
and be very nimble during that time to like Abby said.
53:15
We were in the middle of acquiring and renovating and
53:21
fundraising for this huge project that we knew was
53:26
critical for our students. And, and so not only were we
53:30
working to keep our doors open so that our kids could keep
53:33
learning and having the critical therapies that they needed, we
53:37
were also scrambling to try to get construction done in a
53:41
building that we desperately needed to move into because our
53:45
former buildings were literally falling apart around us.
53:49
And so I, I think that just our ability to just put our heads
53:53
down and troubleshoot and move and utilize and incorporate all
54:00
of our team members through that troubleshooting time, it was
54:03
really important to us. We were able to empower our
54:06
staff members and our teams to put together opportunities for
54:10
our kids to come back and learn. We were one of the first, if not
54:14
the first academic setting that kids came back to after the
54:20
pandemic. We actually reopened in May when
54:23
most schools just went on summer recess.
54:27
In May of 2020. In May of 2020, we reopened and
54:32
we did a test run with a small group of staff and students and
54:37
just continued to have a COVID task force that met regularly to
54:41
re evaluate policies and procedures to keep our kids and
54:45
staff safe. And so that time is, is a time
54:49
that there were a lot of tears shed, but we really maintained
54:54
our presence for our students and families.
54:58
And they were going through many challenges in the home.
55:01
If you can imagine, I know a lot of families of neurotypical
55:05
children talk about the struggle that COVID was doing home
55:08
school, but imagine having kids that didn't understand that
55:11
parents that don't know how to teach their children and
55:14
children that have some really significant needs are many of
55:18
our kids were in crisis. So we were able to continue to
55:22
support them the best that we could during that time.
55:24
So I'm really proud of that work that we did.
55:27
And then that we that we opened our doors of our new facility in
55:30
2021 to bring those kids back in into this new setting.
55:38
Then for me personally, I would say it's been a challenge being
55:42
starting as a business owner literally right out of college.
55:47
I, we did not have jobs for music therapists in the state of
55:52
Ohio at that time, especially in the city of Columbus.
55:56
There were very few positions available, if any.
55:59
And I knew the work that I was doing was important work.
56:04
And so I decided to start a private practice initially just
56:07
right out of out of school and I had a really challenging time
56:12
getting even my family to get behind me in that decision.
56:17
And so I think that I have come at this work proving myself
56:23
constantly. And then I'm sure Abby would
56:26
agree that we've continued and, and even the stories that she
56:28
shared about our board and the purchase of the building, we've
56:31
constantly had to prove ourselves.
56:33
And so as a female, as an entrepreneur and a visionary, I
56:40
think we we get a lot of. Push.
56:42
Back a lot of people that maybe don't take us as seriously as
56:45
they should and so even still absolutely and then some of that
56:52
is the work that I've had to do in my own head and feeling like
56:57
an imposter or feeling like questioning my own abilities
57:02
through that because even though we have the passion and the
57:06
training and we've built this amazing organization.
57:10
There are still days that I struggle with my own mental
57:16
chatter of whether or not I'm the right person for this work
57:20
or whether or not I deserve to be here.
57:22
And so I think that that's been one of the personal things that
57:26
I've had to continually overcome.
57:28
And it's, it's not something that I think will ever go away
57:31
for me personally, But I'm, I'm really proud of the work that
57:36
we've done. And sometimes I just have to be
57:38
able to sit back and allow myself to see that and to see
57:41
the amazing things that we've done and, and be OK with
57:43
accepting that, that that we were part of this.
57:47
You know, I'm so grateful for both of you for sharing both of
57:50
your challenge and particularly the the personal challenges.
57:54
You know, I've known so many people, family and friends who
57:56
have struggled with fertility issues and the the stress that
58:02
it places. It is really hard to put into
58:04
words for, you know, people who haven't been through that.
58:07
And so I'm, I'm glad that you gave voice to that, Abby.
58:11
And I'm, and I'm even happier to hear that there was a happy
58:14
outcome. You've got, you know, three
58:16
healthy boys in college now who I, I'm sure still love you very
58:20
much, even though they're not under roof anymore.
58:22
I appreciate that. Yes, absolutely.
58:25
And Aaron, it's so great to hear your personal struggle struggle
58:29
too, about, you know, the mental chatter because I, you know,
58:33
we've all got that mental chatter, but it's it's silent,
58:38
right? It's not like a, a broken arm
58:40
where somebody can see, oh, you know what?
58:41
I'm sorry, what happened to you? You know, it's all going on
58:44
behind the scenes for everybody and everybody, you know,
58:48
probably thinks, oh, you know, they're not, they don't have
58:51
their brains sort of, you know, chipping away at them, you know,
58:54
like, like mine is. And to hear somebody who has
58:56
been so successful, you know, building, you're starting this
58:59
business 20 years ago and has, you know, grown it into, you
59:03
know, a couple 100 employees. You're able to help, you know,
59:05
hundreds of of students every year.
59:09
You know, you acquire this, you know, huge building and
59:13
renovated it and you know, and you're just, you're just on this
59:16
great trajectory. And so for somebody to hear
59:18
that, oh, wow, like, look at her and everything she's done and
59:21
she still has this negative chatter.
59:25
Well, you know, what does that that say for me?
59:27
Like, don't, don't listen to the negative chatter.
59:30
I think is the lesson there. Like our brains, sometimes they
59:33
lie to us, you know, they tell us things that are not helpful.
59:37
And I think, you know, your story is a great example of
59:39
that. So tune, tune that guy out.
59:43
I think it's really it's, it's nice.
59:46
Aaron and I have each other, which is I, we, I will also say,
59:51
as you hear a lot about friends who go into business together
59:54
and and start work and they're, they're not friends forever.
59:58
And I think we have been very lucky to have each other.
1:00:02
We're very different personality.
1:00:04
Why in in the sense of Aaron? Aaron is more type A.
1:00:10
I am more type B, you know, and like, it's sometimes we have to,
1:00:13
we have to bring each other to different places, like Abby,
1:00:16
this is something you really need to care about.
1:00:17
And then it's me like, Hey, Aaron, like we, we can bring it
1:00:20
down, like if it's OK. And so I think it's been that's
1:00:24
been helpful, at least for me through all, you know, 20 plus
1:00:27
years of friendship and 20 years.
1:00:29
Obviously this organization that I have AI have a partner.
1:00:33
So, you know, we, we do refer to each other as our work wives.
1:00:36
I mean, it's, it's, we sit across from each other in our
1:00:39
office every day. So if she wants to get away from
1:00:41
me, she can't. So, so I, I do feel like we're
1:00:46
very, very lucky for that. Yeah, you are very fortunate.
1:00:50
I just have one more question for the two of you.
1:00:52
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
1:00:54
Everyone listening today, you like today's content, please hit
1:00:57
the like Share subscribe button on your favorite podcast app.
1:01:00
I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch
1:01:02
with you. Is that through your website?
1:01:05
Is there another way that you prefer?
1:01:07
bridgeway.org. Bridgeway, ohio.org.
1:01:11
That's correct. Yeah.
1:01:12
We're also both on LinkedIn and social media, but through
1:01:17
through our website is probably the easiest way to get into
1:01:20
direct contact with us. So yeah, we would love to hear
1:01:25
from anyone with questions or comments.
1:01:28
OK. Last question for you.
1:01:30
What do you think the biggest change is that's likely to come
1:01:33
in the next couple of years to your industry?
1:01:37
To our industry, not just to our organization.
1:01:41
You can answer that either way you like.
1:01:48
I know organizationally, I, I'll, I'll start with the
1:01:51
organizationally. I think for us, we know that our
1:01:55
impact that we're making is making, we're making a
1:01:59
significant impact here just from our data that we received
1:02:04
back from our input from staff and families in particular.
1:02:08
And we know that we want to be more far reaching, but we're not
1:02:12
going to be able to do that all here personally.
1:02:15
Maybe under the roof of this building, this brick and mortar,
1:02:19
it might not be big enough. You know, we don't have the
1:02:22
money right now to extend out, you know, and make the building
1:02:25
bigger, you know, to allow for more classrooms to be built.
1:02:29
We also again, still want to have quality over quantity.
1:02:33
And so we, we, I think what you'll see in the next three,
1:02:37
5-10 years is that our reach is farther than these walls that we
1:02:41
will be hopefully out more in the community, maybe providing
1:02:45
more therapy services out at other sites where people need us
1:02:50
and they can't come because of maybe some they're not able to
1:02:53
leave. Work or they you.
1:02:54
Know financial barrier so other barriers that we're not thinking
1:02:57
you know that are causing people not to be able to come for
1:03:00
therapies and also being able to reach across the country.
1:03:04
You know the United States like we have a a really good program
1:03:09
here has lots of evidence we are evidence based that is one of
1:03:12
our values and we don't want to be a secret any longer We want
1:03:17
you know we've told you're the best kept secret.
1:03:19
Well, I don't, we don't want to be the best kept secret because
1:03:21
if it's working here, it can work in many other States.
1:03:25
And so we want to, I think our hopefully we'll have some more
1:03:29
arms and to get out there to make a difference in other
1:03:32
communities. Aaron, anything you'd like to
1:03:35
add? Yeah, I think from the industry
1:03:39
standpoint, I, I feel hopeful that we've seen some schools,
1:03:46
you know, part of how Bridgeway started was because some of the
1:03:50
schools weren't able to do some of the intensive learning and
1:03:55
individualized learning opportunities that we provide at
1:03:58
Bridgeway. And I think school districts are
1:04:02
starting to catch up with ways that they can serve the autism
1:04:08
and developmental disabilities community in a in a.
1:04:12
More. Robust way we're seeing schools
1:04:16
hiring board certified behavior analysts now and kind of trying
1:04:22
to provide more individualized opportunities for their
1:04:26
students. And so I'm hopeful that we will
1:04:30
continue to see that growth in the education system that we're
1:04:34
providing that we're able to not provide as much of a cookie
1:04:38
cutter model for all learners, right.
1:04:40
It's not just even individuals with developmental disabilities,
1:04:43
but that we're seeing each child as an individual.
1:04:46
And that's my hope that our education system starts to.
1:04:50
Respond to that push from, from the community of, of learners
1:04:55
that are coming up in schools. They're understanding that kids
1:04:59
are unique, that they aren't all going to learn with the same
1:05:03
pace or in the same way. So I'm really hopeful about that
1:05:08
and hopeful also that funding will start to be prioritized for
1:05:15
education. For our kids, whether it's in
1:05:19
the public schools or in the private sector, that our kids
1:05:23
and their needs require additional funds in order to
1:05:27
best serve them and that some kids cannot learn in a classroom
1:05:30
with 20 other kids. And so we need to be able to
1:05:33
have the funding support to be able to provide teachers and
1:05:40
curriculum and a setting where each individual student can
1:05:44
thrive. So I, I would like to say that
1:05:47
I'm hopeful that that will continue to change.
1:05:50
It's a little slower than we would like, but I do see that
1:05:53
coming in our society just out of out of necessity.
1:05:59
Aaron Neely and Abby David, I want to be the first to thank
1:06:02
you both for sharing both your time and your stories with us
1:06:05
today. I'm grateful for it.
1:06:07
Thank you. Thanks so much, Anthony, for
1:06:09
having us. We really appreciate being able
1:06:10
to share our story. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:06:14
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:06:16
Thanks for learning with us today.