Ericka Braggs – Founder, Shape Our Village

In this episode of Tim Talks: Behavioral Health, Timothy Zercher sits down with Ericka Braggs, Founder of Shape Our Village and co-author of the A Million Possibilities caregiver training curriculum.

Drawing from her background as a school counselor and BCBA, Ericka shares why some of the most effective ABA interventions begin by listening before teaching. She discusses the importance of cultural humility, building genuine partnerships with families, and creating programs that work in the realities of everyday life—not just on paper.

Ericka also shares the challenges of growing a mission-driven organization, why caregiver training deserves more attention in ABA, and how providers can bridge the gap between clinical expertise and family expertise to create lasting outcomes.

Whether you're a BCBA, clinical leader, or behavioral health entrepreneur, this conversation offers a thoughtful perspective on what it means to deliver care that is both evidence-based and deeply human.

What You'll Learn:

•  How Ericka's journey from school counseling led her into ABA 
•  Why caregiver training is critical for long-term success 
•  The role of cultural humility in effective treatment 
•  How to build stronger partnerships with families 
•  Challenges of scaling a relationship-driven organization 
•  Marketing lessons for behavioral health innovators 
•  Why human connection may be the missing ingredient in many ABA programs 

Transcript

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Timothy Zercher 0:00

Erica, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking time. I know you have a busy schedule with lots of different things happening all the time.

Ericka Braggs 0:06

Thank you for having me.

Timothy Zercher 0:08

Absolutely. So I always like to start off these interviews by asking how you got into ABA.

Ericka Braggs 0:12

So I was originally a school counselor and I was a kid who struggled in school, undiagnosed. And I really felt like it was subjective and I wanted a more objective way to help. And so I was fascinated with behavior and just committed to figuring out how to keep kids from slipping through the cracks.

Timothy Zercher 0:35

So it makes sense. Then if you wouldn't mind, tell me how that eventually, that kind of original passion eventually led you to shape our village and creating that organization.

Ericka Braggs 0:47

So I think when I started doing at-home ABA, BCBA work, I realized that when we left, the parents' job never ended. So session hours end, parenting never ended. So I ended up spending a lot of time getting to know the parents, getting to know their culture, what was already going well. And I noticed with my fellow BCBAs that this was probably a skill that I had developed in counseling school. And it was kind of a gap. And so I really became passionate to create a bridge between the expertise we come in with to the expertise the family has and kind of level the playing field so that we could all come to the table with our expert hats and do better programming.

Timothy Zercher 1:35

I love that. I love that. It's a different, a different approach to ABA, which I love. So a lot of your work centers around cultural humility, human connection. Where do you think the ABA field still has the most room to grow in those regards?

Ericka Braggs 1:51

I feel like we do come in with an expertise that can impact a family in amazing ways. I feel like the growth is when you step inside a family's house to commit to being a learner first. A learner of the client, a learner of the environment. Because we can write the best program in the world. And if it's not going to be implemented when we leave, then it's not the best program in the world.

Timothy Zercher 2:22

So well said. Well said. It's not the best program if it's not used, no matter what. So you've built resources for caregivers and providers alike. What have you learned about creating support that is not only evidence-based, but then actually feels human and usable in real life day-to-day?

Ericka Braggs 2:43

So as a BCBA in practice, when I wake up in the morning and I'm getting on a parent session and I'm able to pull up this curriculum, even myself, even though I wrote it, I'm so grateful because it drops you into a situation where you and the parent are both learning this information together through the lens of their context, their life. And you're able to have a discussion through the guided discussion questions that really lay bare, like the adults' learning journeys. Like, what do we associate with, you know, tolerance for waiting or whatever? Like, how do we feel when we go through that? And then it really opens the door for us to get creative and how to give the child opportunities to practice this skill. So I feel like it's just the relationship and the empathy is the sweet spot that we're we kind of skip over because we know we should do it, but you know, we have a lot to do.

Timothy Zercher 3:42

Of course, of course. I think that's the tendency in a lot of different specialties, honestly, right? Is to focus on the clinical side of it and to forget the very real human struggle of, yeah, that does make sense clinically. And also at 2 a.m. the parent is exhausted and just cannot have that fight right now. So what have you found is the hardest part of growing your organization? Because I know you guys have grown.

Ericka Braggs 4:05

To be perfectly candid, I feel like we are, it's very much like if someone comes in with an illness and I'm like, just exercise and eat well, you know? Yeah. Um, I feel like we're asking people to slow down in a society that very much wants to maximize like output. And we're asking them to slow down and sit in uncomfortable moments. We're asking them to gauge the parents' capacity, their capacity, and focus on the long game and be like, hey, maybe today is not the day that we could talk about these difficult things. So I think it's almost like a mindset shift that we're selling more than just a product. And so that is difficult. I feel like that's then the most difficult thing.

Timothy Zercher 4:54

That does make complete sense. And mindset shifts are the hardest because they mean you actually have to change your priorities, which is a very hard thing to do. That's very hard. Yeah. So because we are a marketing agency that specializes in behavioral health, we have to ask some more marketing type questions. The first one is outside of word of mouth, what works best for you right now in acquiring new clients, new partners?

Ericka Braggs 5:19

I think we're sending out information through the BACB. We're just doing a lot of brand awareness through social media. And then Substack, we're just kind of trying to canonize our principles and our values and just focus on intentional growth. I think word of mouth and just getting people to use the product and see like how it feels is something that is hard to put words to and market. So I think that's working best right now.

Timothy Zercher 5:51

Yeah. Well, I think that the emotional side of any product or service is the hardest piece to capture, but it's also by far the most powerful piece, right? If you can capture how more impactful every session will feel, right, then it becomes a lot more attractive. But it's not easy by any means.

Ericka Braggs 6:08

It's not easy. And with HIPAA, you can't scream and be like, oh, this kid said this or this mom said this. You know, you gotta be really careful as well.

Timothy Zercher 6:17

Absolutely, absolutely. So, what is one marketing tactic that either you're just watching very carefully in the marketplace since you are a leader in the space, you are aware of kind of what's happening in a lot of the different markets, or a marketing tactic that you guys are actually considering implementing for yourselves?

Ericka Braggs 6:35

So I think the two that I'm kind of considering, and I don't consider myself an expert in this at all, but I'm seeing on TikTok how people are sharing through reels like their philosophy and like really relatable statements. And then at the end, once they've shown you who they are, they're like, oh, and it's attached to this curriculum. So I like that. And I think for me, just getting involved in more of the events like APBA and just talking to people and networking, I think is the biggest. I know LinkedIn is a big one, so we're gonna focus our efforts there too. But to be perfectly candid, we're kind of that's our weak spot right now is figuring out how to communicate this to I honestly feel like everyone needs this. And I'm like shocked that people aren't using it yet. And but it's hard to get out there yet.

Timothy Zercher 7:35

Absolutely. That's like getting the word out about any product or service, especially one that is not widely accepted, maybe is the right word. Like I don't know that you guys have critics necessarily, but it's not widely used is a lot harder.

Ericka Braggs 7:48

I feel like it's profitable because I mean, I have three hours of parent training per week that insurance companies are approving and that parents are showing up for because it's one hour of education, two hours of practice. And so it's a model that works, but I think convincing people that it's a model that can work is gonna take some work.

Timothy Zercher 8:10

A different, a different fight. Yeah. No, that makes sense. That makes sense. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you taking time and thank you for the work that you're doing for a lot of families. I know you're you're I know you're having a lot of impact. Thank you so much. Absolutely.