In June, Endeavor Behavioral Institute, a comprehensive behavioral therapy center located in Houston, Texas, celebrated its 10th anniversary. But according to Operations Manager Amber Scheurich, with big transitions on the horizon, the best is yet to come for the institute.
Founded in 2014 by Lynsey Jackson, Endeavor Behavioral serves the greater Houston area, providing applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy and consultative services for children with a variety of diagnoses, specializing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), developmental disorders and delays, and behavior disorders.
In terms of services, the company offers in-clinic and in-home therapy, school shadowing, feeding therapy, social skills training, functional communication training, language development, toilet training, cognitive and life skills development, and vocational training.
While these services are predominantly covered by insurance once a family meets its out-of-pocket deductible, Endeavor Behavioral offers cash-pay options for those out of network and shares information about various grant opportunities when possible, Scheurich told Autism Business News.
She added that insurance requires caregiver training at least once per month.
“Ideally, we like to see families in here once a week. … Those can happen in person, or they can also happen virtually,” Scheurich said. “And then I know a lot of times, too, when it comes to caregiver training, they’ll either be in the office with the BCBA or they’ll be hands on, whether the BCBA is modeling those behaviors and wanting [caregivers] to see those interventions or the parents are observing.”
Endeavor Behavioral provides most of its services in-clinic at the moment, according to Scheurich.
However, she said therapists will typically “sprinkle” in-home and in-school sessions “here and there” when insurance covers them and they are recommended by board-certified behavioral analysts (BCBAs).
Currently, the institute employs roughly 70 staff members, with a focus on registered behavior technicians (RBTs), per Scheurich.
“They are our bread and butter,” Scheurich told Autism Business News. “For every kiddo that we have, we have to have a therapist in place.”
Endeavor Behavioral has not prioritized sourcing new BCBAs recently, as they prefer hiring and promoting from within, Scheurich said.
“Being able to promote from within has been really awesome for us because we would like to give our staff an opportunity for growth,” she said. “Of course, they already know Endeavor, they embody Endeavor, so to be able to bring them on to more of a leadership role has been really exciting, which we’ve got to do with a couple of our BCBAs.”
In total, Endeavor Behavioral assists about 55 children, offering full-time, part-time and after-school programs, Scheurich said.
“We have grown a lot just since I’ve been here,” Scheurich, who has been with the company for a little over two years, told the publication. “We’ve brought on a lot of new kiddos.”
Scheurich emphasized Endeavor’s unique approach, including bi-monthly field trips and in-clinic events to help children generalize their skills in different settings.
“For instance, last year the [Houston] Texans invited us for an Autism Acceptance Day, and after we went, and the mom took her kids, she was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I had no idea they would be able to sit through one of these games,’” Scheurich said.
Parent socials and community-building activities are also a key part of Endeavor’s approach.
“Of course, because of HIPAA, it’s not a requirement that our parents attend those socials but, … they’ve created a sense of community,” Scheurich said.
Regarding current challenges, Scheurich said the biggest one is a physical space issue.
“For every child that we onboard comes a therapist, so that’s another car in the parking lot,” Scheurich said. “We’ve kind of met our physical limits in that way.”
As such, Endeavor is expanding its current facility and exploring new locations within Houston.
“We have a waitlist for all of our programs at this time — [a new space is] going to allow us to bring in so many more kiddos, more families, and be able to change more lives and touch more people,” she said.
To fill an important need within the ASD community, Scheurich said the institute is looking to create academic sectors within each of their programs and potentially open a private school that families would pay for out of pocket.
When asked where she sees Endeavor Behavioral in five years, Scheurich didn’t hesitate.
“You never know — the sky’s the limit,” she said.
