Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics & Values

Commitment to Diversity

We believe in cultivating a culture that allows employees to feel safe, connected, heard, and, most importantly, valued. While diversity, equity, and inclusion are at risk during a crisis or downturn, Breakthrough Autism recognizes the key role they play in recovery, resilience, and overall success in the future. Engaging in conversation is not enough; rather, we believe in implementing and upholding more impactful strategies to see real, lasting change within our organization.

We define diversity as a measure of difference in identity – things like gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, ability, or religion. Inclusion is a respect for and appreciation of these differences – the deliberate act of welcoming and valuing diversity and equity.

Below are ways in which Breakthrough Autism is promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace:

Awareness of Unconscious Bias:
Understanding bias and building awareness is a first step towards real change. Unconscious bias can include associations or feelings of bias that may be hidden underneath the surface. Unconscious biases do not necessarily align with our conscious beliefs or declared beliefs, which means unconscious biases are even more important to pay attention to.
Communicating the Importance of Managing Bias:
Cultural humility is another way leaders and employees can manage bias and foster more inclusive environments. This concept involves remaining curious and humble about cultural differences.
Promoting Equal Pay:
By applying analytics, we can identify patterns or trends that may exist where certain groups of employees (e.g., people of color) are being underpaid within certain areas of the business.
Developing a Strategic Training Program:
Training will focus on what is relevant to our specific organization and employees and will align with our broader diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and identified challenges.
Acknowledging Holidays of all Cultures:
We aim to keep track of multicultural religious or holiday celebrations. We will be respectful of these days when scheduling meetings and understand that employees have different needs that may require flexibility.
Facilitate Ongoing Feedback:
Through anonymous surveys, we will collect feedback to get a better understanding of what’s going on under the surface. This data will inform our decisions to reduce or eliminate any patterns of discrimination or biases within a particular branch or area of the organization.
Quarterly Assessment of Company Policies:
A cultural shift takes time, which means Breakthrough Autism will set benchmarks and track progress to assess how our efforts are moving the needle. This will not only show leaders what strategies are working and which ones are falling short, but it will also help to hold them accountable in reaching their long-term goals.

ETHICS

Professional ethics are at the core of Breakthrough Autism. The Organization has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide employees’ conduct. The Code is relevant to all employees at Breakthrough Autism.

CODE OF ETHICS AND VALUES

Breakthrough Autism is committed to maintaining the highest level of professional and ethical standards in the provision and oversight of quality services to persons with disabilities and other special needs. These standards are achieved and sustained through the actions and conduct of each member of Breakthrough Autism, including Board members, staff, consultants, contractors, and volunteers. Respect, honesty, integrity, and compliance with laws and regulations governing our industry guide our actions and conduct. These standards serve to protect and promote the basic rights of each person receiving services, while enhancing the Agency’s ability to meet its Mission.

1. At Breakthrough Autism, our aim is to cultivate a strong ethical culture that allows employees to feel good about the decisions they make. This starts at the top—leadership must possess values that align with the mission and ethics code of Breakthrough Autism and are expected to model ethical behavior at all times. Who wants to listen to a hypocritical supervisor? Trust us, we get it, neither do we! That is why we are really big on “practicing what we preach.” If we ask you to conduct yourself in a certain manner, then you can be assured that your supervisor is being held to an even higher standard.

2. Breakthrough Autism is paving the way in our local ABA community to strengthen the reinforcement contingencies for staff, parents, and, most importantly, our clients to deliver a gold-level standard of care. We want to cultivate a culture that empowers employees and makes them feel valued. Therefore, people working at Breakthrough Autism must share a common set of values if we are to be successful in our ambitions. These values are clearly stated in the employee handbook, and we will demonstrate these values in the work we do every day. We will work to uphold these values and to make sure that everything we do is based on the understanding that Breakthrough Autism puts the client first, whether that is unlocking our inner child in order to make a client laugh and engage with his/her therapist or advocating for additional resources. This means we will design and deliver interventions around the needs and choices of each individual client and will do this by delivering the best therapeutic relationship we can. This will lead to improved outcomes for every client and promote caregiver happiness and satisfaction.

3. We will focus relentlessly on the needs of people in every decision we make, always asking ourselves what implication our actions will have on our patients, both as individuals and as groups in society. To really understand this, we need to be accountable and make it possible for people to easily and regularly tell us how they feel about their treatment. We will demonstrate how we are using this feedback to make improvements.

4. We will ensure that every person who comes into contact with Breakthrough Autism is treated fairly and equally and with dignity and respect.

5. We will share ideas and knowledge, successes and failures. We believe in innovation, and we will learn from our mistakes. We will encourage staff to speak up when they have an idea and promote positive workplaces in which people thrive.

6. We will be successful by making Breakthrough Autism an excellent ABA organization: an exemplar in client-centered interventions, ethics, integrity, professionalism, rigor, transparency, and creativity. We will encourage collaborative working to maximize the resources that can be spent on care and to promote truly client-centered care.