Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | October 10, 2022 7 Growing autism treatment center opens new Middletown office By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Alisha Simpson-Watt launched Collaborative ABA Services in June 2019 with just herself and two behavioral analysts. Now, with 24 employees and seeking more, Collaborative ABA Services just leased its first office, a 3,390-square-foot space in the Middlesex Professional Park in Middletown. Treating a client base predom- inantly made up of people with autism, Simpson-Watt launched her business months before the COVID-19 lockdowns. Her staff began seeing patients in homes, then moved online during the start of the pandemic, but quickly pivoted back to in-person services when demand and needs skyrocketed. "Even during the pandemic, we started out as essential workers," Simpson-Watt said. Simpson-Watt, 38, took the Middle- town office so her growing company could add services, including occupa- tional, speech and language therapy. Collaborative ABA Services is also launching daytime group activities so clients can work on social skills in a clinical setting. "It allows a holistic approach, everybody is on the same page," Simpson-Watt said of the new office. Simpson-Watt is also adding case management staff, to help families in need connect with food, housing and other social services. Her revenue, which she declined to disclose, comes from a mix of contracts with schools, private insurance, Medicaid and out-of-pocket pay, she said. "We definitely wanted to expand our services because we see a need for it," Simpson-Watt said. Simpson-Watt said she chose Middletown because there are rela- New state board allocates $76.4M for economic development; Middletown, New Haven, Waterbury big winners By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com The Community Investment Fund 2030 board — a new group led by top lawmakers — recently approved $76.4 million in state grants for development and community projects in distressed municipalities. Middletown is in line for $12 million to fund its "Return to the Riverbend" plan, an effort to make better connections with parkland and redevelop industrial, commercial and waste treatment sites along the Connecticut River. Waterbury is teed up to get $10 million, which local officials say is enough to finish cleaning a roughly 20-acre brownfield adjacent to its downtown. New Haven is the other big winner, with a $10 million allocation. The list of projects blessed by the Community Investment Fund (CIF) 2030 board now needs Gov. Ned Lamont's approval to go on the state Bond Commission agenda for funding. But no cuts are anticipated. "We certainly don't anticipate rejection or amendments because it's been well vetted and worked out," House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) told the CIF board. "But he ultimately is the governor. So, in theory, until he says 100% yes, there could be changes and feedback to this group." Approved by lawmakers last year, the Community Investment Fund board has a mandate to approve up to $875 million in projects and grants in distressed communities over a five-year period. Ritter co-chairs the CIF board with Senate President Pro Tem. Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven). Under the 2021 law, funding priorities will be decided by a 21-member board that includes 10 state lawmakers; nine heads of state offices and commissions, or their designees; and two appointees by the governor. The Department of Economic and Community Development received 183 applications asking for about $900 million. Other projects approved for funding include: • Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association, Hartford, $1.2M • BIMEC Housing Development, New Haven, $2.1M • City of Meriden, 85 Tremont/Locust St. project, $3M • City of New Haven, 596-598 George St. project, $1.5M • CitySeed Inc., New Haven, $1.1M • CONNCORP, New Haven, $10M • International Hartford, $1.1M • North Hartford Collaborative, $4.5M • Sheldon Oak Central Inc., Hartford, $3.8M • Town of East Hartford, Church Corners project, $2.5M Alisha Simpson-Watt founded Collaborative ABA Services, which provides behavioral health care to people with autism. A new state board helping direct bonding funds has recommended giving Waterbury $10 million to complete cleanup of roughly 20 acres at the former Anaconda American Brass site near the city's downtown. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED HBJ PHOTO | MICHAEL PUFFER tively few applied behavioral analyst programs in the region. She saw a need. It was much the same rationale that started her down the path to becoming a board-certi- fied behavioral analyst. Simpson-Watt was working as a social worker in Hartford Public Schools in 2012, and saw the district's need for people trained to work with autistic students. Parents were having a difficult time accessing support through private providers and faced backlogs of sometimes more than a year. Simpson-Watt already had a master's degree in social work from UConn but went back to school and achieved a Board Certified Behavior Analyst graduate certificate from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2015. "Once the pandemic hit, it made it even worse," Simpson-Watt said. "There was already a shortage of providers and a long waitlist. Now you were waiting even longer. You were getting staff burning out and resigning (throughout the industry)." The company has a 60-family wait- list and is seeking to hire four behav- ioral technicians. Simpson-Watt plans to eventually add more board-certified behavioral analysts to help with the growing demand for ABA services. She believes the demand is, at least in part, fueled by a growing understanding of autism and its increasingly frequent diagnosis. Matt Ritter AT A GLANCE Company: Collaborative ABA Services LLC Industry: Behavioral health Top Executive: Alisha Simpson-Watt, Executive Clinical Director/Founder HQ: 760-770 Saybrook Road, Middletown Website: collaborativeabaservices.com Contact: 860-421-4052

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