Garden Grove-based Behavioral Health Works has a made a growth market out of teaching people with autism how to change their conduct in an effort to improve their lives.
The family-owned company specializes in helping children and some adults with autism “obtain a better quality of life through behavioral therapy,” said Dr. Robert Douk, the company’s founder and executive director.
Behavioral Health Works received the Up & Coming Business Award at the 14th annual Family Owned Business Awards luncheon hosted by the Business Journal and California State University, Fullerton’s Center for Family Business on Nov. 13 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine (see related stories, pages 4, 5, 6, and 7).
Douk estimates that Behavioral Health, which was established just four years ago, will have $9 million in revenue this year and $18 million in 2014. The company is certified by the California Department of Education and contracts with school districts to provide various services to people with autism.
One of Behavioral Health’s main services falls under a branch of psychology known as applied behavior analysis, which uses certain techniques to change a person’s behavior.
Applied behavioral analysis, or ABA, can be used with autism patients to change what Behavioral Health describes on its website as “challenging behaviors such as aggression, elopement, self-injury and tantrums.”
ABA is a form of therapy that has “been around for hundreds of years, but it’s gained its popularity because there really is no other treatment out there that’s effective,” Douk said.
Douk gave an example of how applied behavior analysis works: Staff members go into the home environment of a patient who has been having problems, such as sticking his eye with a fork. The company assesses the patient’s behavior and works to change how the patient acts, without using medication or “sitting through therapy with him.”
“We teach him an alternative behavior,” Douk said. “We get him to basically obtain or achieve the same outcome but through this alternative behavior that’s more appropriate.”
Douk said that his company also makes sure autism patients’ families are involved in the treatment.
“I didn’t want these kids to be dependent on my staff for the rest of their lives,” he said. “The strategies and the techniques that we use [are] easy enough to teach anyone.”
Behavioral Health has about 140 employees, including therapists and parent consultants. It anticipates treating 275 people by the end of the year.
It got its first contract in October 2009, “and we’ve doubled in size ever since,” Douk said, adding that he’s been approached by insurance companies to expand Behavior Health’s programs into seven states beyond California.
Douk is a native of Cambodia who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 2 in 1981.
“My mom says I’m a miracle baby,” he said. “We escaped the land mines of Cambodia in [1979] when I was born. I was only 2 months old.”
His family ended up in the Bronx before moving to Long Beach, which had a growing Cambodian community at the time.
Douk came to Orange County to study at University of California, Irvine, where he earned an undergraduate degree—he also has a master’s in counseling from Cal State L.A. and a doctorate in psychology from Southern California University.
UC Irvine is the place he met his wife and “began building my professional network—and why I remain here,” Douk said.
He worked as a psychologist in school districts in Long Beach, Los Angeles and Garden Grove prior to starting Behavioral Health. A stint as a psychology intern in Los Angeles included one day each week dedicated to working with high-profile autism cases.
“I stumbled across this topic of autism and ABA therapy, and I decided to specialize in it,” he said.
Douk family members are woven throughout the company.
Brother Brandon serves as office manager, while sister Michelle is a clinical assistant. Robert’s wife, Ami, is director of global outreach, and sister-in-law Rika Lopez is a marriage and family therapist. Ami and Rika are sisters.
The company’s patient base ranges from toddlers to people in their early 30s.
“Every single immediate sibling I have is involved,” he said, adding that his parents take care of his children when he and his wife are working late nights. “Really, I’ve just been blessed with a supportive family.”
