Our Story

Our son, Daniel, is a wonderful young man with autism. He is handsome, thoughtful, and a joy to be around, but also faces significant challenges. Over the years, we have worked closely with him, supporting him in every way possible. It became clear some time ago that for his long-term adult life, Daniel would need a high level of professional services.

My husband and I spent many years researching and exploring different options.  We spoke with countless organizations and parents around the world, looking at a wide range of models, until we found what would work best for Daniel. Most important to us was that the people who worked with Daniel understood their true role: to help him build independence and lead a meaningful life filled with enriching experiences.

The True Professional (“TTP”) was inspired by what we wanted for Daniel; it is based on the concepts of client service, relationship building, and excellence. We recruited Dawn Townsend, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA, a globally recognized pragmatic clinician and researcher, who founded a school and day program, and widely consults on residential  issues, to serve as our Senior Director of Curriculum.

Our first step was to define what excellence in residential services looks like. We created both quantitative and qualitative metrics—standards that could be assessed consistently and replicated. From there, we built a multi-pronged program rooted in those metrics, focused on building strong relationships rather than simple transactions. We developed the 5Cs™, our proprietary framework for excellence in service quality that underscores everything we do as an organization.

This all became the foundation of The True Professional: raising the bar for direct support by blending an evidence-based program with the principles of world-class service.