An ABA degree prepares you for far more than autism therapy. BCBAs and ABA practitioners bring highly transferable skills in behavior change, data analysis, and applied reinforcement that translate into rewarding careers in organizational behavior management, life coaching, animal behavior consulting, social work, addiction counseling, clinical research, and more.
If you’ve got an ABA degree or you’re working toward one, you’ve probably heard the same thing a hundred times: “Oh, so you work with kids with autism?” And while that’s one of the most meaningful things you can do with your training, it’s far from the only option.
Here’s what a lot of people don’t realize: the skills you develop in an ABA program don’t belong to any one population. Behavioral assessment, reinforcement systems, data-driven decision making, and functional behavior analysis apply anywhere human behavior matters — which is just about everywhere.
We put this list together for ABA practitioners and students who want to see the full picture of what their degree can do. Some of these paths are direct applications of ABA principles. Others are adjacent roles where your training gives you a real edge over other candidates. All of them are worth knowing about.
Health and Wellness Coaching
You might not picture yourself as the next big fitness personality, but health coaching is a natural fit for someone trained in behavior change. Many health coaches focus on exercise or nutrition, but may not have formal training in applied behavior analysis. That’s a gap your background could help fill.
Fitness and wellness is a mental game above all else. Getting a client to the gym is easy. Getting them to show up consistently, break the habits that are working against them, and build new ones that stick — that’s where ABA training pays off. Reinforcement schedules, habit formation, antecedent-based interventions: these aren’t just clinical tools. They’re exactly what health coaching needs more of.
You could work in corporate wellness programs, contract with physical therapy offices, partner with gyms, or go independent with private clients. The market for behavior-informed wellness coaching is growing, and practitioners with ABA backgrounds are genuinely rare in this space.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is all about helping people perform the activities of daily living — basic independence, functional skills, and quality of life. Sound familiar? The goals of OT and ABA overlap more than most people realize, and you can read more about the connection between occupational therapy and ABA on our dedicated page.
To practice as an occupational therapy assistant, you’d need to complete an associate’s degree in OT and pass the state licensing exam. But if you’re already working in ABA, you’re building a foundation that pairs exceptionally well with that credential. You understand how to assess behavior, break down complex skills into teachable steps, and use reinforcement to build new functional abilities.
Many ABA practitioners have made this transition, and the combination of both backgrounds makes for an unusually well-rounded clinician—one who can address both the behavioral and functional dimensions of a client’s challenges simultaneously.
Nonprofit and Community Organizations
The nonprofit sector is driven by people who are motivated to create change, and many of its most important roles don’t require a specific degree. What it does require is exactly what ABA training develops: systematic thinking, the ability to assess what’s working and what isn’t, and a genuine commitment to improving people’s lives.
With an ABA background, you’d be well-suited to roles in program development, case management, community health initiatives, and behavioral health outreach. You could design programs to address smoking, poor nutrition, or substance use in underserved populations. You could work with at-risk youth, help clients develop employable skills, or support individuals transitioning out of institutional settings.
The perk of this path is flexibility. There are thousands of nonprofits doing important work in every kind of community. If you want to put your skills toward a cause that matters to you personally, this is one of the most direct ways to do it.
Addiction and Behavioral Counseling
ABA and counseling have always had a natural connection, but the relationship goes well beyond autism. Behavior analysis principles are at the core of many evidence-based addiction treatments, including contingency management, which is one of the most effective interventions available for substance use disorders. Our page on ABA in addiction treatment covers the clinical overlap in depth.
Beyond chemical addiction, ABA skills translate directly into work with behavioral addictions like gambling and compulsive internet use — patterns that follow the same reinforcement logic you already understand. Some financial counseling programs are beginning to explore behavioral frameworks, though it’s not yet a standard approach.
Depending on the state and the specific role, additional licensure may be required. But your ABA background puts you ahead of where most counselors start, especially when it comes to behavior change methodology.
Life Coaching
Life coaching has matured significantly as a profession. It’s not just for executives anymore — coaches work with people navigating career transitions, relationship challenges, personal growth goals, and performance plateaus. And increasingly, clients are looking for coaches who bring more than intuition and enthusiasm to the table.
That’s where your ABA background becomes a differentiator. You know how to help people identify what’s reinforcing their current behavior patterns, set measurable goals, build accountability systems, and track progress over time. That’s essentially what effective life coaching looks like when it’s done well.
Life coaches can work independently, through corporate wellness programs, or in partnership with other professionals like therapists and career counselors. The field doesn’t have a single licensing standard, which means entry is relatively accessible — and practitioners with a clinical or behavioral background tend to stand out. If this direction interests you, our guide to becoming a life coach covers the practical steps.
Psychology and Pre-Licensure Roles
ABA and psychology are distinct fields, but they share significant conceptual territory. B.F. Skinner — one of the people most responsible for what ABA looks like today — is just as central to psychology as he is to behavior analysis. The two fields have more in common than their separate licensing boards might suggest.
If you’re interested in eventually becoming a licensed psychologist but aren’t ready to commit to a doctorate, a master’s in ABA can be a meaningful step in that direction. In many states, you can work as a psychological assistant with a master’s degree, gaining supervised clinical experience in counseling or clinical psychology settings while continuing to build toward licensure.
This path works in both directions. Some ABA practitioners find the psychology assistant role is exactly what they wanted and build a career there. Others use it as a launchpad toward a doctorate and full licensure, with a clear specialty in applied behavior analysis.
Animal Behavior Consulting
The behavior principles you’ve studied don’t stop applying when your client has four legs. Animal behavior consulting is a growing field — made more visible by practitioners like Temple Grandin and the broader cultural shift toward humane, science-based animal handling.
Domesticated pets, livestock, zoo animals, and working animals all present behavioral challenges that can be costly, dangerous, or both when left unaddressed. Animal behavior consultants assess the function of problematic behaviors, identify what’s maintaining them, and develop plans to modify them — using the same core logic you already apply with human clients.
You might work out of a veterinary practice, partner with a shelter or rescue organization, consult with zoos or wildlife facilities, or build an independent practice. Some practitioners also specialize in training the humans who care for animals, helping owners and handlers develop skills that prevent problems from developing in the first place. While the field is still niche, a growing number of ABA practitioners are entering animal behavior consulting.
Social Work
Social work is one of the broadest and most flexible fields you can enter with a behavioral background. Case managers, program coordinators, community liaisons, crisis counselors, child welfare specialists — the range of roles is enormous, and the need for people who can navigate complex, emotionally challenging situations is constant. For a closer look at the overlap, our page on social work and ABA goes into more detail.
If you’ve chosen ABA as a career path, you’ve already demonstrated something important: you can hold a long view, tolerate setbacks without losing momentum, and find meaning in helping people who face real obstacles. Those qualities are what social work demands.
Depending on the role, you may need additional licensure — typically a bachelor’s or master’s in social work (BSW or MSW). But pairing that credential with an ABA background puts you in a strong position for roles in behavioral health, community mental health, substance use treatment, and child and family services.
Clinical Research
ABA as a field exists because of research. Every technique we use today — from discrete-trial training to functional behavior assessment — was developed, tested, and refined through careful research over the course of decades. Someone has to do that work, and it doesn’t have to be at the end of your career.
Universities, hospitals, and private research organizations hire research coordinators, study coordinators, and behavioral research assistants to manage data collection, support study design, and help move research projects from hypothesis to publication. With an ABA background, you understand research methodology in ways that candidates from other fields often don’t.
This path is particularly meaningful if you’ve ever thought, “I wonder if there’s a better way to do this.” Clinical research is how better ways get found. Your work might focus on autism, or on addiction, aging, chronic illness management, or any other area where ABA principles are being tested and applied.
Organizational Behavior Management
Organizational behavior management — OBM for short — is the application of behavior analysis to workplace performance, safety, and systems. It’s one of the most established non-clinical applications of ABA, and it’s been around long enough to have a track record of real results: reduced workplace injuries, improved productivity, better training outcomes, and more effective management practices.
Large organizations in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and corporate settings invest seriously in OBM because it works. If you’re drawn to the analytical side of ABA — identifying what’s driving behavior, building measurement systems, testing interventions — OBM gives you all of that in a context with different stakes and a different population.
The OBM Network is a good starting point if you want to understand what this field looks like in practice. It’s a career path that often surprises ABA practitioners who didn’t realize their skills were this directly applicable to the business world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you work as a BCBA in a field other than autism?
Yes. BCBA certification demonstrates competency in applied behavior analysis broadly, not just autism treatment. Many BCBAs work in organizational behavior management, substance use treatment, animal behavior consulting, healthcare, and clinical research. Your certification follows the behavior, not the population.
Do you need extra credentials to work in these other fields?
It depends on the role. Life coaching and health coaching don’t have universal licensing requirements, so your ABA background can be enough to get started. Social work and occupational therapy have their own licensing paths, which means additional coursework and exams. Addiction counseling requirements vary by state. The good news is that an ABA credential tends to complement these paths rather than conflict with them.
Is an ABA degree flexible enough to be worth pursuing if you’re not sure about autism work?
We’d say yes, especially at the master’s level. The skills developed in an ABA program — behavioral assessment, data analysis, reinforcement systems, goal setting — are genuinely transferable. The degree doesn’t lock you into one population or setting. Many practitioners spend parts of their careers across multiple areas.
What ABA career has the most opportunities outside of clinical autism work?
Organizational behavior management is probably the most established non-clinical path, with a formal professional organization, dedicated journals, and a long track record of corporate and industrial applications. Life coaching and health and wellness coaching also have strong market demand, especially for practitioners who can bring a behavioral science framework to the work.
Can you use ABA skills in a corporate or business setting?
Yes. Organizational behavior management is exactly that — behavior analysis applied to workplace performance, employee training, safety systems, and operational efficiency. OBM practitioners work in HR consulting, corporate training, safety management, and process improvement roles across many industries.
Key Takeaways
- ABA skills are transferable. Reinforcement, behavioral assessment, data analysis, and behavior change methodology apply far beyond autism therapy — they’re useful anywhere human behavior needs to be understood or changed.
- The top non-autism career paths include organizational behavior management, life coaching, health and wellness coaching, social work, addiction counseling, animal behavior consulting, and clinical research.
- Some paths require additional credentials (social work, OT, addiction counseling), while others, like life coaching and health coaching, are more accessible with your ABA background alone.
- BCBA certification is an asset across these fields, not just in clinical autism settings. It signals rigorous training in behavior change that employers in many industries recognize.
- If you’re not sure which direction to go, organizational behavior management and life coaching are two of the most accessible starting points for ABA practitioners exploring non-autism career options.
Ready to explore your options? Whether you’re already credentialed or still building toward your degree, ABA programs prepare you for a wider range of careers than most people realize.
