Helena Maguire, M.S. BCBA, LABA
About Helena Maguire
Helena Maguire serves as the Executive Director of Melmark New England, a service division of Melmark, Inc., with an operating budget of over $32M. In this role, Maguire, a Licensed and Board Certified Behavior Analyst, oversees the development and implementation of programs and services, as well as the daily operations for Melmark New England. She develops strategic objectives for the Massachusetts division, and provides leadership to Melmark’s highly skilled staff to assure the achievement of these objectives. Maguire supports the CEO and Board of Directors through various committees and activities and assumes responsibility for policy development, quality assurance, risk management, regulatory compliance, fiscal integrity, and excellence in care and delivery of all of Melmark’s mission-first services.
In addition to her day-to-day work overseeing Melmark New England’s Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services, which include school-based and residential care, adult day and residential services, school and home-based consultation, professional development, graduate training programs and after school services, Maguire is also the primary liaison with state advocacy groups. Among those advocacy and legislative resources are: Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (MAAPS), Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers (ADDP), Massachusetts Interagency Commission on Restraint and Seclusion and Massachusetts Association of Applied Behavior Analysis (MassABA).
Maguire also writes curriculum for and leads conferences and trainings designed to improve the quality of ABA services, not only at Melmark’s service divisions in New England, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, but also for providers throughout the field. She has led and participated in Melmark’s Expert Speaker Series, presented at professional conferences across the country, conducted research to improve services and to advance the Melmark Model of Program Development and Clinical Treatment, and designed and led diversity seminars for internal and external audiences. Maguire has presented numerous papers on staff management and staff training techniques, both at the local level and at the national level, and is an Adjunct Professor at Endicott College and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She also instructs a six-course graduate series on Applied Behavior Analysis.
Maguire’s professional experience includes extensive work in the field of community based human service delivery systems in Massachusetts. Her clinical expertise and interests range from staff training and supervision issues at the practitioner and organizational levels, organizational systems analysis and integrity, as well as the treatment of severe behavior challenges in children and young adults. Working with practitioners, parents, and siblings to improve the lives of their loved ones continues to be a core commitment for Ms. Maguire.
Previously, she has served as a Program Director at Vinfen Corporation and as the Director of Adult Services at the May Institute. In both of these positions, Maguire was responsible for the development and implementation of the staff orientation training curriculum, training for supervisory personnel and in-service training for all staff.
Earning her Master of Science in Human Services Administration degree from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Maguire received her Board Certification in Behavior Analysis (BCBA) in May 2002.