Asha Bhakta, Ph.D². BCBA-D is a leading behavioral specialist in the Southern California area. For over 20 years, she has devoted her career to providing caring and compassionate support to families with children diagnosed with autistic spectrum/pervasive developmental disorders. Before founding Creative Solutions for Hope (CSH) in Costa Mesa, Bhakta was a therapist and case supervisor from 1997 until 2005.

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine in 1999, Bhakta completed her Master’s Degree in Behavior Analysis from the University of Nevada in 2004 before earning her Board Certified Behavior Analysis (BCBA) certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), a nonprofit group dedicated to providing and maintaining credentialing for behavior analysts. In 2014, Bhakta received her Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles campus. Furthermore, in 2020, Bhakta continued to receive her second Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership where she wrote her dissertation on how BCBAs decide to leave or stay at their workplace.

Bhakta specializes in applied behavioral analysis (ABA), which focuses on the factors and principles that promote learning and emphasizes the importance of using these principles in a person’s own environment to bring about meaningful positive changes in behavior. ABA has a long and successful history of helping people with autism and other disorders learn to adapt and live happy and productive lives within their communities. The techniques are widely used to help individuals develop complex interpersonal skills such as considering and understanding other people’s perspectives, as well as basic skills such as listening and emulation.

Since founding CSH in 2006, Bhakta has been dedicated to providing families with supportive and innovative strategies to help children with a variety of special needs improve their day-to-day lives and become happier, more self-confident individuals. Bhakta is skilled in applying the principles and techniques of ABA to create individualized programs of instruction and guidance aimed at benefiting children with developmental and learning disabilities, behavior problems, ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders.

As Founder and President of Creative Solutions for Hope, Bhakta seeks to create an environment where each child has the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential without fear of criticism or denigration. Her ultimate aim is to ensure that every program developed and supervised by the center’s staff is as unique as the individual child and is focused on establishing trust and building self-esteem. By emphasizing a proactive approach to learning, Bhakta employs behavior management strategies to affect positive change and to help children successfully participate in the spontaneous peer interactions that can lead to a healthy, happy life.

Throughout her experience, Bhakta wanted to do more for her clients and their families, outside of their scheduled sessions. Working within her local Orange County community, she realized that a lot of her clients did not have a place for recreational activities outside of their programs. In 2012, she gathered her resources to make her vision a reality by founding her non-profit Opportunity Matters to Everyone (OME). This non-profit is dedicated to creating recreational activities for children, teens, and young adults with developmental disabilities. Her non-profit accepts all children, teens, and young adults with developmental disabilities and gives them the opportunity to strive in their own way to build relationships, gain skills, and overall learn to be confident in themselves. Visit Opportunity Matters to Everyone (OME) at www.om2e.org!