Meet Our Team
Our Leadership
The ABRITE Organization is a group of clinicians who have dedicated their lives to helping children with the use of science. This organization is run by Directors who were hand selected based on their love for children. We believe strongly in creating outcomes with every children and family and the way that we are able to create these outcomes is by hiring like minded individuals who love children and investing heavily in their training. Please read below to learn about each of our Directors.
Janice Doney Frederick, Ph.D., BCBA-D – Executive Director of Clinical Services
Dr. Frederick is the co-founder and the Executive Director of Clinical Services of the ABRITE Organization. From a very young age, Dr. Frederick knew she wanted to work with children and had a special interest in children with learning differences. Over 25 years ago, while attending Temple University, Dr. Frederick began working with children with autism. During this time, Dr. Frederick was introduced to behavior analysis, observed the power of its application, grew eager to develop expertise in the science and its application in order to help children and families. In 1999, Dr. Frederick graduated with honors from Temple University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in Biology. Dr. Frederick continued her education in Behavior Analysis and graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Master of Arts in Psychology in 2003 and a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Psychology in 2006.
While at the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR), Dr. Frederick served a number of positions in the three divisions of the UNR Early Childhood Autism Project. As the assistant director of the UNR Early Childhood Autism Outreach Program, Dr. Frederick provided consultation and staff training in behavior analytic techniques to school districts serving children with autism and other developmental disabilities throughout Northern Nevada. In 2002, Dr. Frederick received the Sidney and Janet Bijou Endowed Scholarship in Psychology, a grant that supports research in behavioral child development. In 2004, Dr. Frederick left her post at the university and began consulting to school districts and families throughout Northern California. Dr. Frederick has conducted research on parent and teaching training, self-stimulatory behavior, basic learning processes with children with autism, and collaborative intervention models. This work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals. Her current research has focused on intervention outcomes with children with varying levels of developmental delays as well as implementation of behavior analysis in public education classrooms. Dr. Frederick has presented her research at several state and national conferences.
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Dr. Frederick resides in Santa Cruz, California with her husband, son, and two daughters. She is extremely thankful that she has the opportunity to spend her days surrounded by children and continues to be inspired by the experiences she shares with children, their families, and the talented team with whom she is fortunate enough to collaborate.
Marlena Jacobson, M.S., BCBA - Associate Clinical Director
Marlena Jacobson is the Associate Clinical Director and BCBA for the ABRITE Organization. Marlena has always been interested in working in her community to make a difference. She served as a Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in Santa Cruz County and worked as a research assistant in the Psychology Department during her undergraduate studies at U.C. Santa Cruz. Marlena joined The ABRITE Organization in 2007 and quickly discovered her enthusiasm for supporting learners with diverse needs. Marlena was inspired by working with children to help them learn new skills and increase positive social interactions and completed her Master of Science degree in Applied Behavior Analysis through Sage University. She received her BCBA Certification in May 2017. As a BCBA, Marlena has worked with children and families receiving home, community, and school-based services, In Marlena’s work via ABRITE’s Non-Public Agency (NPA), she has worked in close collaboration with local school district administrators to design special education classrooms grounded in effective intervention strategies and has provided direct supervision to individual students across multiple school districts. In addition, Marlena oversees ABRITE’s center-based program, which promotes peer interactions and provides an environment for learners to receive comprehensive services.
Marlena feels fortunate to have been with ABRITE for so many years, supporting the growth of the team, and having the chance to support so many learners across Santa Cruz County. In her free time, she enjoys being with her family and friends and spending time outside.
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Matthew Peterson - Associate Clinical Director and Site Administrator
Matthew Peterson is currently the Site Administrator and Associate Clinical Director at our Nonpublic School, Brite Horizons. Matthew began working with children in 2008 at an equine therapy camp for children with learning differences and as a swim instructor where he became interested in different approaches to teaching. Matthew received his Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2013. During his undergraduate studies, Matthew functioned as a research assistant in Dr. Benjamin Storm’s Memory lab and Dr. Jean Fox Tree’s Psycholinguistic lab. Shortly after graduating, Matthew began working at the ABRITE Organization as a behavior interventionist where he became passionate about the science and practice of behavior analysis and soon decided to pursue a career in the field.
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In 2016, Matthew moved to Reno, Nevada to pursue a graduate degree in behavior analysis under the advisement of Dr. Patrick Ghezzi. Over the next three years, he co-founded the Nevada Association for Behavior Analysis’ Student Subcommittee, tutored and piloted research in University of Nevada, Reno’s Early Childhood Autism Program, conducted and published basic research as a graduate research assistant in Dr. Linda Hayes Animal Behavior Laboratory, and presented research at state and international conferences. In 2019, Matthew defended his master’s thesis on “Behavioral Contrast in Multiple Schedules of Conjugate Reinforcement and Extinction” which was later published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.
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Matthew was credentialed as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2020 and since then, has served as Clinical Manager for children receiving insurance-based services in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties, with NPA students in the Santa Cruz City School District and at ABRITE’s Nonpublic School, Brite Horizons. Matthew feels fortunate to work with an amazing team of behavior analysts, for continued research opportunities as lab manager of ABRITE’s research lab and for the opportunity to mentor aspiring behavior analysts across ABRITE’s offices as BCBA Cohort Supervisor. Matthew is inspired every day by the children he serves and motivated by the power of behavior analysis under ABRITE’s scientist-practitioner model.
Joelle Glovick - Operations Manager
Joelle Glovick is the Operations Manager at ABRITE Northern California. Joelle joins ABRITE with many years of experience working behind the scenes with companies who work with individuals with physical and behavioral disabilities. Joelle has always felt strongly that she should feel good about the work she does given the time devoted and thus feels strongly about working with companies with a powerful mission. Joelle joined the ABRITE team with the belief that she would feel this level of satisfaction daily by helping all the administrative operations run more smoothly for the children and families we serve. Outside of her work at ABRITE, Joelle enjoys spending time with her family, especially spending time with her kids. In particular she enjoys taking her little ones to the movies or playing outside.
Our Teams
Our clinical teams are groups of passionate individuals trained in psychology, education, and/or special education. Each learner benefits from a Behavior Interventionist (BI) and a Lead BI who work directly with each learner in the home and/or community settings. The BIs and Lead BIs have an undergraduate degrees in psychology., education, special education, or related fields. The Lead BI participates in advanced training to guide the team on a day-to-day basis. Each learner also has a Supervisor on their team and this individual has advanced training within the field of behavior analysis and/or is enrolled in a master’s program within the field. Each learner also has a Clinical Manager who leads the team by creating and modifying all curriculums and conducting all training. This individual is a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA).