About Our Founder
Meet Kirstin Hall...
Kirstin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
A native to San Diego, I have been working with children with developmental delays for 15 years. I started providing behavior services based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) while attending San Diego State University and I was captivated by the immense progress the children made. As a result, I decided to pursue my master’s degree and post-graduate board certification in Behavior Analysis. I consulted privately for families and other agencies in San Diego and across the country before starting my own agency in a much under-served area of Northern California. After three years, I sold my agency and returned to my hometown of San Diego, helping other companies start up ABA services. After seeing the great need for quality, family-centered ABA services, I decided to once again start an agency of my own.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Touchstone Educational Consultants story. Tell us more about the business.
Touchstone Educational Consultants provides one-on-one educational and behavior services in the home and community settings, based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), to children and adults with behavior challenges and/or developmental delays (such as Autism Spectrum Disorder). Our mission is to guide and support individuals by designing, implementing, and eventually fading quality, individualized evidence-based programs.
We feel it is our duty to support families in their pursuit to improve their quality of life and to lead their children further down the path toward independence. We strive for each family to feel they are not alone, that they are a priority, and to feel reassured they will not become lost in the shuffle. Touchstone specializes in the advocacy of the child, the education and support of the family, and the promotion of effective Applied Behavior Analysis practice.
One thing that sets us apart from other agencies is that we are a locally owned agency that offers a highly supportive and collaborative environment. We do not utilize complicated corporate policies implemented by out of touch directors thousands of miles away. I, as Executive Director am an experienced, hands-on clinician, and the team helps create procedures for the agency, together. We believe that when we truly support our team members, they support our families, and the success of our families is our number one priority, not the financial gain of any shareholders.
*Reprinted from an article in San Diego Voyager Magazine – December 20, 2017