We had the good fortune of connecting with Megan Dare and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My motivation for starting my own business was so that I could be a part of the process of seeing children grow, learn, and make progress with goals. Working at large companies I found myself spending less and less time working directly with children and more time supervising very large caseloads. Due to my case load, it was difficult to spend time with any one client, and I was not experiencing the same reinforcment that had kept me in the field since 2001. Starting my own business and working directly with clients has allowed me to fall back in love with my career.

What should our readers know about your business?
I have been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst since 2010 and have been working with the neurodiverse population since 2001. One of the things that sets me apart from others in my field is that after 20 years in the field, my cup is filled after working directly with a family. Most people certified in my field for this long do not work directly with clients or families. The areas that I enjoy working on the most with families are helping to make the challenging moments some of the biggest growth areas. I also focus sessions on social and emotional activities to increase children’s awareness of their emotions, others’ emotions, and how they can help their body and brain in different areas. For example, teaching a child when to recognize when they may need a break from different work tasks and teaching the child to identify that feeling, communicate it to others, and then engage in a coping strategy that will help them. I’ve had families share that they used to do an activity, but it has caused some children in the family to get upset and the family stopped doing the activity so that the child wouldn’t get upset. An example of this would be families that stopped playing board games together because if they played and one of the children lost the game, that child might engage in a tantrum, so the family avoided doing the activity. My job is to help teach that child how to work through the anger and disappointment that can come from losing, and to teach replacement behaviors and increase communication between the child and other family members.

After the covid lockdowns, I started to reach out to different organizations in the community. I currently lead a free sensory friendly storytime at the Lafayette Library once a month. Our goal (library staff and mine) was to have a place that neurodiverse families could go to and feel relaxed, welcomed, and to help children get more excited about books!
I’ve also partnered with several organizations in my community including, WOW! Children’s Museum, Denver Art Museum, The Butterfly Pavilion, Louisville Library, Denver Children’s Museum, and Thorne Nature Camp.

What continues to help me through hard times is my family, friends, nature, and reading. Going for a hike after a difficult day is the best way to process and reflect on what I am grateful for. As my Granny would say, there’s always something to be grateful for even in the dark times.

What I want the world to know about my brand is that I share my passion for the neurodiverse population throughout my community. My goal is to make all places in our community more accessible, inclusive, and educate the community on how to better support neurodiverse individuals.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would go to Eldorado Canyon State Park and hike to where we could see the continental divide. We would then go up to Estes and do some snow shoeing and stay at the Stanley Hotel. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas so finding a patio with chips, salsa, and margaritas is a must! My favorite places have been Teocalli and Rio Grande. Both have food and drinks that take me back to Austin but without the heat and humidity. We would visit the Fiske Planetarium, Liberty Puzzles, The Read Queen, and end the day walking around Waneka watching the sunset.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I arrived at this place in life because of the support of my family and friends, specifically my husband, my parents, my sister, and my best friend. Their unending support and encouragement helped in the moments I had lost motivation to push forward.

Website: https://www.guidinggrowthservices.com

Image Credits
All pictures taken by myself or family member.

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