Today we’d like to introduce you to Coby Lund.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My wife, Janet, and I finished our PhDs at Florida State in 1999 and moved to Atlanta. We moved to Atlanta because Janet got a job with Aubrey Daniels International, the founder of which was a pioneer in Organizational Behavior Management. At that time in Georgia though, there were only three Board Certified Behavior Analysts in the state, two of whom lived at my house! So, job prospects were sparse.
Consequently, I started my own clinical practice called Integrated Behavioral Solutions in 2000. For the first few years, I mainly provided consultation, training, and support to public school systems in the Atlanta metro area, specializing mainly in developmental disabilities, such as autism.
In the early 2000s, my wife left Aubrey Daniels International and joined me at Integrated Behavioral Solutions. We began to expand, hiring several other therapists and Behavior Analysts, and we eventually opened a clinic for children with autism.
In 2011, we started a software company called DataFinch, with a software engineer named Chris Kooken and an attorney named Stephen Donaldson. We created software solutions and mobile applications for Behavior Analysis providers like ourselves and eventually sold DataFinch in 2018.
In 2019, Integrated Behavioral Solutions had grown to nearly 100 providers, and we were acquired by a national organization called Kadiant. Janet and I spent three years on the leadership team with Kadiant before leaving in early 2022.
In the fall of 2022, we started another organization to provide services to children with autism called Archer Behavioral Health. Our first clinic is scheduled to open in March of 2023.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our trajectory has generally been “up and to the right,” but of course, there have been some struggles. For most of our early careers, there was very little available for people with developmental disabilities, such as autism. That changed dramatically in GA in the mid-2010s when Ava’s Law was passed, which mandated insurance coverage for services for people with autism. Shortly thereafter, such services were also covered by Medicaid. These two things made a huge impact on the availability of services for children, in particular, with autism in Georgia.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Archer Behavioral Health?
Archer Behavioral Health provides behavioral healthcare to children with Autism and individuals with developmental disabilities throughout the Atlanta metro area and Georgia.
ABA therapy is prescribed by physicians and is funded by insurance, including Medicaid, for children diagnosed with Autism.
Archer Behavioral Health has evolved from a company called Integrated Behavioral Solutions (IBS), which was founded by Drs. Coby and Janet Lund in 2001 in Atlanta. IBS was one of the first providers of ABA therapy in the state of Georgia and was eventually acquired by a national provider called Kadiant in 2019. In the summer of 2022, Drs. Lund founded Archer Behavioral Health with Ally Bernstein.
What were you like growing up?
I wanted to play shortstop for the Braves, but I’m 50 now, so I’ve given up that dream.
