BEAR Center Director Jacob Daar, second from right, talks about the new and improved building at Northern Michigan University. (Journal photo by Alexandria Bournonville)

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University celebrated the opening of a new and improved building for campus’s Behavior Education, Assessment Research Center.

Jacob Daar, director of the BEAR Center, founded it in 2016 with colleagues Dr. Adam Prus and Dr. Zoe Broadus. At the time, there were only four board-certified behavior analysts in the entire Upper Peninsula.

Since then, the BEAR Center has focused on providing students with meaningful field experience while offering clinical services for children and families from the community.

In 2017, its Early Intensive Language Learning Clinic opened, providing verbal behavior therapy for children ages 2 to 5 years old.

Daar continued on to partner with regional community mental health facilities to pursue treatment for those of all ages with adaptive listening and behavioral difficulties. BEAR also partnered with local schools to develop enhanced function behavior assessments and behavior support plans for students experiencing skill deficits and difficult-to-manage behaviors.

All the while, the center was given space in NMU’s Public Safety building. It had three or four devoted treatment rooms, a large play area and a couple of spaces for people to work, according to Daar.

“We quickly outgrew that,” he said. “We had, at the time, 20 to 30 grad students as well as 20 undergrads who were all seeking practical experience.”

With the help of grants and donor gifts, the center was able to implement more services to address social limitations, social skills and maladaptive or inflexible behaviors.

With the new building on Presque Isle Avenue, there is more room for dedicated offices, treatment rooms, a large playroom, a classroom and more.

Presently, an average of 1,451 service hours per month are spent for clients ranging from ages 2 to 16. The center has trained over 80 students through its graduate and undergrad programs and provided more than 90,000 hours of service.

All students, before they work individually with a child, “have to achieve the registered behavior technician credential. The credential is a national credential that is overseen by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board,” Daar said. “This is a national credential that they have to earn first and this is above what is required by the state to practice on the paraprofessional level, so we have a high standard for our students to begin.”

The BEAR Center has been awarded nearly $1 million in grant funding and donor contributions and generated more than $843,000 in revenue.

Generous support has been provided by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the Superior Health Foundation, Cleveland Cliffs Foundation, the Ford Motor Company Fund, Fox Motors of Marquette, the NMU Foundation, current and past client families and community donors.

Today, there are 35 board-certified behavior analysts in the U.P.

“We’re really grateful for all the support from the community, from Northern, from our faculty and from our staff and students,” Daar said.