What Happens When a Decade of Clinical Experience Meets Marketing Strategy?
A-Train is strengthening its behavioral health bench. This spring, Matt Harrington, BCBA, LBA, joined the team as our new Behavioral Health Growth Strategist. Matt brings a rare combination of clinical experience and marketing expertise, helping develop campaigns that connect with the right audiences and drive measurable ROI.
A New Kind of Expert on Our Strategy Team
Most marketers learn about their clients from the outside. Matt learned from the inside.
He spent a decade working directly in behavioral health practices before he ever wrote a headline or built an ad campaign. During those 10 years, Matt worked in roles ranging from direct care worker to clinical director, gaining a deep understanding of what staff, clients, and caregivers look for when choosing an organization.
Matt understands how patients and families make decisions about care. He knows why the same ad can perform well with one audience but fall flat with another. He has spent years listening to the language caregivers actually use to discuss their needs and challenges. Applying that firsthand knowledge to marketing was a natural progression—and an opportunity to use his experience to create a greater impact.
Matt also brings experience across a wide range of care settings. From hospitals to small local clinics, he understands the complexities and challenges each environment faces. More importantly, he understands how potential clients perceive marketing from different types of organizations.
That perspective is why Matt joined A-Train’s broader strategy team, where he works across behavioral health client accounts.
From the Clinic Floor to the Marketing Table
Matt’s path into behavioral health started early. At 17, he took a job caring for an individual with autism. That experience launched a career in behavioral health, first as a hands-on clinician and later as a clinic director and trainer.
As a director, someone had to bring in new clients—and that responsibility eventually fell to him.
He started reading about consumer behavior, branding, and how people make decisions about what to buy. The more he learned, the more familiar the concepts felt. The same science used to help change health-related behaviors, he realized, could also influence how consumers make decisions.
That realization eventually pulled him from the clinic into marketing full time. Matt went on to work with dozens of behavioral health organizations, leading campaigns across digital media, organic search, referral generation, and community partnerships.
Marketing turned out to be a discipline he already understood at its core: changing behavior, one decision at a time.
A-Train Acquires ABA Digital Marketing
About three years ago, Matt founded ABA Digital Marketing, a specialty practice built specifically for ABA and autism services organizations. He grew it into a full-service marketing operation, supporting ABA practices across the country with SEO, paid advertising, website design, and referral outreach.
On May 1, A-Train acquired ABA Digital Marketing. It now operates in-house as A-Train’s dedicated ABA growth practice, backed by the same 25 years of healthcare marketing experience behind every A-Train client engagement.
“Marketing is behavior change. Behavioral Health is behavior change. There are a lot of shared principles there.”
— Matt Harrington, Behavioral Health Growth Strategist
For A-Train, the acquisition adds a level of firsthand clinical perspective that few marketing agencies can offer. As behavioral health marketing becomes increasingly competitive, a deeper understanding of clinical environments, audiences, and the language they use is essential to developing strategies that continue to deliver meaningful ROI for our clients.
What This Means for A-Train Clients
Matt now works across A-Train’s behavioral health accounts. His clinical background strengthens how we approach strategy for every client in the space—not just those within a single specialty.
Matt approaches his work with a simple standard: Every client should receive more value than they pay for. That creates trust. And trust is what builds lasting relationships.
It’s the same mindset behind results such as A-Train’s 944% ROI for NRBH and $2.5 million in ROI for EDCare, two of our healthcare clients.
If you run an ABA or autism services organization, you now have access to a dedicated growth practice built specifically for your industry—led by someone who has worked on the clinical side and understands the challenges firsthand.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Behavioral Health Growth Strategist do?
Matt works across A-Train’s behavioral health accounts. He brings a clinician’s view to strategy, messaging, and how practices earn trust with new patients and referral sources.
Does this change how A-Train works with clients outside of ABA?
Yes. Matt’s background strengthens A-Train’s strategy work across behavioral health as a whole, beyond ABA accounts alone.
What is ABA Digital Marketing?
ABA Digital Marketing is a specialty marketing practice built for ABA and autism services companies. A-Train acquired it on May 1, 2026. It now operates as A-Train’s dedicated ABA growth practice.
Can I work with Matt directly?
If you run an ABA or autism services company, reach out to your A-Train contact to ask about working with Matt’s team or schedule a direct free marketing strategy call on our contact page.
Where can I learn more about A-Train's behavioral health work?
Reach out to your A-Train account contact, or visit atrainmarketing.com/contact-us to see our behavioral health marketing services.
Is Matt available to speak or train?
Yes. Matt continues to run training events and conferences for the behavioral health practitioner community.
A-Train has spent 25 years helping healthcare and behavioral health companies grow. Matt’s addition, and the new ABA growth practice that comes with him, is the next step in that work.
