“Leadership is not about control. It’s about connection,” believes Deena Moustafa. Throughout her professional journey, she lived by this powerful ideology and put it into action. To her, leadership is more than managing people. The goal is to help them find purpose.
Deena is the respected founder and CEO of Go Behavioral LLC. In 2018, the company was born with a simple objective. The veteran strived to make behavioral therapy more human. She wanted science and compassion to work together in ways that truly help people. From the start, Deena believed that great care begins with a real human connection.
Over the years, that vision has grown into a network supporting families across multiple regions and languages. Innovation has guided her approach. It pushed Deena to rethink behavioral healthcare so it can be collaborative, data-informed, and profoundly human. Today, she leads with both heart and evidence. When using technology, her objective is for it to enhance human compassion, not replace it.
Considering Families as Partners, Not Bystanders
Early in her academic and clinical work, Deena noticed something troubling. Something that has been in practice for years. Families of children with autism were often seen as passive receivers of care instead of active partners. That insight changed the way she thought about therapy. She made a promise that Go Behavioral would be different. In a world full of one-size-fits-all approaches, this California-based startup would be personal and practical. Parents and caregivers would be trained, equipped, and empowered to make things actually happen. They would play a real role in a child’s therapeutic journey. This contemporary approach has become a core part of Go Behavioral’s model and continues to challenge old ways of thinking in behavioral healthcare.
Using Technology to Make Therapy Feel More Human
At Go Behavioral, technology plays an important role in making therapy feel more personal and responsive. For example, clinicians use digital systems to keep track of progress in real time, looking at behaviors, skills, and how involved caregivers are. This way, the team can make small adjustments quickly instead of waiting for reports at the end of the month.
They also rely on secure telehealth and cloud tools to keep everyone in the loop. Therapists, supervisors, caregivers, and families can all see updates and goals. Such an arrangement ensures that therapy is cohesive and uniform across settings.
For Deena, data is more than just numbers. It’s a narrative of growth. As she puts it, “Our greatest data point is the human story behind it.” It shows how a child is learning, how a family is adapting, and how therapy can shift to meet their needs. Go Behavioral’s technology strategy helps turn that experience into real action, and numbers into meaningful progress and insights into compassion-driven care. What we know as breakthroughs.
Leading with Emotional Intelligence in a Data-Driven Field
Deena’s inclusion in “The 10 Most Innovative Women Leaders in Healthcare to Watch in 2026” is no surprise. She is among those who achieve more than expected. No matter how complex the challenge, this C-suite executive prioritizes emotional intelligence. To her, it is essential to lead a team.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is a science-driven field. Due to its highly technical nature, it’s easy to forget that we are working with real people and their feelings. Deena has found that showing empathy, listening carefully, and creating a safe space for the team helps clients get better results. Clinicians are encouraged to pause, reflect, and practice mindfulness. This allows them to show up most balanced and fully present for the families they serve.
Turning Challenges into Collaboration
The biggest shift in Go Behavioral’s culture happened during the pandemic. Like many organizations, the team suddenly had to reevaluate how it delivered services almost overnight. Rather than viewing it as an obstacle, Deena invited all of them to roll up their sleeves and find out the solutions collectively. They developed flexible schedules, online parent-training programs, and virtual peer-support groups. That moment changed the culture for good. Collaboration became second nature, everyone took ownership of new ideas, and families, including those in underserved communities, finally had a seat at the table.
Mentoring the Next Generation of Leaders
Mentorship is deeply personal for Deena. As a woman in science and leadership, she knows what it feels like to walk into rooms where your voice doesn’t always carry. Over the years, she has made it her mission to lift others as she climbs. Through Go Behavioral’s Leadership Track and academic partnerships, she guides young clinicians, especially women, helping them pursue advanced degrees, certifications, and leadership roles. She also launched the Professional Women in ABA Circle, a peer group that offers mentorship, confidence coaching, and career workshops. Watching these women grow, step into their power, and become strong, ethical leaders is a joy that never gets old. For Deena, it’s about passing the torch and seeing the spark ignite in others.
Facing Odds With Holding Head High
She relies on her ‘Three C’ mantra to keep herself steady through change. What are they? They are curiosity, consistency, and courage. Deena reads widely, from clinical journals to neuroscience to philosophy, to keep her thinking flexible. Every week, she takes a moment to reflect, not asking “What went wrong?” but “What did we learn?” We must admit that it’s a stroke of genius. And she stays brave enough to adjust course when the data or mission calls for it. She believes resilience is about growing and evolving, not just about hanging on.
Taking Risks That Matter
We grow not by playing it safe but by taking that leap, even when things feel dicey. Yes, the chances of falling short are 50-50. But without it, success cannot be achieved.
One of the most transformative decisions Deena made was expanding Go Behavioral’s services to multilingual and multicultural communities. As expected, it was not a smooth ride. Some people warned her it would be complicated. But she followed what seemed best to her. Today, the organization offers therapy in more than ten languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Hmong, and Ukrainian. This move extended their reach. On the other hand, it also shaped her own growth as a global leader. For her, inclusion and innovation go hand in hand.
Creating a Collaborative Ecosystem
Like pieces of a puzzle coming together, Deena believes the best solutions emerge when everyone works in harmony. She has made it a priority to break down professional silos at Go Behavioral. Every clinic operates as a true partnership, where BCBAs, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and educational consultants collaborate on a shared digital platform. On top of that, they team up with universities and tech innovators to pilot tools that make behavioral measurement more precise.
As Deena explains, “Innovation without empathy is noise; empathy without action is silence.” By building this ecosystem, ideas flow freely, and solutions grow organically around the client rather than the title on a badge. To her, the definition of setting up an ideal work environment is distinct. That means creating a space where everyone’s expertise matters and where collaboration sparks actual transformation.
Leaving a Ripple Effect
One major thing Deena wants to change in behavioral healthcare is how leadership is seen. She hopes future clinicians learn that one can lead with empathy and evidence. They must comprehend that business growth does not have to mean compromising ethics.
Deena further highlights their upcoming Behavior On division. A unit designed to bring together speech and occupational therapy under one roof. With such a holistic vision, she hopes to show how multidisciplinary care can lift entire communities. After all, when many hands build, the whole village rises. The ripple effect she wants to leave is one of integrated compassion, where data, dignity, and diversity all work together.
Qualities of the Next Generation of Leaders
‘Three A’s, as Deena describes them, will define the next generation of women leaders in behavioral healthcare. They are authenticity, agility, and advocacy. Being authentic keeps one true to one’s purpose. Likewise, agility helps one handle constant change. Last but not least, advocacy ensures that one’s success benefits others. Like sparks that light a wider flame, these women will build movements that create an enduring impact—way more than simply building organizations.
Values That Shape Her Vision
At the end of the day, it all comes back to purpose. To Deena, that pursuit is influenced by her love for education and cultural inclusion. Her years as a professor and researcher showed her that lasting change often begins where minds are open. It is in the classroom.
Outside of work, she finds calm in mindfulness and meaning in travel. Both keep her rooted in the beauty of human connection and the stories that unite us all. These simple but powerful experiences remind her why she started Go Behavioral in the first place. The intent was to make therapy not just accessible, but truly compassionate and globally informed.
Guiding Others Without Losing Yourself: A Core Principle for Aspirants
Deena is a trailblazing Startrepreneur. She is someone among those progressive pioneers for whom leadership has always been surprisingly simple at its core. As she sees it, her cynosure has always been to lead with unwavering integrity and innovate with clear purpose. Above all, Deena believes in serving with genuine empathy.
And, as it turns out, when these three values combine, everything else, including success, exponential growth, and recognition, tends to follow like clockwork.
Deena often shares, “Build the kind of organization where compassion and science hold equal weight.” Indeed, she believes real leadership is never about being the loudest person in the room. That’s not her style at all. It’s about creating a safe, expansive space where others don’t just feel seen and heard, but confident enough to find their own voice and use it. For her, that’s where the magic happens and actual progress begins.
