Career Journey
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The Sweet Smell of Success:
Beloved Bath Helps People with Autism Gain Workplace Experience
April 2023
Beloved Bath Helps People with Autism Gain Workplace Experience
April 2023
Pam Kattouf with her son, Justin & John with his mother, Pat Miller
Photo Courtesy: Beloved Bath
Photo Courtesy: Beloved Bath
By Carol Lippert Gray
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job. Of those who do work, the vast majority do so at a median pay rate of $160 a week, way below the poverty level.
Given that about 1 in 44 children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, it’s clear that the young adult autism population is large and growing. According to Autism Speaks, over the next decade an estimated 707,000 to 1,116,000 teens each year will enter into adulthood and out of school-based autism services. More than half will remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the first two years post high school.
Two New Jersey mothers have set out to change those statistics for their sons with autism and their peers in the surrounding area. In 2016, they founded Beloved Bath, a website that sells candles, bar soap, sugar scrubs, bath salts, and body butter while providing vocational training for young adults with autism.
Pat Miller and Pam Kattouf operate Beloved Bath from a shop in Maplewood, New Jersey. An operation that started with two workers now employs and provides vocational training for over 20 adults with autism. They say they started the business for their sons and also for the community.
“We started with a soft opening, meaning it was a website that didn’t really work,” Pam laughs. “Friends and family could tell us what they wanted and we could fill the orders. Then we got a real website.”
But why bath products? “Sometimes people with autism are hyper,” Pam says. “With our boys, it was recommended to take lavender salt baths. Rather than buying the bath salts, we started to make them ourselves. It’s calming, soothing and uplifting. We saw it as a business. And people enjoy working in a place that smells good.”
Pat says, “There’s so much sensory stuff associated with autism. This is structured, like a recipe. There are steps to follow. It’s not necessary for everyone to do every job, but there are job tasks and opportunities for all levels. There’s something therapeutic about it.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job. Of those who do work, the vast majority do so at a median pay rate of $160 a week, way below the poverty level.
Given that about 1 in 44 children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, it’s clear that the young adult autism population is large and growing. According to Autism Speaks, over the next decade an estimated 707,000 to 1,116,000 teens each year will enter into adulthood and out of school-based autism services. More than half will remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the first two years post high school.
Two New Jersey mothers have set out to change those statistics for their sons with autism and their peers in the surrounding area. In 2016, they founded Beloved Bath, a website that sells candles, bar soap, sugar scrubs, bath salts, and body butter while providing vocational training for young adults with autism.
Pat Miller and Pam Kattouf operate Beloved Bath from a shop in Maplewood, New Jersey. An operation that started with two workers now employs and provides vocational training for over 20 adults with autism. They say they started the business for their sons and also for the community.
“We started with a soft opening, meaning it was a website that didn’t really work,” Pam laughs. “Friends and family could tell us what they wanted and we could fill the orders. Then we got a real website.”
But why bath products? “Sometimes people with autism are hyper,” Pam says. “With our boys, it was recommended to take lavender salt baths. Rather than buying the bath salts, we started to make them ourselves. It’s calming, soothing and uplifting. We saw it as a business. And people enjoy working in a place that smells good.”
Pat says, “There’s so much sensory stuff associated with autism. This is structured, like a recipe. There are steps to follow. It’s not necessary for everyone to do every job, but there are job tasks and opportunities for all levels. There’s something therapeutic about it.”
The women were introduced on a playground by a mutual friend with their younger children, before their autistic sons were born two years apart. The mutual friend reconnected them when autism entered the picture. Pam holds a master’s degree in early childhood education and a BCBA (post-masters) in behavioral analysis, a methodology for teaching people with autism. Pat has a background in healthcare, having been the director of the Cancer Center at St. Barnabas Hospital and working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
“Neither of us went to business school or had run a business, but where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Pat says.
“Neither of us went to business school or had run a business, but where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Pat says.
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They developed Beloved Bath when their sons were in their mid-teens, anticipating that their boys would need some type of employment after high school. They subsequently founded the Beloved Bath Charitable Foundation to help other parents concerned about their autistic children’s futures. “We get calls all the time from parents,” Pam says. “We’ll sit on the phone for hours at a time with someone who wants to start a business for their kids.”
Pat says the job training focuses on soft skills the adolescents will need no matter where they subsequently work. These skills include: how to take a break, ask for help, or follow directions; knowing when to stop; and being flexible when working in a group. “This can be a stepping stone to other occupations,” she says. One Beloved Bath alumna now has a job that has enabled her to move into her own apartment, “which is what we want for all of our young adults and kids,” she says. The women also launched a podcast, Making Scents of Autism. Pat says its focus is “to bring awareness to our mission, to sell our products, and to help families with special needs. It can be lonely and isolating for parents. We have lived through it and want to be helpful and supportive of others.” |
The podcast also encourages other businesses to extend their employment pool. “We currently have about 30 people on our waiting list,” Pam says. “We encourage other employers to open their doors. These young people are good, honest, reliable and hardworking, but they’re often overlooked and underemployed.”
While it may seem unnecessary to find sanctuary from a workspace perfumed by lavender, Pat and Pam do find sanctuary in other activities. Pat says, “I love to travel, to cook, and I love my Peloton. My husband says I’ve never met a plane I didn’t like.”
Pam meditates, does yoga, paints, and currently is taking a writing class. “I try to do something every day to feed me and to separate from the business.”
While it may seem unnecessary to find sanctuary from a workspace perfumed by lavender, Pat and Pam do find sanctuary in other activities. Pat says, “I love to travel, to cook, and I love my Peloton. My husband says I’ve never met a plane I didn’t like.”
Pam meditates, does yoga, paints, and currently is taking a writing class. “I try to do something every day to feed me and to separate from the business.”
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READER OFFER
Pat and Pam are offering Sanctuary readers a one-time-use discount code for 15% off an order. Use this link: https://belovedbath.com/discount/sanctuary or enter the code SANCTUARY on your order. |
Pat Miller and Pam Katouff, co-founders of Beloved Bath (formed in 2017), first met on the playground over 20 years ago, before their sons John and Justin were diagnosed with autism. They discovered the magic of relaxing salt and lavender baths. The boys were more calm, centered, and happy after a soak, and they enjoyed making the bath mixtures with their moms.
Opportunities for adults with autism were scarce, so these two moms set out to make a difference. They wanted to create a community that would empower and employ people with autism. It was important for them to build a place where the work was meaningful, enjoyable, and added value to the lives of their employees and the community. |
Carol Lippert Gray is an award-winning public relations professional and longtime freelance writer and editor. Her career has spanned books, newspapers, magazines, broadcast and online media in fields as diverse as crafts and corporate finance, parenting and philanthropy. She is Co-Associate Editor for Sanctuary.
