Our approach to positive behaviour support

Behaviours of concern are communication. Something is not working: an environment, a routine, a relationship, an unmet health need, a history of not being listened to.

Our approach starts with a functional assessment. What is this behaviour achieving for this person, and what would achieve it better? From there we change the things we can change, including the home, the roster, the sensory environment, the staff team and the daily rhythm, and we build skills and supports that make the behaviour unnecessary.

We are careful about what we promise. The research is clear that good behaviour support can reduce behaviours of concern, and that skilled everyday support markedly improves people’s engagement in their own lives and their choice over it. It is equally clear that this work takes time. Progress is measured over months, in small and specific things.

• A restrictive practice reduced, then removed
• A week without a support worker changing
• A first Saturday out that nobody had to cut short
• A medical appointment that got finished

We will not promise to eliminate someone’s behaviours of concern. What we can do is show you what is changing, and how we know.

More about our behaviour support