Disability · NDIS registered provider 4050003922
Positive behaviour support
Understanding behaviour, and building a better life around it.
All behaviour makes sense once you understand it. Our practitioners write behaviour support plans with you and the people who know you, and help everyone use them the same way.
At a glance
Positive behaviour support, in short
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What it is
A way of understanding behaviour and supporting change that is led by human rights, not by punishment. We write a plan with you and help everyone around you use it.
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Who it is for
People with a disability whose behaviour is putting their safety, their relationships or their day at risk, and the families and teams who support them.
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How it is paid for
Through the improved relationships part of the Capacity Building budget in your NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) plan. It needs to be in your plan before we can start.
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How to start
Anyone can make a referral, including you or a family member. Call 02 9556 9500 or send us a message.
What it is
Behaviour makes sense once you understand it.
Positive behaviour support is not about making a person quieter or easier. It is about understanding what a behaviour is for, and building a life where it is needed less.
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We start by understanding
Every behaviour is telling us something. We look at what happens before it and what it achieves, so we can meet that need a different way.
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We build skills, we do not stop people
A good plan teaches new ways to be heard, and changes the parts of a day and a place that make hard moments more likely.
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A better life is the point
Success is not a quieter person. It is more choice, more connection, and more of the things that matter to you.
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Human rights, never punishment
Positive behaviour support is a human rights approach, backed by evidence. It never uses punishment, and it never treats a person as a problem to manage.
How a plan works
How a behaviour support plan comes together.
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We get to know the person
We spend time with you and the people who know you best, and look at what is really going on. This is a functional behaviour assessment.
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We write the plan with you
The plan is written with you and your family, not about you. It sets out, in plain language, the strategies everyone will use.
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Everyone learns it
A plan only works if it is used the same way by everyone. We help the people who support you learn it, wherever your day happens.
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We review and change it
Behaviour support plans are living documents. We check what is working, with real information, and change what is not.
Restrictive practices
Fewer restrictions, always.
A behaviour support plan sometimes has to include a restrictive practice, something that limits a person's freedom to keep them or others safe. Restrictive practices are never our goal, and our job is to need them less over time. Any that a plan includes is a last resort, the least restrictive option, and written in alongside a plan to reduce and remove it.
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Authorised, and reported
A restrictive practice can only be used where it is authorised and written into an approved plan. In New South Wales that authorisation follows the Department of Communities and Justice framework, and every use is reported to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
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A plan to need it less
Wherever a plan includes a restrictive practice, it also includes a plan to reduce and, wherever possible, remove it. That goal, set by the NDIS Commission and by us, is the whole point of the work.
Working together
Nothing about you without you.
A behaviour support plan is only as good as the people using it. We work with your family, your support workers, your school or day program, and anyone else in your life, so the same approach follows you everywhere. We share what we learn with your team with your consent, and the plan stays yours.
Getting started
Talk to Steven and the team.
Steven Lowrie
Governance and Case Management Lead. AASW Social Worker, Registered Behaviour Support Practitioner
Steven and the behaviour support team take the first call, and will talk through whether positive behaviour support is the right fit. Call any weekday, 9am to 5pm.
We would be glad to hear from you.
Whether you are asking for yourself, for someone you care for, or for a participant you coordinate, we would be pleased to talk it through.
Prefer Easy Read? Here is our Easy Read page. Need Auslan or an interpreter? Tell us and we will arrange it.
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