What Does a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner Do?
Who is a Behaviour Support Practitioner? Understanding their Role in the NDIS
Positive behaviour support is an approach that aims to increase an individual’s quality of life, reduce challenging behaviours, and eliminate or reduce restrictive practices. It is based on the values of respect, the law, human rights, teamwork and inclusion.
Wondering how NDIS positive behaviour support might work for you? If you’ve got NDIS funding and you’re looking for support to manage challenging behaviours, a behaviour support practitioner can deliver positive behaviour supports to help you reach your goals.
Here we answer the question ‘who is a behaviour support practitioner?’ and explain the benefits of positive behaviour support as well as how it works under the NDIS.
Who is a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner?
A behaviour support practitioners is a professional who is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals through positive behaviour supports.
Our behaviour support practitioners are occupational therapists, social workers, and mental health nurses who are dedicated to supporting children, teenagers and adults to reduce challenging behaviours. They are selected for their skills and qualities; they offer exceptional therapy support with compassion and an open mind. They professional backgrounds enable them to help you navigate complex systems including healthcare, education, social services, or legal system to ensure you are supported to improve your quality of life.
Our behaviour support practitioners undergo continuous training and development to offer evidence-based, person-centered positive behaviour support to people of all ages.
How can a Behaviour Support Practitioner Help Under NDIS?
Our behaviour support practitioners can help improve your quality of life and participation in everyday life by:
- Working with your supports to eliminate restrictive practices in place to manage challenging behaviours
- Looking at your abilities and everyday environments to identify why you use challenging behaviours
- Helping you develop emotional regulation skills, communication skills and consistent routines to increase your independence and quality of life
- Developing effective behaviour support strategies to reduce challenging behaviours. These will be outlined in an Interim Behaviour Support Plan , and if restrictive practices in place, a Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan
- Ensuring your supports understand your Behaviour Support Plan – triggers, interventions, and how to be consistent and safe in response to challenging behaviours
- Connecting with essential services like mental health, family support, employment, and more to help you reach your goals.
Benefits of Working with our Behaviour Support Practitioners
There are many benefits of working with an Everyday Independence behaviour support practitioner. Our practitioners are committed to:
- Being by your side every step of the way, ensuring everyone who supports you is integrating personalised behaviour support strategies into all aspects of your life
- Working with your broader therapy team including occupational therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists to incorporate behaviour support strategies in all your therapy sessions so you achieve your behaviour support goals faster
- Understanding external essential services and resources available in your community to help you reach your goals
- Upskilling your support network so they can help you participate more in everyday life in a way that you enjoy
What is a Behaviour Support Plan?
The journey to making positive life changes starts by developing a personalised Behaviour Support Plan with you and your trusted team. This plan becomes a go-to guide filled with solutions to tackle challenging behaviours and keep everyone safe. It ensures we’re all on the same page, focusing on skill-building. Our goal is to make sure everyone knows the plan and how to use it in their daily lives.
Interim Behaviour Support Plan
We’ll develop an Interim Behaviour Support Plan if there are restrictive practices being used, and you’ll receive this within 30 days of your assessment to share, review, and update regularly with your team. The interim plan clearly sets the preventative, or environmental changes needed, and ensures consistency and predictability of support.
Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan
Within six months of seeing you, we’ll create a Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan. This plan benefits from the extra time we’ve spent with you, additional assessments, and tested strategies. We’ll dig into what the behaviours mean, what you’re trying to express, what’s working well, and what needs more focus.
Where Restrictive Practices are Used
Where a plan includes a restrictive practice, we’ll send it to the relevant states and territories’ Office of the Senior Practitioner for authorisation. We’ll also send the plan to the NDIS Commission for monitoring the use of restrictive practices.
What are Restrictive Practices?
A restrictive practice limits a person’s rights or freedom of movement. They’re typically used in response to challenging behaviours and should always be a last resort. Restrictive practices include chemical, physical, environmental, and mechanical restraints, and seclusion.
Our behaviour support practitioners are committed to reducing or eliminating restrictive practices; restoring the person’s dignity and independence, and enhancing their quality of life.
Under the NDIS, certain restrictive practices are regulated and must be authorised by the respective States or Territory, with monitoring and reporting to the NDIS Commission of Quality and Safeguards.
How does the Behaviour Support Practitioner
Work with my Therapy Team and Support Network?
Our behaviour support practitioners work with other therapists on your therapy team such as occupational therapists or speech pathologists so everyone is clear on your goals and how they can support you in therapy sessions.
Our behaviour support practitioners also work closely with your family, carers, and support workers to ensure everyone is using the same strategies outlined in your Behaviour Support Plan so you get consistent support in all areas of your life.
NDIS Positive Behaviour Support Funding and Plans
For NDIS Participants with Funding for Positive Behaviour Supports
Funding for positive behaviour support can be found under the Capacity Building Supports > Improved Relationships budget in your NDIS plan. This funding can be used for positive behaviour supports and to create a behaviour support plan that meets your needs.
For NDIS Participants without Funding for Positive Behaviour Supports
If you’re experiencing challenges with behaviours but don’t have positive behaviour support funding in your NDIS plan, our dedicated behaviour support practitioners can still help.
Using your Improved Daily Living funding, individuals with moderate behavioural challenges can access one of our four behaviour support programs that focus on reducing challenging behaviours by creating supportive environments and building healthy habits.
Finding a Behaviour Support Practitioner
You can find a positive behaviour support provider here or talk with your NDIS plan manager or local area coordinator.
Everyday Independence provides positive behaviour support in many locations across Australia with no waitlists.
Our Behaviour Support Practitioners are Here to Help
Contact us now to learn more about our tailored positive behaviour support services and how a behaviour support practitioner can improve your quality of life! If you’re not registered for NDIS yet, go to our NDIS page for more information.
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