Positive behaviour support: Anil’s passion

16 August 2022

16 Aug 2022

Meet Anil! He’s a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Practitioner with VMCH.

What is a PBS Practitioner?

I work with people who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, learning difficulties, intellectual disabilities, acquired or traumatic brain injuries, and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and their respective support teams (families, allied health professionals) to help improve their quality of life. That could be decreasing behaviours of concern, helping to better communicate with family or friends, or teaching practical and independent living skills.

What are behaviours of concern?

Behaviours of concern are behaviours such as self-harm, physical or verbal aggression towards others, that a person can use if unable to use appropriate communication or behaviours to meet their needs. These behaviours often impact on the person’s wellbeing, their physical safety, or safety of the people around them. They can restrict a person’s ability to participate in meaningful activities, or to develop and maintain productive relationships with others in their community.

How does PBS help?

PBS interventions and strategies teach people appropriate ways to behave or to communicate their needs better .This help them regulate their emotions and feelings, manage their sensory sensitivities, anxiety or frustrations, thereby decreasing the need to use behaviours of concern.

What training did you do to become a PBS Practitioner?

I have worked in the disability sector for the past 23 years. I studied psychology and recently completed post graduate studies in Applied Behaviour Analysis, along with PBS-specific training and supervision. In February 2022, I was registered as an Advanced PBS Practitioner with NDIS.

What do you love most about your role?

Working together with others to achieve goals and objectives of the clients. Using a person-centred approach benefits people with complex needs.

What are the challenges?

There are many challenges because we work with people that have many and varied complex needs. PBS is a time and resource-intensive intervention and is not for just the short-term but the life of a person. As their needs change, PBS intervention needs to cater for the changes.

Tell us one positive outcome you’ve achieved through PBS…

There have been many positive outcomes, but one that I can remember vividly is a client that used to light fires, often in the middle of the forest at the family farm.

Once I completed a functional assessment and analysis of his fire-lighting behaviours, I learnt that he liked to cook or help cook food for his family. So we set up a small stove that he could safely light and now the purpose of lighting the fire was to cook food for his family.

Would you like to talk to us about behaviour support? Click here or call us on 1300 698 624.

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We here at VMCH respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we gather, and we would like to take a moment to honour the fact that we live on the lands of the oldest civilisation in the world. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples, and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.