Positive Behaviour Support

"In my view, what's most needed when a person engages in difficult behaviours is imagination. The story-line that is floating around about the person is a major part of the problem. What's needed is a new story." David Pitonyk


‘Challenging behaviour’ may take various forms, including:

  • Physical aggression towards others such as hitting, kicking, slapping, biting, scratching, nipping, spitting etc
  • Self-injurious behaviour such as face slapping, biting, head banging, burning or cutting self
  • Destruction of property, objects or buildings, breaking windows, throwing objects, ripping clothes etc
  • Disruption interrupting other peoples activities, upturning tables, throwing food, shouting, stripping, screaming, etc
  • Inappropriate sexual or sexualised behaviour

‘Positive Behaviour Support’ is currently defined as ‘An understanding of the behaviour of an individual. It is based on an assessment of the social and physical environment in which the behaviour happens, includes the views of the individual and everyone involved, and uses this understanding to develop support that improves the quality of life for the person and others who are involved with them.’

We believe that challenging behaviour is a form of communication in which the person is attempting to have their needs met. The tasks of staff are often to keep themselves and the person safe whilst trying to understand the meaning of the behaviour and work towards helping people to find more acceptable and effective ways of ensuring that their needs are met.

We adopted this approach in 2015 and have been working hard to ensure our Practice Leaders, managers and support staff are trained to understand this values based approach and we are now working alongside people, families and staff to develop positive behaviour support plans.