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Understanding What is Positive Behaviour Support and How it Empowers Lives

Written by Bloom Healthcare

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Postive Behaviour Support

When a child lashes out, a young person withdraws, or someone repeatedly engages in risky behaviour, it’s easy to focus on what’s happening in the moment. The behaviour itself feels urgent and disruptive, and naturally, we want to stop it.

But behaviour doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s often the visible outcome of unmet needs, environmental stressors, or communication barriers.

This is where Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) comes in. It goes beyond surface-level responses and asks: Why is this behaviour happening? What is this person trying to tell us?

At Bloom Healthcare, our PBS practitioners take a deeply person-centred approach. We don’t focus on “fixing behaviour” – we focus on understanding it, so we can help people feel safe, heard, and supported.

What Positive Behaviour Support Is and How It Works?

PBS is a therapeutic framework designed to support individuals who display behaviours of concern, often due to disability, neurodivergence, or complex psychosocial needs.

But it’s not just a behaviour management tool. PBS is about improving the quality of life. It’s built on the belief that all behaviour has meaning, and that people are more likely to succeed when they feel understood and respected.

Key principles of PBS include:

Understanding the function of a behaviour (what the person gains or avoids through it)
Addressing environmental, emotional, and social triggers
Teaching alternative, safer, and more functional behaviours
Building skills and independence
Reducing the use of restrictive practices
Supporting families, carers, and support workers to implement consistent strategies

At Bloom Healthcare, we deliver PBS through NDIS-registered behaviour support practitioners, who work collaboratively with the individual and their entire support network.

Explore our PBS services here.

Why ‘Understanding the Why’ Matters

If we respond only to the outward behaviour, we risk missing what really needs support. When we pause and look deeper, we can often identify critical underlying factors, such as:

Communication difficulties: Many people use behaviour to express needs they can’t verbalise.
Sensory processing issues: Overwhelm, discomfort, or pain can result in fight-or-flight reactions.
Past trauma: Behaviours may be shaped by lived experiences of fear, neglect, or confusion.
Unmet emotional needs: Behaviours might signal a need for connection, predictability, or control.
Environmental mismatch: Loud, bright, unstructured, or unpredictable environments can cause distress, especially for autistic individuals or people with sensory sensitivities.

By identifying and supporting these root causes, we can move from reacting to behaviour to preventing distress, building trust, and supporting long-term wellbeing.

A Real-World Example: Uncovering the Why

Consider a young NDIS participant, Luca*, who frequently threw objects during transitions between activities at school. On the surface, it looked like defiance. But through PBS at Bloom, it became clear that:

Luca experienced extreme anxiety during transitions
There were too many verbal instructions, and he struggled to process them
He found the noisy classroom overwhelming

With support, a PBS plan was developed to:

Introduce visual schedules
Offer short, quiet transition breaks
Teach Luca to use a card system to express when he felt overloaded

The result? Fewer incidents, improved emotional regulation, and a stronger sense of agency for Luca, without the need for punitive responses.

*Name changed for privacy

The Role of Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA)

At the core of PBS is the Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA) – a structured process used to determine the purpose behind behaviours of concern.

This involves:

Observing the individual across different settings
Gathering input from family, teachers, or carers
Identifying triggers and what happens before and after the behaviour
Analysing patterns to understand the “why”

From here, our team at Bloom Healthcare develops a Positive Behaviour Support Plan tailored to the individual’s needs, strengths, and environment.

How Bloom Healthcare Delivers PBS Differently

At Bloom, our PBS practitioners don’t work in isolation. They collaborate closely with:

Psychologists, to address trauma, anxiety, or emotional distress
Occupational therapists, to support sensory needs and daily routines
Speech pathologists, to develop functional communication tools
Families and carers, to ensure strategies are practical and consistent

We also:

Deliver services in homes, schools, clinics, or via telehealth
Provide NDIS reports, including for restrictive practice authorisation
Offer coaching for support workers, teachers, and family members
Align PBS plans with participants’ NDIS goals and daily life priorities

Because PBS isn’t just about reducing behaviour, it’s about improving participation, safety, and overall wellbeing.

What Happens When You Address the Root Cause?

When PBS is done well, the results can be powerful:

Reduced incidents of harm or aggression
Improved communication and self-advocacy
Greater independence and autonomy
Strengthened relationships between participants and their support networks
A decrease in restrictive practices
A significant boost in confidence and trust

And perhaps most importantly, individuals feel heard and understood, not controlled or judged.

When Might PBS Be Needed?

Not sure if PBS is the right support? You might want to explore it if:

A person is frequently displaying behaviours that are unsafe, distressing, or limiting access to education, community, or services
Current strategies (like rewards, punishments, or rules) aren’t working
There’s a risk of restrictive practices being used (e.g. seclusion, restraint)
Support teams feel unsure or inconsistent in how to respond
The person is clearly distressed, but can’t express why

Bloom Healthcare can guide you through accessing PBS supports through the NDIS and help you determine the most suitable approach.

Challenging behaviour isn’t the problem, it’s the message. And when we take the time to understand what someone is telling us through their actions, we open the door to real, respectful, and lasting change.

Positive Behaviour Support, when done right, doesn’t just manage behaviour, it helps people live more safely, independently, and confidently.

At Bloom Healthcare, we’re proud to offer PBS that goes beyond the behaviour, supporting people to be understood, not just observed.

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