Other Allied Health Counselling, Psychology, Social Work and Creative Therapy Professionals
This unit group covers Allied Health Counselling, Psychology, Social Work and Creative Therapy Professionals not elsewhere classified. It includes Arts Therapists, Behaviour Support Practitioners and Music Therapists.
A visit to the group home
You are a behaviour support practitioner visiting a group home to review a support plan for a resident, with staff, family and your manager all expecting something from you. You arrive at 1pm. The staff are tired after a hard week, the resident is resting, and your manager has a deadline for the updated plan. You have an afternoon to find out what is happening.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Honestly, he is just doing it for attention. We have tried everything. When he shouts, he gets staff around him. Maybe we should stop giving him so much time when he does that.
Listen, ask when it happens and suggest you all look at what comes before it
Priti describes a pattern she has not mentioned before, which is that it often follows a change in routine. You start a simple chart together. She feels listened to rather than corrected.
Agree that withdrawing attention could work and suggest trying it for a week while staff stay calm
Resident distress rises, because he now has even fewer ways to get his needs met. Staff feel worse and the house is tenser than before.
Tell her that behaviour is communication and that attention is not the real issue
You are right in principle, but she hears that her experience counts for nothing. She nods and stops sharing what she's seeing.
I think my brother needs the bedroom door locked in the evenings, so he does not wander and get hurt. The staff say that is not allowed. Surely I know what is best for him?
Agree and add it to the plan tonight, because family knows him best and wants him safe
Locking a door is a restrictive practice with strict rules, and cannot just be added to a plan. The provider is exposed to a serious breach, and your brother's wellbeing is not helped.
Take his worry seriously, explain the rules and look at safer ways to stop wandering
He is relieved that someone has understood what he fears. You agree to look at alternatives like a quiet alert and a night check, and he agrees to join the next review.
Tell him the rules are the rules, and that staff will manage the evenings as they always have
You stay within the rules, but a frightened brother has been shut out. He becomes less willing to work with the team and starts raising concerns with the provider directly.
I need the updated plan submitted today. The audit is next week and the file needs to be complete. Can you send it this afternoon? I know you have not had a chance to chat with Daryl yet.
Submit the plan today as asked, based on the notes you already have and what staff tell you
The file is complete, but the plan has missed the most important voice, which is Daryl's. A reviewer later raises the gap, and you have to rewrite parts of it.
Ask Alicia for two more days to get Daryl's view, and send a progress note today
Alicia agrees, since the audit is next week and not today. Daryl shows you what he likes with pictures. The plan that goes in is stronger and sounds like him.
Submit it, then tell Alicia you may need to change it after you talk to Daryl next week
The plan is on file, but nobody knows it is provisional. A support worker follows it as written this week, and one of its key ideas is not right for him.
How it went
You leave with a clearer picture of the house and a promise to come back soon. Behaviour support is part detective work, part teaching and part standing up for the person at the centre of the plan. Would you be comfortable working so closely with families and staff who each see it differently?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The afternoons that always went wrong
A fictional case set in a group home for adults with disability, and the offices of a disability support provider.
The situation
Wei was a behaviour support practitioner asked to help at a group home. Daryl, a man in his thirties, often became very distressed at about four in the afternoon. He would shout and slam doors, and the support workers were worn out. Some said he was doing it for attention. The previous plan had told staff to remove him to his room when it started. It had not worked, and the house was tense. Wei was asked for a new plan within a month.
What they did
Wei spent several afternoons at the house, just watching and keeping notes. She noticed that the building site next door started a loud machine at about the same time each day, and that Daryl was most unsettled when the noise began. She talked with Daryl in a way he could follow, using pictures, and spoke with his sister and the staff. The new plan focused on changing the afternoon: a quiet activity he liked, headphones, and a different room. Staff were trained and coached to use it consistently.
How it turned out
The distressed afternoons became rarer, though not gone, and staff said the house felt calmer. Daryl began choosing his own afternoon activity. Wei reminded the team that the plan would need updating, because a plan that helps today can stop working next month.
What would you do?
- Why was watching and listening more useful than a quick plan?
- What would you look for if someone's behaviour seemed to have no cause?
- How would you help a tired team keep following a plan?