Small changes. Big differences.
Image: Two people sitting outside. The person on the left has black glasses and a black t-shirt. The person on the right has a green and blue striped t-shirt. Both are smiling.
‘Your role in Positive Behaviour Support’ is a virtual conference Life Without Barriers is sponsoring focusing on the development of positive behaviour support skills and the role we all have in improving the quality of life for people with disability.
The inaugural theme for 2021 is Small changes. Big differences. The conference will focus on human rights, present current research, and explore the practical ways you can work towards reducing and eliminating restrictive practices.
Mandy Donley, National Behaviour Intervention Support Director at Life Without Barriers, is speaking alongside experts in the field including Ben Gauntlett, Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission .
Mandy is a credentialed mental health nurse and has been a regulator in the disability sector since 2007 working towards the reduction and elimination of restrictive practice with a focus on chemical restraint.
"A magic pill to address behaviours that are environmentally driven does not exist. Worldwide, over 30% of people who have behaviours of concern will end up on some form of psychotropic medication, this is not just an Australian issue." Mandy Donley
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
Positive behaviour support is a respectful and ethical approach to supporting people who may use behaviours to communicate their needs. The primary goal of this evidence-based approach is to improve a person’s quality of life over the long term. Positive behaviour support is about putting in place strategies to help build a person’s skills and to create an environment that meets the person’s needs. It follows formal assessments and interventions informed by research. By working in collaboration with families and teams to use new strategies, positive behaviour support reduces the risk to the person with disability and the people that support them.
Who should attend?
National Disability Services (NDS) welcomes behaviour support practitioners to attend this exciting National event.
NDS also welcomes and encourages attendance of direct support workers and their team leaders, allied health providers, CEO’s and quality team managers, people with disability, and family members and carers who may have been involved in positive behaviour support and restrictive practices.
NDS is pleased to be able to offer free attendance to the Virtual Conference day, supported through a two-year funding grant from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
