We talk about behaviour as a way of communicating a need, and it’s our job to work out what that need is. Perhaps a child or young person is feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated; maybe they are trying to avoid a certain situation; or they could be seeking a connection with us.

We help staff to think about the best ways to respond when someone is feeling distressed or dysregulated, encouraging them to look beyond the behaviour. Our training equips them with a toolkit of ideas they can use to support children and young people.

Most of our training is focused on supporting a child or young person before they become distressed and intervening early to help them calm down. This is called ‘de-escalation’.

We can decide on the best de-escalation strategies by getting to know every child and young person as a unique individual. What works well for one person might not be effective for someone else. That’s why it’s important for staff to build strong professional relationships with every child and young person they support.

Over time, our goal is for a child or young person to realise when they are feeling dysregulated and take action before they reach a crisis point, to help themselves safely calm down. This is called ‘self-regulation’.

We believe that strong relationships are key to supporting children and young people. When we get to know them on an individual basis, we can use this information to forge connections built on trust and mutual respect.

When children feel seen, heard, and valued by us, they feel safe and secure in their environment and are better able to regulate their emotions.

Some children and young people have an individual support plan that explains their strengths and interests, what they may find difficult, and how everyone involved in their care can best support them. An individual support plan may be known by a different name in the school or organisation working with your child.

If an individual support plan is created for your child, you should be told about it and given a copy, along with anyone else involved in their care. We recommend that schools and organisations involve you and your child in creating the plan so you can share your ideas.

When something has gone wrong, it’s important for staff to understand what has happened, support everyone involved, and find ways to reduce the likelihood of it happening again in the future.

After something has happened, staff should:

• Give emotional and physical first aid: This should be the priority for everyone involved.
• Record and report: An incident report should be written after a significant event and be shared with you and others involved in supporting your child.
• Conversations: Everyone involved should have the opportunity to talk about how they feel.
• Telling people: If your child has a support plan, this should be shared with you and everyone involved in your child’s care.
• Risk assessment: Staff will decide what needs to happen now to reduce risk for everyone, including your child.
• Updating plans: It’s important that any support plans contain all the information needed to best support your child.

When something has gone wrong, you should have the opportunity to talk about it and be listened to. It’s important that you understand what has happened, when it happened, and why it may have happened. The school or organisation supporting your child should give you an honest and factual account. They should also tell you about what has been recorded about the incident and who has been told about it.

You should be involved in discussions about how to reduce the likelihood of this happening again and given the opportunity to share your views. Staff should explain what they are putting in place to support your child and share plans and strategies with you.

Sometimes, despite everyone’s best efforts, incidents can and do happen. The question is: what should happen to support your child afterwards and how can staff re-build the relationship with them?

Our training includes having conversations with a child or young person after an incident to help understand what happened and why it happened. This helps staff understand where things went wrong and can help the child or young person to find different strategies that could help them in the future.

A physical intervention means guiding, holding, or moving a child or young person away from a situation to keep them, and others around them, safe. It can be as simple as holding hands, linking arms, or touching your child’s shoulder. This can provide comfort and reassurance for your child if they are distressed.

However, there may be occasions when your child’s behaviour is a serious risk to themselves or others around them. Staff may decide that they have to hold your child to keep everyone safe. We train staff in safe ways to do this to reduce the risk for everyone.

Physical interventions to hold your child should be used as a last resort, and staff should use the least restrictive intervention that is likely to be successful in supporting your child. Any physical intervention must be deemed reasonable, necessary, and proportionate to the risk it is trying to reduce.

If physical interventions are part of how your child is being supported, this should be recorded in their individual support plan and shared with you. It’s a good idea to ask questions if you are unsure about anything, to make sure you fully understand how your child is being supported.

Our physical interventions are medically risk-assessed and the staff we train to use them must attend regular refresher training. Our training helps to reduce the likelihood of physical interventions being used, because we help staff take positive action before a child or young person is in crisis.

All of our courses are CPD certified by the CPD Certification Service and carried out by experienced trainers. Our trainers undergo a rigorous re-accreditation process on a regular basis to ensure that their practice is always up-to-date and in line with the latest developments around behaviour support.

We advocate a ‘whole organisation’ approach to training where possible so that every member of staff understands our ethos around behaviour support.

Through our training, we develop and promote teamwork, relationship-building, personal safety, communication, and verbal and non-verbal de-escalation techniques for supporting behaviour. Our staff training courses for organisations includes:

• Building respectful relationships
• Creating a toolbox of positive behaviour strategies
• Developing effective communication with individuals and within teams
• De-escalating situations
• Understanding legal frameworks
• Promoting safety and safeguarding
• Reducing unnecessary restrictive practices
• Recording and reporting systems
• Restoring and repairing relationships
• Building confidence in managing situations safely