Behavioural support therapy can prove crucial for some participants. Rather than trying to ‘fix’ or ‘cure’ a participant’s behaviour concerns, Behavioural Support seeks to help people to better communicate their needs.

The therapy leans into strengths and skills, rather than focusing on what’s going wrong.

We spoke to the Director of Being Mentors, Jaré Krnjic, to learn more about behavioural support therapy and the difference it can make.

Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourself

I’m a Director at Being Mentors. Within my role, I oversee national community access and Positive Behaviour Support operations. The aim is to support participants of all ages and abilities to experience a greater quality of life.

I have a history of working with at-risk disengaged youth, special education, community work, and crisis prevention. I grew up in Darwin, however, currently reside in the Gold Coast.

Being Mentors operates in the Northern Territory, Southeast Queensland, North Queensland, and Victoria.

What is behavioural support therapy?

Positive behaviour support (PBS) aims to provide a person-centred framework to address behaviours of concern and improve quality of life. PBS involves understanding what an individual is trying to communicate through their behaviour and supporting them to learn new ways to communicate their needs.

PBS utilises elements from applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and learning theory to focus on the environment, setting or skill rather than trying to “fix” or “manage” an individual’s behaviour.

What does behavioural support do and how does it differ from some of the other allied
practitioners?

Behaviour support is often most effective when utilised alongside other allied health professions to collaborate on supports strategies from other disciplines.

Behaviour support provides insight into a person’s strengths, important elements of their life and support systems in place. This allows for functional behavioural assessments and formulations to understand an individual’s needs and why behaviours are occurring.

Can you tell us how you typically use the following codes in a participant’s NDIS plan?

The NDIS pricing arrangements are pretty scripted, however as an example, the following codes are for observations, implementing visual supports and resources into an environment, modelling and educating response strategies for support networks and working with the individual on developing skills.

• a) Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support – 11_022_0110_7_3 @ $214.41


• b) Training in Behaviour Management Strategies – 11_023_0110_7_3 @ $193.99


• c) Individual Social Skills Development – 11_024_0117_7_3 @ $74.63

How can families, support coordinators or other providers make the most of a Behavioural Support Therapist’s expertise and capability?

Setting priorities from the start will help the participant stay on track and identify milestones along the way.

At times people can get caught up on all the things going wrong, instead of having a strengths-based approach and highlighting what’s going well. This can include not only data
surrounding an individual behaviour, but the confidence of the team implementing the plan.

How can participants best utilise their Behavioural Support Therapists?

Ensuring that a robust support team is developed around an individual will provide better outcomes and implementation of PBS supports.

What are the challenges in the industry, and how does this impact participants?

Support plans need to be written in a way that’s easily understandable for families and participants. The NDIS is providing new practice guides and resources to guide best practice which is great, however, there is a shortage of service providers in remote parts of Australia.

To learn more about Being Mentors, visit the website or find them on LinkedIn.