Why Have Positive Behaviour Support Plans?
Positive behaviour support plans (PBS Plans) ensure appropriate support for a person, making sure that their needs are well met. However, there are benefits and risks of positive behaviour support plans.
Plans should include new opportunities and skills development; the overall aim is to improve the quality of life for the person so that they no longer present with behaviours of concern. PBS plans are individualised, person-centred, and grounded in evidence-based practices. They encompass a collaborative approach involving family members, the person and the teams that support them.
Principles that Inform PBS Plans
- Person-Centered: PBS plans recognise the unique needs, preferences, and strengths of each individual.
- Ideally, based on an understanding of the causes of behaviour: They prioritise understanding the root causes of behaviour and tailor interventions accordingly.
- Proactive Strategies: Rather than reacting to behaviour after it occurs, PBS plans emphasise proactive measures to prevent behaviours of concern from arising in the first place. This includes creating supportive environments, opportunities and teaching alternative skills.
- Positive Responses: Central to PBS plans is the approach whereby desired behaviours are acknowledged and encouraged.
- Collaborative Approach: PBS plans are collaborative endeavours involving input from various stakeholders, including family, support staff and the individual themselves. This collaborative approach ensures that interventions are holistic, effective, and sustainable.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: PBS plans rely on data collection and analysis to inform decision-making processes. This involves systematically tracking behaviour patterns, identifying triggers, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions over time.
Key Benefits of PBS Plans
- Enhanced Well-being: By creating the right support environment PBS Plans have the potential to contribute to the overall well-being of individuals
- Strengthened Relationships: PBS plans foster positive relationships between individuals and their caregivers. By promoting understanding, communication, and empathy, PBS plans lay the foundation for meaningful and supportive relationships.
- Reduced Behaviours of Concern: by meeting a person’s needs and helping individuals develop new skills PBS Plans support people to meaningful activities and engagement in social interactions.
- Reduced restrictive Interventions: As PBS plans increase well-being and reduce behaviours of concern, they support the reduction and removal of restrictions, such as any physical interventions as well as limited access to places and activities.
- Increased Inclusion: By addressing barriers to participation PBS plans contribute to greater inclusion and participation in work, meaningful activity and community settings.
Risks with PBS Plans
- Confused Structure: While there is no absolute right or wrong way to structure a PBS plan, a confused structure will lead to issues with people reading it for guidance and those who need to see that an organisation has an appropriate and consistent approach for supporting someone. PBS Champion Software provides a clear standardised structure for a PBS plan so that all plans across the organisation look similar, making it easier for everyone to read and understand.
- Key Elements missing: There are lots of different versions of PBS plans, but not a lot of clarity about what should be in them. The PBS plan in PBS Champion has been designed based on best practice guidance. It has clear sections with guidance, so there’s no confusion what it should be included in the plan and ensures nothing crucial is missed.
- The Plan is Too Long: There is no shortage of information about what should be included in a PBS plan. Sometimes it seems that a number of external agencies have a view about what should be included, CQC, the court of protection, commissioners of service and community learning disability teams. All with the right intentions to make sure everything is covered. However, if you want a staff team to understand and remember the key things they need to do, a large document like this is unlikely to achieve that. It just becomes too big and there’s too much information to navigate. PBS Champion generate both a full PBS plan which covers lots of elements which need to be recorded somewhere and which external agencies will appreciate and a summary PBS plan which works well for staff teams, outlining the key strategies they need to follow.
- The Plan Gets Forgotten: Often PBS plans are filed and forgotten. A PBS plan should be a live document, regularly edited and updated as behaviours and strategies change. PBS Champion Software provides and easy way to update parts of a PBS plan which can then be printed or saved as a PDF.
- Plan is not Being Implemented: Writing a PBS Plan can sometimes be a tick box exercise, and if it is, the benefits above aren’t going to be realised. Once written the staff team should be coached and key elements so that they understand how it works in practice and have the confidence to implement it.
Solution
With PBS Champion software you have the option of a PBS plan integrated into the system. So, as well as providing an easy way to record behavioural incidents and restrictive interventions PBS Champion provides a PBS Plan format and content directions. A key member of staff gathers all the information needed. This includes information from the person and those who know them well. The prompts and sections in the PBS champion PBS plan mean that you know what information to put where and nothing crucial gets left out. Best of all, you add the information in once and the software generates two plans, the full one and the summary. You can download both and print or save as a PDF.
Find out more https://redstonepbs.co.uk/pbs-champion/
Link to free walkthrough https://courses.onlinepbstraining.co.uk/courses/pbs-champion
View our brochure https://redstonepbs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/17082023-PBS-Champion-Brochure-Sept2023.pdf
Book a live demo email pbschampion@redstonepbs.co.uk
PBS plans have the power to transform lives, foster growth, and promote inclusion but only if the right information is included in a way that teams can follow and put all the strategies into place.
PBS Champion
PBS Champion provides a way to analyse the detail of incidents and ABC’s with the aim of gathering information about function. However, it also provides the ability to analyse behavioural incidents and any restrictive interventions at individual, service and organisational levels. This provides a very quick and easy way to report reductions in behavioural incidents as a result supports being put into place, as well as the reduction of any restrictive interventions used, evidencing the effects of RRN standards across an organisation.
If you’re interested in finding out more or to arrange a free demo for PBS Champion contact info@redstonepbs.co.uk
Author
Kate Strutt – Director of Redstone PBS and Clinical Psychologist.
Kate has over 20 years’ experience of working with adults and children with intellectual disabilities and those who are autistic, both within statutory services and the independent sector. Kate is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Bsc Psychology, D.Clin Psyc, MSc Applied Behaviour Analysis.
