Positive Behaviour Support service: video transcript

Matthew Hodder, Positive Behaviour Support service lead:

Positive Behaviour Support is an assessment and evidence-based process and theory, with the two outcomes and aims to be to reduce behaviour that challenge for those people that we support and also to improve their quality of life.

Lorraine Hawksworth-Quill, Children’s Disabilities Service Manager, Bradford Council:

PBS is about preventing children with disabilities and behavioural challenges going out of district so it’s about keeping them with their families

Gillian, parent:

At first I think I were nearly crying, because I were that overjoyed that somebody were going to help me.

Tony, parent:

Without the positive support service I would have struggled.

Matthew Hodder:

I suppose the issues that we’re seeing a lot of is families who are highly stressed, who are finding it very difficult to cope with the situation that they’re presented with. And I suppose it can lead some people to feel quite hopeless.

Gillian:

My son had started displaying extremely challenging behaviour in the car – attacking me, ripping all my hair out of my head, scratching my eyes out, kicking me in the head. I’d actually got to the point and my exact words is, I can’t do this any more

Matthew Hodder:

Our key workers are able to offer up to 30 hours a week to that child in all of their environments.. A lot of other services, due to resource constraints or budgetary restrictions, may not be able to dedicate that much time

Anthony Handy, Positive Behaviour Support specialist key worker;

We can visit respite, we can visit school, families, other stakeholders that are involved, and kind of bring them together a little bit. By working so intensively with that one family, we get a much better understanding of the child and the dynamics around them.

Ann Andrew, High Park School Principal:

From the school’s perspective, I personally feel it’s been particularly beneficial because of the collaborative working with the key workers and the service lead. It’s been a different way of working, and we knew that there would be some challenges to the school as well as lots of positives and because we’re, you know, looking at the very fine details for individual pupils, it just brought another element, another angle to what we do

Matthew Hodder:

We’re a very unique service, we’re the first of its kind using a third sector to implement this type of a service. And I would say that, from what we’ve seen, from our first year of engagement and implementation of the service, is that the benefits of doing so have been immense.

Lorraine Hawksworth-Quill:

It is a cost-saving method. We’re not placing children in expensive residential placements.  We’re providing a local service for local children so that in itself is the benefit

Gillian:

Basically – me and my son, it’s like a different world now. I’ve not had any – I’ve had different behaviours – I’ve not had aggressive, violent behaviour for probably seven months now.

Tony:

It’s given me more opportunities and really, really understanding of my child’s need. Like a parent should be.