What it’s really like being a behaviour support practitioner
It’s not just behaviour plans and data sheets.
From the outside, behaviour support can look clinical. Structured. Strategic. Maybe even a little procedural.
People imagine clipboards, observations, writing plans, tracking incidents.
And yes, all of that is part of it.
But what it’s really like being a behaviour support practitioner is something much more layered.
It’s data and humanity. Structure and emotion. Systems and stories. All at once.
You hold stories most people don’t see
Behind every Functional Behaviour Assessment is a real young person. Real caregivers. A real care team trying their best.
You hear:
Placement breakdown histories
School exclusions
Family grief
Carer burnout
Trauma
Young people saying “I don’t care” when they care deeply
You sit in living rooms. Classrooms. Team meetings. You witness rupture and repair.
You are invited into vulnerable spaces.
And that is a privilege, and a weight.
You translate behaviour into meaning
At its core, the job is interpretation.
When someone else sees “defiance,” you’re thinking:
What’s the function?
What are the setting events?
What skill is missing?
What’s maintaining this pattern?
You’re constantly toggling between compassion and analysis.
You look at escalation cycles and see nervous systems.
You look at patterns and see unmet needs.
It’s detective work, but relational.
You work inside imperfect systems
Behaviour support doesn’t happen in isolation. It sits inside:
Education systems
Child protection systems
Disability funding systems
Organisational cultures
Care teams with varying experience
You might recommend proactive strategies, only to see them inconsistently implemented. You might design thoughtful skill-building plans, only to battle capacity limitations.
You’re not just supporting behaviour. You’re navigating systems.
You celebrate small wins that most people miss
A child who:
Uses a break card instead of throwing a chair
Swears but doesn’t escalate to aggression
Recovers in 10 minutes instead of 40
Asks for help for the first time
These are enormous wins.
But they rarely look dramatic from the outside.
Behaviour support teaches you to value incremental change. Tiny progress matters.
You learn to regulate yourself constantly
You can’t support dysregulation if you’re dysregulated.
You sit in:
Aggressive incidents
Emotional family meetings
High-stakes discussions
Risk assessments
And you must stay calm.
Not because you don’t feel it, but because your steadiness shapes the room.
Your nervous system becomes part of the intervention.
It’s deeply relational work
Despite the frameworks, data, and legislation, this job is about people.
It’s about:
Building trust with young people who test it
Coaching carers who feel exhausted
Supporting teachers who feel out of depth
Advocating when systems miss the mark
The best behaviour plans don’t sit on shelves.
They live inside relationships.
The truth
Being a behaviour support practitioner is not about controlling behaviour.
It’s about:
Increasing quality of life
Reducing harm
Teaching skills
Supporting dignity
Building environments where people can succeed
It’s thoughtful. It’s emotionally demanding. It’s evidence-informed. It’s relational.
And when it works, when you see a young person feel safe enough to choose differently, it’s worth every hard conversation.
Final thoughts
If you’re in this field, you know.
The work is complex. Sometimes slow. Often misunderstood.
But it matters.
And behind every plan, every data sheet, and every recommendation, there is one simple goal:
Help people live safer, more meaningful lives.
That’s what it’s really like.
Rosie 🌹