3 Hacks To Becoming The BEST Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner From Scratch!
Why Do It?
According to Gore et al. (2022), challenging behaviour is prevalent in approximately 15% of people with a learning disability in the UK. That’s about 225,000 people! And according to NICE (2015), Positive Behaviour Support is pretty much the gold-standard for supporting individuals with learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge.
I’m writing this on the 19th of December 2024 – Merry Christmas – and today, there are 669 practitioners registered with the UK Society of Behaviour Analysis (UK-SBA, 2024). That’s approximately 336 clients for each practitioner! And I’m struggling to give my best to just 2!
The UK needs more PBS practitioners! But how do you go about becoming one?
Where Do You Begin?
The good news is you can come to PBS training from a variety of career paths. The bad news is there’s a lack of quality training out there! Quality training is training that meets the competencies set out in Positive Behavioural Support (PBS): A Competence Framework 2015. So, where do you begin?
STEP 1 – Decide Your End Goal
Your professional end goal will determine the level of training you’ll need. There are three levels of training that reflect the Competence Framework, and these are listed below.
Foundation Training
If you are providing direct support on a daily basis in a paid capacity, then foundation training is for you. You might be a Support Worker or Senior Support Worker. This training is also useful for those providing support in an unpaid capacity, such as family carers.
Intermediate Training
If your aim is to be a Behaviour Specialist, Supervisor or Manager then intermediate training is for you. You’ll be responsible for facilitating the direct implementation of Positive Behaviour Support for individuals. You’ll probably be involved in providing direct support as well, which helps when it comes to delivering practice training for others. You may be responsible for conducting assessments, as well as devising and implementing Behaviour Support Plans.
Advanced Training
Advanced training is great if you’re going to be responsible for embedding PBS across services. You’re likely to be undertaking full functional assessments, designing and evaluating PBS interventions, and identifying when other expert clinical competencies are required. You’ll also be contributing to the most complex systems and cases.
So, what do you want to be?
Knowledge Acquisition & Practice Based Training
The key thing here is that your training must include both knowledge acquisition and practice based training.
Practice based training is made up of: instructions, modelling, rehearsal, and feedback. This is likely to be delivered by a practice leader, supervisor, coach or mentor within your normal work place setting. To you, this means it’s best to work for an organisation where PBS is widely implemented.
The PBS Academy recommends a ratio of knowledge acquisition to practice based training of at least 1:5. For example, if your training course is 30 hours long, then you’ll need 150 hours of practice based training evidence. This practice based training must be relevant to the knowledge acquisition. It must be supervised, but not all of the hours need to be face-to-face supervision. The main aim is to embed new principles and knowledge into your practice.
Common Approaches
Whatever approach is used, learning must remain competence based. Approaches can be made up of classroom, workshops, e-learning, directed study, practice based learning, supervision and assessment.
As a general guide, it is unlikely that you will achieve the necessary competences in less than the following suggested number of learning hours:
Foundation – 120 hours
Intermediate – 240 hours
Advanced – 360 hours
Step 2 – Where Should You Get Training?
I recommend that you get yourself a widely recognised qualification that meets the competences within the PBS Competence Framework.
The following courses are the only accredited vocational training in PBS in the UK, and are unique in meeting all of the published training standards for PBS and comply with the PBS Academy Competence Framework. Learners who achieve any of these three BTEC qualifications in Positive Behavioural Support are eligible to become members of the UK Society for Applied Behaviour Analysis.
Having said that, there are areas of these courses that could be improved! Learner experience for one!The courses I recommend are delivered online through the NHS Wales Learning@Wales website. These are:
BTEC Level 3 Advanced Certificate in PBS
This is aimed at you if you provide direct support. The standard is equivalent to an A level and should be completed within 12 months.
BTEC Level 4 Professional Certificate in PBS
This one is for you if you facilitate the direct implementation of PBS, including the provision of practice based training in a supervisory, managerial or clinical capacity. The course is equivalent in standard to the first year of a degree and should be completed in 18 months.
Hack #1: Commit To Your Goals
BTEC Level 5 Professional Diploma in PBS
This one is for you if you’re responsible for conducting functional assessments, designing and evaluating PBS interventions and identifying when further expert clinical competencies are required. This level is equivalent in standard to second year degree study and should be completed in 24 months.
If you want to go beyond this, then you’ll be looking to get trained at least at an undergraduate level. Give me a shout if you’d like more information on this!
Hack #2: Proactively Tackle Problems and Obstacles
Step 3: How Are You Going To Pay For This?
When I completed my BTEC Level 5 in PBS, I self-funded. The cost was approximately £1,325. I asked about spreading payments but that was something NHS Wales stopped offering. I suggest you contact the BTEC Co-ordinator, Joanne Wheeler on joanne.wheeler@wales.nhs.uk or TEL: 01656 753939 for up to date information.
development of its employees in order to improve clients’ quality of life. If you find the right company, they will pay for your PBS qualifications and provide supervision at no cost to you!
Go ahead and complete a search on Indeed. Look for ABA tutors, PBS therapists, PBS Support Workers etc. and get a feel of the options available to you.
Step 4 – Join THE Professional Body for PBS Professionals
Gore, N. J., Sapiets, S. J., Denne, L. D., Hastings, R. P., Toogood, S., MacDonald, A., Baker, P., Allen, D., Apanasionok, M. M., Austin, D., Bowring, D. L., Bradshaw, J., Corbett, A., Cooper, V., Deveau, R., Hughes, J. C., Jones, E., Lynch, M., McGill, P., & Mullhall, M. (2022). Positive Behavioural Support in the UK: A State of the Nation Report. International Journal of Positive Behavioural Support, 12(1), i–46. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/bild/ijpbs/2022/00000012/a00101s1/art00001
Improving the quality of Positive Behavioural Support (PBS): The standards for training. (2017). http://pbsacademy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/PBS-Standards-for-Training-Oct-2017.pdf
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE] (2018) Learning Disabilities and Behaviour that Challenges: Service Design and Delivery. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/ guidance/ng93
PBS Academy. (n.d.). Improving the quality of Positive Behavioural Support (PBS): The standards for individual practitioners. In PBS Academy. http://pbsacademy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/PBS-Standards-for-Individual-Practitioners.pdf
UK-SBA. (2024, December 18). Search result. UK SBA. https://uk-sba.org/search-result/?region=All&postcode&within=1&search_name&btnSubmit&doing_wp_cron=1734559637.0577800273895263671875
