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Eleva8 Mentoring Behaviour Support Practitioner. Specialising in complex behaviours, family support consulting, ASD, intellectual disabilities and crisis intervention.

Diploma and university degree qualified. 
Website: https://www.eleva8behavioursupport.com/

05/10/2026

💭 I’m Not Going to Pretend I Have All the Answers 👊

I’m not going to write another cliché post about how passionate I am about Behaviour Support.

I’d rather just be honest. 👊
I’m going to make mistakes.
I’m not always going to have the answer.

Sometimes I’ll get things wrong, reflect on them, learn from them and do better next time. 🧠

I’m probably going to frustrate another therapist at some point because I see something differently.

I’ll question decisions. I’ll challenge systems. I’ll ask uncomfortable questions. 💬

Sometimes that means support services, families or other professionals won’t agree with me. And that’s okay.

Because Behaviour Support isn’t about keeping everyone happy.

It’s about understanding the person in front of you. 👤

Understanding why behaviour is happening.

Protecting their rights, dignity and quality of life. 🤝

And working together to create meaningful change.

I don’t want to be the practitioner who walks into a room pretending to know everything.

I want to be the practitioner who listens. 👂

Who asks questions.

Who admits when he doesn’t know something.

Who seeks advice.

Who changes his mind when the evidence says he should.

And who stands his ground when something genuinely needs advocating for. 💪

I’m human.

But I care deeply about this work. ❤️

I care about getting results that actually matter to the person.

And when I take on someone’s Behaviour Support, I take that responsibility seriously.🙏

Great day at the RINGSIDE YOUTH FOUNDATION Charity Golf Day with the Eleva8 Mentoring Behaviour Support Practitioner Tea...
25/09/2026

Great day at the RINGSIDE YOUTH FOUNDATION Charity Golf Day with the Eleva8 Mentoring Behaviour Support Practitioner Team! Jacob Saifiti Matthew Kirkwood Mark Branson

🧠 WHY DO KIDS WITH ADHD SOMETIMES SEEM TO “LACK COMMON SENSE”?“I’ve told you this 100 times.”“You KNOW what happens when...
23/09/2026

🧠 WHY DO KIDS WITH ADHD SOMETIMES SEEM TO “LACK COMMON SENSE”?

“I’ve told you this 100 times.”
“You KNOW what happens when you do that.”
“Why didn’t you just think first?”

Here’s what’s important to understand:

ADHD isn’t necessarily a problem with knowing what to do.

It can be a problem with accessing what they know at the exact moment they need it.

ADHD affects executive functioning — the brain skills responsible for impulse control, working memory, planning ahead, emotional regulation and thinking about consequences.

A child might genuinely know they shouldn’t kick a ball inside the house.

But their brain sees the ball → gets excited → acts on the impulse → and thinks about the consequences afterwards.

That’s why when you ask:

“Why did you do that?”

You might genuinely get:

“I don’t know.”

It doesn’t automatically mean they weren’t listening, don’t care or have no common sense.

Sometimes the difficulty is the gap between knowing something and being able to use that knowledge in the moment.

Understanding that difference can completely change how we view ADHD behaviour. 🧠

BehaviourSupport ChildDevelopment

🧠 Biting your fingernails might have been the original fidget toy.Think about when people often do it.When they’re anxio...
22/09/2026

🧠 Biting your fingernails might have been the original fidget toy.

Think about when people often do it.

When they’re anxious.
When they’re concentrating.
When they’re waiting.
When they’re overwhelmed.
Sometimes without even realising they’re doing it.

Why?

Because repetitive sensory and motor behaviours can sometimes help the nervous system manage arousal.

For some autistic people and people with significant trauma histories or nervous system dysregulation, movement and sensory input can serve a similar regulatory function.

That’s why you might see behaviours such as:

👉 Rocking
👉 Pacing
👉 Leg bouncing
👉 Picking or rubbing
👉 Chewing
👉 Repetitive movements
👉 Using fidget items

We can be quick to say, “Stop doing that.”

But a better question is:

💭 “What is this behaviour doing for this person?”

Nail biting can cause injury or become problematic, so the goal isn’t to encourage it. The goal is to recognise the possible function behind it and, where needed, offer safer ways to meet the same sensory or regulation need.

Sometimes what looks like a “bad habit” may actually be someone trying to regulate their nervous system with the tools they have available.

Don’t just look at the behaviour.

🧠 Look at the need the behaviour might be meeting.

SensoryRegulation Neurodiversity EmotionalRegulation BehaviourSupportPractitioner

🧠 A Behaviour Support Plan isn’t just a document sitting in a folder.Think of it like a GPS. 🗺️The plan identifies where...
20/09/2026

🧠 A Behaviour Support Plan isn’t just a document sitting in a folder.

Think of it like a GPS. 🗺️

The plan identifies where we’re trying to go, the safest way to get there, the obstacles we might encounter, and what to do when things don’t go to plan.

But a GPS is useless if everyone in the car decides to take a different road.

It’s the same with behaviour support.

If one worker follows the plan, another does things their own way, and another hasn’t read it, the person receives inconsistent responses and expectations.

Consistency matters.

When the whole team understands and implements the plan, we create predictability, safety and opportunities for the person to learn new skills.

A Behaviour Support Plan should tell us:

🧠 Why behaviours may be occurring
🔍 What triggers and early warning signs to look for
🛠️ What proactive strategies to use
💬 How to communicate and respond
🌱 What replacement skills we are trying to teach
🤝 How everyone can respond consistently

The document itself doesn’t create change.

👉 The team implementing it does.

One plan. One consistent approach. One team working towards better outcomes.

SupportWorkers BehaviourSupportPractitioner TraumaInformed CapacityBuilding PersonCentredSupport

🧠 What do kids actually learn when we yell at them?Yelling might stop a behaviour in the moment, but stopping a behaviou...
20/09/2026

🧠 What do kids actually learn when we yell at them?

Yelling might stop a behaviour in the moment, but stopping a behaviour and teaching a skill are not the same thing.

When children are regularly yelled at, they may learn:

❌ “When someone is angry, they get louder.”
❌ “My feelings and what I have to say aren’t being heard.”
❌ “There’s no point explaining myself because nobody is listening.”
❌ “Mistakes aren’t safe.”
❌ “I need to hide what I’ve done.”
❌ “When I’m overwhelmed, yelling is how I communicate.”

What we actually want to teach is:

✅ How to regulate strong emotions
✅ How to communicate needs appropriately
✅ That their feelings can be heard, even when their behaviour isn’t acceptable
✅ How to take responsibility and repair mistakes
✅ How to solve problems
✅ How to manage frustration without aggression

Children learn emotional regulation partly through co-regulation and modelling.

That doesn’t mean having no boundaries or accepting unsafe behaviour.

It means being calm AND firm.

“I can see you’re angry, and I want to hear what you have to say. But I won’t let you hurt someone. Let’s work through this together.”

The goal isn’t simply to stop behaviour.

The goal is to make children feel heard while teaching them what to do instead. 🧠🌱

CoRegulation ChildDevelopment PositiveParenting

🧠 Regulation starts with understanding what we’re feeling and having the tools to communicate it.I developed these two s...
15/09/2026

🧠 Regulation starts with understanding what we’re feeling and having the tools to communicate it.

I developed these two social stories to help my clients:

🗣️ Recognise and communicate their emotions
💭 Understand what their body may be telling them
🔄 Choose safer alternatives to behaviours of concern
🤝 Ask for support before emotions escalate

The goal isn’t to stop big emotions. It’s to build the skills to recognise them, communicate them and regulate safely.

AutismSupport BehaviourSupportPractitioner Neurodiversity CommunicationSkills NDISAustralia

⚖️ DUTY OF CARE vs DIGNITY OF RISKOne of the most important balances in Behaviour Support is keeping someone safe withou...
15/09/2026

⚖️ DUTY OF CARE vs DIGNITY OF RISK

One of the most important balances in Behaviour Support is keeping someone safe without unnecessarily controlling their life.

🛡️ Duty of Care means identifying foreseeable risks and taking reasonable steps to reduce harm.

🌱 Dignity of Risk means recognising a person’s right to make their own choices — even when we don’t agree with them.

Take alcohol. 🍺

I would never recommend that a participant drink large amounts of alcohol every day. I can educate them about the risks, encourage safer choices and provide appropriate support.

But if an adult has the capacity to make that decision, I can’t simply control their choices because I disagree with them.

We all make choices that carry risk. People with disability deserve that same right.

Dignity of risk isn’t about ignoring danger.

It’s about reducing risk without unnecessarily removing someone’s freedom, independence and choice.

⚖️ Good Behaviour Support finds the balance between safety and autonomy.

Sometimes the safest option isn’t necessarily the best life.

ChoiceAndControl DisabilitySupport HumanRights PersonCentredPractice NDISAustralia

🚨WHY BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT PRACTITIONERS THINK ABOUT THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO🚨Sometimes Behaviour Support Practitioners can l...
13/09/2026

🚨WHY BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT PRACTITIONERS THINK ABOUT THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO🚨

Sometimes Behaviour Support Practitioners can look like we’re overthinking things.

“What if this happens?”
“What happens if that goes wrong?”
“What’s the plan if this behaviour escalates?”
“What safeguards do we have in place?”

It can sound negative. But it’s actually a really important part of our job.

🧠 We don’t think about the worst-case scenario because we expect it to happen. We think about it so we’re prepared if it does.

When we identify a foreseeable risk, our responsibility is to consider:

👉 What could reasonably go wrong?
👉 How serious could the consequences be?
👉 Who could be harmed?
👉 What factors could increase the likelihood?
👉 What can we put in place NOW to reduce that risk?
👉 What will staff or family do if the situation actually occurs?

Because if a serious incident happens, one of the questions afterwards will inevitably be:

“Was this foreseeable, and what was put in place to reduce the risk?”

That’s why good behaviour support isn’t just responding to behaviour after something happens.

It’s about thinking ahead.

We look at patterns, triggers, environments, vulnerabilities, escalation pathways and protective factors. Then we build practical strategies, safety planning and risk mitigation around them. 🛡️

That doesn’t mean removing every possible risk from someone’s life. People have the right to make choices, experience dignity of risk and live meaningful lives. Our job is to find the balance between choice, independence, quality of life and safety.

So when your Behaviour Support Practitioner seems like they’re thinking five steps ahead…

They probably are.

Because sometimes the best crisis intervention is the one you never have to use because the risks were identified and addressed early. 💭🧩

DisabilitySupport RiskManagement Safeguarding TraumaInformed ComplexBehaviour PositiveBehaviour NDISProvider SupportWorkers DisabilityAwareness MentalHealth PBS ProactiveSupport DutyOfCare

📱 “MUM! DAD! LOOK AT ME!” 👀They jump off the couch.They show you a drawing you’ve already seen five times.They do a danc...
07/09/2026

📱 “MUM! DAD! LOOK AT ME!” 👀

They jump off the couch.

They show you a drawing you’ve already seen five times.

They do a dance that makes absolutely no sense.

They tell you a story that takes 10 minutes to explain something that could have taken 30 seconds.

And all the while, you might be looking at your phone thinking…

“Yep, I’m watching.”

But here’s what I want parents to understand:

When a child repeatedly says “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!” — most of the time, it isn’t really about what they’re doing.

What they’re actually asking is:

❤️ “Do you see me?”
❤️ “Am I important to you?”
❤️ “Do I have your attention?”
❤️ “Do I matter?”
❤️ “Love me.”

From an attachment and behaviour support perspective, these small interactions matter enormously.

Every time you put the phone down, make eye contact, smile and genuinely engage, you are giving your child more than attention.

You are helping build secure attachment.

You are teaching their developing brain:

🧠 When I reach out, someone responds.
🧠 My needs matter.
🧠 The people I love are emotionally available to me.
🧠 Relationships are safe.
🧠 I am worth someone’s time.

And those beliefs can follow a child well beyond childhood.

This doesn’t mean parents need to give their children their undivided attention every second of the day. That isn’t realistic or healthy.

But we do need to recognise those little bids for connection when they happen.

Because to you, it might just be another cartwheel.

To them, it might be:

“Dad, are you watching?”

And underneath that:

“Dad, do you see me?”

Sometimes one of the most powerful things we can do for a child’s behaviour, emotional regulation and development is incredibly simple:

📱 Put the phone down.
👀 Look at them.
😊 Smile.
❤️ Be genuinely interested.

Because “look at me” is very often another way of saying “love me.”

ChildDevelopment ConnectionBeforeCorrection TraumaInformed EmotionalRegulation ParentingSupport BehaviourSupportPractitioner

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Newcastle, NSW
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