Support Coordinators and Behaviour Support: How to Prepare Better Referrals

A strong behaviour support referral doesn't happen by accident. As a support coordinator, you're often the bridge between a participant's everyday challenges and a behaviour support practitioner who can actually help. The quality of your referral—what you include, how you frame the concern, and what context you provide—directly shapes whether a practitioner can design useful support or spend their first three sessions gathering information you already have. This guide walks you through what matters when you're preparing a referral, what practitioners genuinely need to work effectively, and how to avoid the common gaps that slow down real progress.

This is general education only. It is not a diagnosis, crisis advice, legal advice, or a substitute for a personalised Behaviour Support Plan. If someone is in immediate danger, call 000.

Why This Matters

Support coordinators sit in a unique position. You see participants across different settings, different times, different relationships. You know the history—what changed, what's been tried, what worked for three weeks and then didn't. A behaviour support practitioner might see a participant for one hour a week in a clinic room or a planned home visit. What you observe in real life is irreplaceable context. When your referral is vague or incomplete, the practitioner either wastes sessions fishing for information or makes assumptions that lead them down the wrong path. A well-prepared referral means the practitioner starts from day one with a clear picture of what matters, what the participant is actually struggling with, and why the current support isn't cutting it. That saves time, reduces frustration for everyone, and gets to genuinely useful strategies faster. For participants whose behaviour is causing real distress or limiting their opportunities, those first weeks matter enormously.

What Might Be Happening Underneath

Right now, many referrals to behaviour support practitioners arrive incomplete or vaguely framed. A coordinator might write 'participant has behavioural concerns' or 'needs support with anxiety and aggression' without describing what that actually looks like, when it happens, or what the real impact is. Some referrals list a diagnosis instead of describing behaviour. Others include requests for support without explaining why the current plan isn't working or what's already been attempted. Practitioners then spend initial sessions doing detective work: asking what triggers the behaviour, what it looks like in detail, how often it occurs, what happens after, who's involved. That's time and energy that could have been spent designing actual strategies. Meanwhile, a coordinator might assume a practitioner will automatically focus on the highest-priority concern, but without clear framing, practitioners might prioritize differently—or offer generic suggestions that don't fit the person's real life. The gap between what coordinators know and what practitioners know creates delays. When referrals are thorough and specific, practitioners can hit the ground running with assessment tools, observation plans, or strategy development that's immediately relevant to the participant and their supporters.

What A Behaviour Support Practitioner Looks For

When a behaviour support practitioner receives your referral, they're looking for several concrete things. First, they want a clear, specific description of the behaviour itself—not labels like 'aggression' but what that actually means: does the participant hit, throw objects, shout, refuse to move, self-harm? How hard, how often, and what does it look like across different settings? They need the context around timing: does it happen at certain times of day, in response to specific requests, or seemingly randomly? What typically happens right before the behaviour and right after? This sequence matters enormously for understanding what's driving it. They'll want to know who's involved—is it worse with particular people, in particular environments, or during particular activities? What's already been tried, and what was the result? Even unsuccessful attempts give practitioners important information about what isn't working. They're also interested in what the participant can do instead, what they communicate well about, and what matters to them. Practitioners need to understand the actual impact: is this behaviour preventing the participant from doing activities they want to do, affecting relationships, or creating safety concerns? Without that clarity, practitioners can't properly assess whether this is about anxiety, control, communication, sensory needs, or something else entirely.

Practical First Steps

• Describe the specific behaviour in observable, concrete terms—what does it look like, sound like, and how does the participant's body move or respond during the behaviour.
• Map the sequence: what typically happens in the minutes before the behaviour, during the behaviour, and immediately after—include what people say and do around it.
• List where and when it happens most often—times of day, specific settings, particular people present, specific activities that trigger it or make it worse.
• Document what's already been tried—strategies, environmental changes, communication supports, sensory tools—and honestly report what effect each had.
• Explain the real-world impact: what's this behaviour stopping the participant from doing, who does it affect, and what are the safety or relationship concerns that matter most right now.
• Provide a snapshot of what the participant does well, how they communicate, and what genuinely interests or motivates them—practitioners need to build on strengths.
• Be clear about what specific outcome you're aiming for: is it reducing frequency, changing intensity, teaching an alternative skill, or understanding what's driving it so you can prevent it.

How Himani Would Frame the Conversation

From a behaviour support perspective, your referral is actually the first intervention. It shapes everything that comes next. When I receive a well-prepared referral, I can already start forming hypotheses about what might be happening—whether this looks like anxiety avoidance, sensory overwhelm, a communication gap, or a skill deficit. But that only works if you've given me the actual picture. If I'm working with assumptions instead of observations, I might recommend strategies that miss the mark entirely. As a coordinator, you have the privilege of knowing this person across contexts. Use that. Don't assume a practitioner will piece it together—give them the narrative. Tell them what you've noticed, what patterns you've spotted, what worries you most, and what you've already learned doesn't work. That honesty and specificity is what allows behaviour support to be genuinely tailored rather than generic.

When To Ask For Professional Support

You should consider a behaviour support referral when the participant's behaviour is preventing them from participating in community, work, or learning activities they want to be part of. If current strategies aren't working after a reasonable period—or if strategies are working but requiring unsustainable effort or creating new problems—a behaviour support practitioner can help redesign the approach. Refer when behaviour is changing or escalating without an obvious reason, when you notice patterns nobody else has documented yet, or when a participant is at risk of losing placements or relationships because of how they're behaving. Sometimes a referral makes sense when the participant's communication difficulty means behaviour is their main way of expressing distress, and you need strategies to support them while teaching alternatives. If you're unsure whether behaviour support is what's needed versus something like mental health support, speech pathology, or occupational therapy, a behaviour support assessment can clarify whether behaviour is the primary concern or whether another specialist should step in first. Don't wait for behaviour to become a crisis—earlier referral often means earlier progress.

Sources And Further Reading

This article is original Brave Mental Health educational content. It is informed by, but does not copy, official NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission resources.

• NDIS Commission: Behaviour support and restrictive practices
• NDIS Commission: How to develop behaviour support plans