TESSA Inc. Professional Learning is specifically designed for staff supporting children and young people who are struggling with moderate to severe behaviour challenges and who may be, or currently are, at risk to themselves or others.
TESSA Inc is fully aware of the impact challenging student behaviour has on school and agency staff of all levels. Risks to staff include physical and psychological injuries in their workplace.
TESSA Inc Professional Learning has developed a 3 stage approach to supporting staff in this area:
Protective Intervention Training
Core training for staff on dealing with critical incidents and high level behaviours of concern if/when they happen.
Managing Challenging Behaviour Training
Improved staff understanding and toolkit to better minimise and/or prevent behaviours and incidents from occurring.
On the job coaching support
Pre or post training support for staff, assisting them to integrate harm prevention approaches and strategies into their practice.
Doing this training will greatly assist in building individual staff capacity, confidence and competency in this area. TESSA Inc training outcomes show these factors significantly improve staff morale, and influence retention of staff in the profession.
Benefits of Protective Intervention Training:
Clarity for staff on ‘what to do’ during challenging situations
Clarity on policy and duty of care requirements
Actions to take in order to better de- escalate/ manage a situation
Knowledge, skills and tools to:
Better understand how to keep themselves and/or others safe during a critical incident
Better minimise psychological impacts such as fear, anxiety and lack of/loss of confidence.
The opportunity for staff to both voice and workshop their relevant questions, concerns and scenarios.
Improved confidence for staff leading to less burnout and a higher rate of staff retention.
Benefits of Managing Challenging Behaviour Training:
Improved knowledge and understanding of the cause of heightened/extreme student behaviours.
The origin of such behaviours and why they occur
Why a different approach is needed
Practical tools to better prevent student behaviours and potential before they occur:
Practical strategies
Understanding stages of the escalation cycle
Benefits of on the job coaching support:
Individualised support for staff
The chance for staff to apply knowledge and understanding in their context
Support for particularly challenging cases that require more time to be addressed
Our services include:
Protective Intervention Training. 1 day training
Managing Challenging Behaviour - 1 day training
Managing Challenging Behaviour - 3 day training
Conflict Management - 4 hour workshop
Professional Learning Coaching
Please see below for further information about these training options.
Protective Intervention Training
1 day training
Training for school staff on dealing with high level ‘behaviours of concern’. Focuses on skills and strategies to improve staff ability with de- escalation, situational management and safety in last resort scenarios ‘in the moment’.
Other content includes clarity on policy and relevance to staff practice, as well as exploration of common scenarios, staff questions and concerns.
The aim of this workshop is to have staff feeling more confident in this space and empowered with more of an idea of ‘what to do’.
Consists of 3x 90 minute modules.
Managing Challenging Behaviour
1 day program
This training focuses on helping staff improve their ability with pre-emptive behaviour management and understanding.
Content includes understanding challenging behaviour and its causes, function of behaviour, utilising targeted interventions, student incident management and working towards assisting students to better regulate their behaviour in school.
This training is an intended compliment to the Protective Intervention Training; it’s also suitable for school staff dealing with less severe behaviours on a daily basis.
Consists of 3x 90 minute modules.
Managing Challenging Behaviour
3 days program
Understanding and working with challenging behaviour
Causes of challenging behaviour, our approach & core principles of working with challenging behaviour.
Circle of security
Practical tool built around understanding and application of attachment theory.
Trauma brain development
Trauma understanding, approaches and strategies.
Behaviour goals and interventions
Understanding specific motivations for negative behaviour and how you can target these effectively in a solutions focused manner.
The escalation cycle
Understand phases and know the interventions.
Limit setting and emotion coaching
Tool for teaching emotional regulation and working towards behavioural change.
Conflict Management
4 hour workshop
The 4C Conflict Management Program has been customised specifically for school staff, particularly those in first point of contact roles who may be dealing with distressed or angry members of the wider school community.
The training is delivered in a tailored, interactive workshop enabling participants to learn critical conflict management skills, including:
de-escalating strong emotions, particularly anger,
appropriately balancing a task and relationship focus, and
using a modified win-win negotiating structure.
Professional Learning Coaching
Tailored coaching sessions to meet the needs of school staff dealing with challenging behaviours and behaviours of concern.
Designed to work over a number of sessions, PL coaching sessions have proven to be an effective means of supporting staff dealing with challenging behaviours.
PL coaching sessions will assist to bring theory and strategies into practice (such as from our core trainings), relative to their setting, for improved outcomes.
“I found the Protective Practice Workshop has helped improve confidence when managing challenging behaviour on a physical level as I am now more informed and aware of body mechanics, having learnt safe ways to protect myself and minimising risk to the student. I also acknowledge the benefits of learning new redirection strategies giving me the ability to respond positively with a sense of calmness in a variety of situations.”
For more information about our Professional Learning Services, please contact Clint Cassell by emailing cassell.c@tessainc.org.au