All behaviour support practitioners have participated in the disappeared training. A third of those who attend the workshop don't end up returning to the floor, because the folk version of the training takes the place of induction for them; and the workers who most need training are the casuals who happen to be on that day, structurally, which makes them the least likely to be on the floor. Training support workers is not training a clinical team, the work force is shift-based, part-time, high turnover and continually partially new, training as an event will be undermined every time. Training that is designed as a system will not.

Design for the workforce that exists

The system is made up of three layers that align with the way that support workforces work. The foundation piece is the written strategy summary which has been delivered throughout this series: the written script in plain behavioural language, what to do at each stage and what never to do with one line explanations. It's because most of the team at any one time will not have gone to anything, and the summary is the training they're able to get in 15 minutes, gated before their first unsupervised shift. Skills layer, short, scenario-based sessions with the core team, not the theory behind positive behaviour support, it's this person, these strategies, rehearsed until it's a response that comes easily when it matters, because when it matters, it's not a strategy that's been thought of, it's a strategy that's been practised. The maintenance layer is drift correction, which consists of short reminders attached to data reviews, coaching moments as part of regular contact, and always being open to workers' questions; the strategy runs against reality, intelligence, not insubordination.

Teach the why, at working depth

Support workers implement better if they understand the function of the behaviour at the level that impacts their practice, at the working sentence level, not the full analysis level, when he does X, it's usually about Y; that's why we respond with Z and never with Q. The why turns compliance into judgement, and judgement turns into generalisation: a worker who knows the function can have the spirit of the plan in a scenario not forecasted by a summary, a worker trained only in procedures but who is forced to improvise in a novel scenario. The dignity argument is also in the why, and dignity is the deepest level of training there is, when nobody knows you are there, you are at 2am, and teams who understand behaviour as communication treat the person differently.

Train the gatekeepers to run the gate

A practitioner cannot train an unlimited number of staff members; the sustainable model does not attempt to. It teaches a regular team to deliver the fifteen minute summary briefing to every newcomer with fluency, and the senior workers or team leaders how to do this, and the provider how to hold the gate (no unbriefed worker supporting the person without supervision) as taught on the provider side elsewhere in this content series. Quality control changes from giving all briefings to checking the gate, and then having a conversation with the new starters and seeing that the folk version has not returned. Independent workers enter the team through the same gate and platforms that record worker training and experience enable practitioners and providers to shortlist those who arrive closer to ready.

How this plays out in practice

Imagine a plan for a young girl who escalates around transitions and has a team of 11, family, regular and casual. By school holidays, the folk version takes over and the event version is taught at a Tuesday workshop to the six members of the public who got to attend. The system version is built around the layers: one page to post for all, two scenario sessions for the four regular workers, reflecting the school pick up until responses are automatic, and the senior worker trained to summarise the newbies, with a ten minute refresh every month based on the data review. If these two casuals enter in month three, they are briefed within days by the senior worker, and the data does not flicker. No one went to any large event. Everybody was trained.

Next steps

Check your most complex plan in place to see if the summary exists, core team has rehearsed under scenario stress and who has briefed next newcomer? The layer that is missing is what this month's work is.

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