The organisation employs 20 people specialising in the delivery of behaviour support and specialist support services to NDIS participants. The team is made up of a range of disability and health professionals who work as Behaviour Support Practitioners, including a behaviour analyst, an occupational therapist, social workers, educators and a psychologist. They also have an administration team and compliance officer. 

Owned and operated by Alana Michell and Amber Flynn, Positive Practices occupies an area in Winnellie that features training rooms and calming spaces, offset by a bright area with books and games.

It’s clear this is a caring, compassionate and positive environment, underpinned by Alana and Amber’s genuine interest in, and commitment to, the disability sector.

The pair agree they do the work because they love it.

“We love the complexity. We love learning about people. We love learning about their stories and we really love being able to figure out a way to help people to communicate and have a good quality of life, and support their families and the carers they work with,” Amber said.

Amber and Alana met 15 years ago when they were working in the NT Government. Both women have clinical backgrounds. Alana is a behaviour analyst and Amber is an occupational therapist.

By the time 2020 rolled around, Alana was on maternity leave and Amber needed a sea change. 

“We’d been talking about doing something together for a really long time. We knew we worked well together so when the NDIS came in, it was a good time to start the business,” said Amber. 

Positive Practices now has 140 clients from young children to adults and seniors who have physical and intellectual disabilities, learning difficulties, behavioural issues and dementia. The team assesses clients then works with families and carers to develop plans with other health professionals to develop skills, reduce restrictions on the person, and ensure people have the support services they need. 

“We work with the person, their family members, carers, support workers, and teachers to implement the strategies in the plan through training, mentoring and coaching,” said Amber. 

For Alana, working within the disability sector is personal. Her daughter Eliza has Down Syndrome, and her younger brother Nathan has autism. Business savvy runs in the family though. Nathan has his own micro-business, baking cookies and selling them to local businesses under the name Office Bites by Nathan. He drops the cookies off to the Positive Practices office each week. 

Amber and Alana are both long-term Territorians and felt establishing Positive Practices would not only provide a much-needed service but upskill others to deliver those services. 

“We feel strongly that we need to grow good quality services in the NT,” said Alana. 

“Being based in Darwin or somewhere more remote in the NT doesn’t mean you should get less of a service if you have a disability.” 

Amber said: “There are a lot of providers providing FIFO, people coming up from interstate who try and provide services in remote populations or even in Darwin. They just don’t have the same kind of appreciation for the complexity of the Territory.” 

Alana and Amber admit workforce is their biggest business challenge. 

“With the work that we do, you have to be registered as a behaviour practitioner with the NDIS commission and that can take 6 to 8 weeks at a minimum,” said Alana. 

“It’s quite a specialised skill set, and it’s really hard to recruit people who already have behaviour support skills. 

“We hire people with a degree qualification to work here, but then we often have to upskill and train them in what positive behaviour support is and how to do it. 

Amber and Alana have set the standard that all staff at Positive Practices must have an allied health background like psychology, social work, special education or therapy. 

Astonishingly, the NDIS does not require Behaviour Support Practitioners to have an allied health degree or background. 

“For us, we have respect for the profession and for our client base. We think that as a baseline, we need people that have some level of allied health degree or some expertise in disability,” said Amber. 

“We spend a lot of our resourcing on upskilling people around professional development internally, externally and we also have regular supervision individually and in groups. So, people do come to us now who want to work with us as they have heard that that’s what we offer.” 

Alana said: “We have experienced that not everyone has the best intentions or ethics in this space, and we have had a number of attempts in building a team who have the same values as us about the work we do, and its importance. We are really proud to have the team we have now. They are a group of practitioners who are committed to improving quality of life, working alongside people and being lifelong learners.” 

Word is certainly getting around about Positive Practices. The team recently moved into bigger premises to cater for their growing client base and increasing staff numbers. 

“There are a lot of pressures in working in the disability sector, and we really appreciate the participants and guardians who have stuck with us in a tricky NDIS system,” said Alana. 

Positive Practices is based in Darwin but has clients in Katherine, Ngukurr, Millingimbi, on the Tiwi Islands and Broome in Western Australia. 

Amber and Alana have plans this year to expand into psychology services, focusing on diagnostics and therapeutic interventions for people who might have a disability or may know someone who has a disability. 

People can be referred to Positive Practices via their website, by a health professional or they can contact the team direct. TQ 

CONTACT 

Positive Practices 

The Gulf Centre 

Level 1, Building 3 

116 Coonawarra Road Winnellie 

admin@positivepractices.com.au 

0408 186 521