In brief
+ProActive Approaches delivers challenging behaviour training for children's homes, schools, adult social care and fostering. Every course starts with what behaviour is communicating, builds de-escalation skills, and teaches safe physical skills only as a last resort and only where your setting needs them.
- Covers: understanding behaviour, trauma, staying regulated, de-escalation, safe physical skills and what happens after an incident
- For: children's homes, schools, adult social care, fostering and other settings supporting people at risk
- Certification: our physical intervention training is BILD Act certified against the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) Training Standards
- Formats: courses at your setting, open courses, or Train the Trainer for in-house delivery
- Delivery: across the UK
Behaviour is communication
When someone shouts, runs, refuses or lashes out, it is easy to see only the behaviour. But behaviour nearly always has a reason. It might be fear, pain, a need that is not being met, or a response learned from earlier experiences of harm.
Staff who understand that reason respond differently. They notice the early signs, adjust what they are doing and bring the situation down before it reaches crisis. That is what this training is for. It gives your team the understanding and the practical skills to make incidents less likely, and to keep everyone safe when they do happen.
You may also hear this called behaviour that challenges or distressed behaviour. Whatever the term, the aim is the same. Read more about our trauma-informed practice and de-escalation training.
What the training covers
Making sense of behaviour
What a behaviour is for (its function), the triggers and setting events behind it, and why the same behaviour can mean different things in different people.
The impact of trauma
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), attachment, shame and the nervous system, and how they shape the way people react under stress.
Staying regulated yourself
How staff notice their own stress response and stay calm enough to think, because a dysregulated adult cannot calm a dysregulated person.
De-escalation
Spotting the early signs, the language and body language that bring the temperature down, using space and offering a way out.
Safe physical skills, as a last resort
Where your setting needs them, guiding, escorting and holding skills taught using the +ProActive Building Blocks© framework, with the risks explained.
After an incident
Recording, debriefs, repairing relationships and updating support plans, so that each incident makes the next one less likely.
Our approach: the what, the why and the how
The what: making sense of behaviour
Staff learn to describe behaviour clearly and without judgement, and to see it as communication rather than a personal attack.
The why: the science behind it
Trauma, attachment, shame and the nervous system, explained in plain language and linked to the people your staff support.
The how: putting it into practice
De-escalation, support planning, safe physical skills where needed and debriefs, practised with scenarios from your own setting.
Choose the course for your setting
Children's homes
Foundation (2 days), Practitioner (3 days) and Advanced Practitioner (4 days) courses for residential childcare teams.
Children's homes training →Schools
Whole-staff training for mainstream schools, special schools, SEMH settings and PRUs, built around the April 2026 DfE guidance.
Training for schools →Adult social care
Training for residential and supported living, learning disability and autism services, dementia care and mental health settings.
Adult social care training →Fostering
Training for foster carers and fostering teams supporting children whose behaviour reflects what has happened to them.
Fostering training →Your own in-house trainers
Train the Trainer courses that qualify your staff to deliver the training to colleagues.
Train the Trainer courses →NHS and healthcare
PMVA and healthcare training is delivered through our sister organisation, ProActive Healthcare Group.
ProActive Healthcare Group →What your team gains
- A shared language for talking about behaviour across the team
- Confidence to step in early, before a situation reaches crisis
- Support plans that reflect what each person is communicating
- Debriefs that help the team learn from each incident
- Safe, risk-assessed physical skills where your setting needs them
Questions to ask any training provider
- Is the physical intervention content certified against the RRN Training Standards?
- How much of the course is about understanding behaviour and de-escalation, and how much is physical skills?
- Is the content adapted to the people your staff support, using a Training Needs Analysis?
- Does it cover what happens after an incident: recording, debriefs and repairing relationships?
- Are certificates and refreshers included, or charged per head?
Find out more about BILD Act certification.
What people say about our training
“The result is a more settled start to the day for the staff team and pupils. Clear direction for the team on how to approach analysis of behaviour and troubleshoot proactively rather than reactively. An increase in stability within each team, increased attendance and focus in lessons, better communication and ultimately it has empowered the team and my SLT to take responsibility and ownership. We are only half a term in and the indications are that this is a brilliant process for our school. My team have relished the consistency and space to have these discussions and it has been nothing but a positive drive forwards towards outstanding.”
“Ofsted was very successful, I am very pleased with the judgement. I have always known that we are on a journey that would take five years. So with two years complete, we have made remarkable progress. Once again, thank you for all your help and support. What you've brought to the organisation is what Aristotle would call phronesis: the complicated interplay between theory and practical judgement. Thank you.”
“Everyone left the course feeling inspired and motivated. Thank you, the course was, in my opinion, excellent and I felt that everyone left the course feeling inspired and motivated thinking ‘what can I do better to be a superstar?’. That in itself gives a clear indication of the quality of the material from the course and the way you delivered it.”
“The trainers knowledge and experience are phenomenal. No questions went unanswered. I think anyone who works with any kind of vulnerable adult or child will benefit from this course.”