About us
Behaviour Support and Training uses a Positive Behaviour Support framework so that we can understand the meaning of a person’s challenging behaviour and identify strategies to more safely and acceptably meet their needs. We are committed to working collaboratively towards achieving the goals of our clients.
Following our training to become Psychologists, our Directors completed further training with the Institute of Applied Behaviour Analysis. We hold full registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), are Board-approved supervisors for Psychologists, and are approved providers under the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Medicare. We have also presented at National Conferences and seminars regarding Behaviour Support practices, and our clinical work in this area.
Sam McGowan
Psychologist / Director
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It is a great day when I can assist someone to pursue their own goals, however incremental the steps towards change might be. I have 22 years experience working with people with disabilities who have challenging behaviour. Learning about my clients and their families and carers is tremendously satisfying.
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I take particular interest in treatment integrity. That is, is an intervention being delivered the way it was agreed? I have observed during my career that many clients are subject to repeated assessment and intervention planning, sometimes with little evidence of the interventions being implemented. I am thus keen to assist organisations to develop practices that ensure optimal integrity of intervention.
I continue to participate in the reform agenda regarding restrictive practices, which has given me experience presenting my work to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Public Guardian, and direct service providers. In 2011 I won the Minister for Disability Services Innovation Award. I have been a guest presenter to university classes. In November 2017 my work was published in the International Journal of Positive Behaviour Support. I am eager to continue to lead research in behavioural intervention.
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I am also a wife, mum, and netball enthusiast.
Nicole Lahey
Psychologist / Director
I am driven to reduce the stigma associated with challenging behaviour use through working collaboratively to better understand and more effectively meet a client’s behavioural needs. I strive to improve a family's or team's capacity to support the person with a disability to have a fulfilling quality of life, as everyone should. Focal to this, is approaching each client as an individual with their own unique strengths, and utilising practical, evidence-based strategies to ensure movement towards achieving their goals.
I have 21 years experience working with people with disabilities, including 10 years as Team Leader of an Evolve Behaviour Support Service working with children for whom trauma and disability intersect. The impact of trauma and abuse on the lives of young people are widespread, and have implications for service delivery and support. Providing clinical support for children in care is crucial to increasing the efficacy of both therapy and behaviour support for the individual. This is where my passion lies.
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When I'm not at work, I am a proud mother of two children, and enjoy spending time with family and friends, keeping fit, and travelling.
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Kat Williams
Behaviour Support Practitioner
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What Kat loves most about her work is the opportunity each day to use a person-centred, strengths-based approach that prioritises enhancing quality of life. What this means to her is tailoring her care as a practitioner to the individual needs of each person she supports, championing their interests and strengths, and focusing on improving their wellbeing beyond just reducing behaviours of harm and concern.
She enjoys being highly collaborative with the stakeholders and staff teams she works with and loves when staff (e.g., support workers, teachers) and parents can see their own ideas and input valued and woven into the behaviour support plans she writes.
Kat holds a Bachelor of Psychological Science from the University of New England and the Vice Chancellor’s Scholar Award for academic excellence. In her spare time she likes cooking, gardening, and giving herself grace for not being super proficient at her hobbies.
Alicia McLachlan
Senior Behaviour Support Practitioner
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As a Social Worker, Systems Theory drives my practice by enabling me to look at the different components and interactions within the client's life that help or hinder them to achieve their identified quality of life goals and to respond adaptively to challenging situations. I also integrate neuroscience into how we understand behaviour as well as the impacts of trauma and the importance of creating a sense of safety and co-regulation especially when engaging with clients whose threat response has been activated.
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I am passionate about co-designing my intervention plans with the input and ideas from the clients and their support people. My goal is to ensure that the clients know what to expect from their support people and that any engagement is as predictable and proactively enacted where possible.
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When I am not working, I can be found spending time with my two girls, running, and trying each year to achieve my goal of reading 52 books.