A definition of Challenging Behaviour: "any behaviour which negatively effects both the 'perpetrator' and those around them to a significant and frequent degree."

Challenging behaviour is, as the term suggests, difficult and sometimes distressing for both care staff, clients and the person who is presenting the challenging behaviour itself. This 1-day course is aimed at housing and social care workers faced with a variety of challenging behaviours in residential and supported community care.

Starting with the important premise that human beings are rarely aggressive or destructive without a root cause, participants will be faced with a variety of realistic case studies and audio-visual material from which they will be asked to identify antecedents, develop supportive and safe strategies and work collaboratively with other agencies such as mental health services or the police. We use the Challenging Behaviour Toolkit to identify patterns of anti-social behaviour, and plan approaches and activities which, with skill and perseverance, have the potential to effect lasting change with challenging clients.