A plain guide to becoming an NDIS behaviour support practitioner in Australia, written from our own experience of helping new practitioners through the application. When you join our team, we help you with every step.
A behaviour support practitioner works with a person with disability, and the people around them, to understand what their behaviour is communicating and to build a plan that helps them live a fuller life. The work includes functional behaviour assessments, behaviour support plans, training the people who support the person, and reducing and removing restrictive practices over time.
Under the NDIS, you can only do this work once the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has considered you suitable to be an NDIS behaviour support practitioner. Until then, you cannot complete behaviour support assessments or write behaviour support plans, even under supervision. You also need to be engaged by a registered NDIS provider, like us, or be registered yourself.
The Commission assesses suitability against the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework. It has seven domains of practice and four levels: core, proficient, advanced and specialist. Most people begin at the core level and build up from there with supervision and experience.
Behaviour support practitioners come from many backgrounds, including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech pathology, nursing and teaching. We take a lot of care over who joins us, because families are trusting us with someone they love. When we welcome a new practitioner to Richer Support, we look for:
A degree in psychology or a closely related health field. Our practitioners hold qualifications in psychology, including honours and a PhD, as well as social work, nursing, counselling and teaching, and several are completing honours or master's study alongside their practice.
Real experience supporting people with disability. You understand what it is like to work alongside someone and their family, day to day.
A commitment to safe, evidence-based practice. You want to understand why things work, and you are happy to keep learning.
Warmth and plain communication. You listen as much as you speak, and you value co-design because the person and the people who know them best have the most to teach us.
We meet every applicant ourselves, and we sight their qualifications, NDIS Worker Screening clearance and insurance before they start.
Being found suitable by the NDIS Commission is only the first step. This is how we make sure every practitioner is ready for the people they work with, and keeps growing once they are.
The weeks waiting for a suitability decision are put to good use. Every new practitioner completes Monash University's Engaging in Positive Behaviour Support Practices, three modules on functional behaviour assessment, behaviour support planning and reducing restrictive practices, and starts working through our internal library of evidence-based resources.
Every practitioner has clinical supervision every week, whatever their level, and often more than once a week while they are building their caseload. Supervision comes from practitioners at proficient level or above, and clinical direction comes from our director, a registered psychologist and Specialist / Advanced level behaviour support practitioner.
Before a behaviour support plan goes out, it is checked against the PBSP-QA, a published plan quality tool developed at The University of Queensland.
Every plan goes to the person, their family and their support team as a draft first, so the people who know them best can comment before it is finalised.
Each practitioner has a professional development plan reviewed against the Capability Framework, and a $1,000 professional development allowance every calendar year.
In our first four years, no practitioner chose to leave us. For families, that means the person who gets to know you is likely to still be there.
If you are a family member reading this
Every practitioner you meet through us has been found suitable by the NDIS Commission, has completed the Monash course, and talks through their work with a senior practitioner every week. You also get to choose. We share each practitioner's qualifications and experience openly, and you can meet them before you decide. You can meet the team, or read how we are checked, including the results of our independent audits.
Behaviour support uses everything you trained for. You assess, you form a hypothesis about what is going on for a person, you test it with them and the people around them, and you turn it into a plan that changes everyday life. Much of the work involves overlapping needs, such as acquired brain injury, intellectual disability, autism, mental health and trauma, so clinical thinking matters every day.
Richer Support is psychologist-led. Our director is a registered psychologist with clinical neuropsychology training, a Specialist / Advanced level behaviour support practitioner, and a member of the Behaviour Support Practitioners Australia Expert Reference Group. Whether you are a registered or provisional psychologist, or finishing honours or a master's, you will work alongside psychologists, social workers and nurses, with supervision built around your own goals.
The NDIS Commission has two pathways. The right one depends on how much behaviour support experience you already have.
For practitioners new to behaviour support
For practitioners with behaviour support experience
A tip from our experience. If you are new to behaviour support, the new entry-level pathway is usually the right one. The "portfolio of evidence" in the self-assessment pathway means examples of your own behaviour support practice, not related experience from other roles. A new practitioner who applies through self-assessment can end up with a request for more information, and the application takes longer.
You need a supervisor who is an NDIS behaviour support practitioner at proficient level or above, and a registered NDIS provider to work with. Joining a registered practice gives you both.
Your application needs a valid NDIS Worker Screening clearance number. Applying for it early saves waiting later.
For the new entry-level pathway, that means your resume, certified copies of your qualifications, a professional development plan, a supervision agreement and the declaration form. The Commission's Self-assessment Resource Guide has templates for the development plan and the supervision agreement.
On the new entry-level pathway, choose "alternative assessment" in the Assessment tab. Upload every document and check your screening number is included, because missing information is the most common cause of delay.
The Commission may ask for more information or examples of your work. Please reply within the time they give, because if they do not hear back, the outcome is "unable to make a decision".
The Commission aims to process most applications within 4 to 6 weeks. If you are found suitable, your outcome letter is in the Registered NDIS Providers portal, and you can also see your status in your practitioner profile.
We have helped new practitioners through this process, and we know it can feel like a lot of paperwork before you have even started. When you join Richer Support, you do not do it on your own.
We sit down with you to write your professional development plan and supervision agreement, so they reflect where you are now and where you want to grow.
We help you choose the right pathway, check your documents before you submit, and help you answer any request for more information from the Commission.
Richer Support is a registered NDIS provider (4050101617), so once you are found suitable you can start working with the people we support, with your supervisor alongside you.
Your supervised work becomes the portfolio of evidence you need when your suitability is reconsidered, and we help you prepare your self-assessment when the time comes.
Your supervision agreement is with an experienced practitioner at proficient level or above, as the Commission requires, so it is ready to go in with your application.
No. The NDIS Commission assesses your suitability against the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework, and practitioners come from psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech pathology, teaching and disability support. At Richer Support we look for a tertiary qualification in an allied health field, such as psychology, social work or counselling, and experience supporting a person with a disability.
Yes, and psychology is one of the most common backgrounds. Being a registered or provisional psychologist does not on its own make you an NDIS behaviour support practitioner, so you still apply to the NDIS Commission to be found suitable, using whichever pathway fits your behaviour support experience. Your skills in assessment, formulation and working with families carry straight across into the work.
There is no single course that makes you a behaviour support practitioner. The NDIS Commission decides suitability by assessing you against the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework. Short courses still build important knowledge. Everyone who joins Richer Support completes Monash University's Engaging in Positive Behaviour Support Practices, which covers functional behaviour assessment, behaviour support planning and reducing restrictive practices.
No. Until the NDIS Commission considers you suitable, you cannot complete behaviour support assessments, including functional behaviour assessments, or write behaviour support plans, even under supervision. At Richer Support, that waiting time is when new practitioners complete the Monash course and start working through our learning library.
The NDIS Commission aims to process most applications within 4 to 6 weeks. It can take longer if they ask for more information, so it helps to upload every document, and your NDIS Worker Screening clearance number, the first time.
The Commission sets a date, usually within 12 months, when your suitability is reconsidered. By then you complete the self-assessment against the Capability Framework, with your supervisor's endorsement and the portfolio of evidence you have built up through your supervised work.
It is harder as a new practitioner. The Commission may find a new entry-level applicant not suitable if they intend to work as a sole trader, or as key personnel of a behaviour support provider, without employing a proficient level practitioner with 2 years' experience to oversee their work. Most new practitioners start within a registered practice, with supervision built in.
No. Suitability is about you as a practitioner. To deliver behaviour support under the NDIS you also need to be engaged by a registered NDIS provider for specialist behaviour support, or be registered yourself.
This guide is based on the NDIS Commission's guidance as at October 2026. Requirements can change, so please check the Commission's page Apply to become an NDIS behaviour support practitioner before you apply. Questions about your own application can go to ndispractitioners@ndiscommission.gov.au.
We would love to hear from you, whether you are already practising or just starting out. Send us your CV and a short note about what brings you to behaviour support, and we will talk you through how we can help you apply. You can also read more about working with us on our careers page.
contact@richersupport.com