Teaching skills in managing behaviour
Contents
- Introduction
- What causes challenging behaviour?
- How can I promote positive behaviour in my section?
- How should I respond to challenging behaviour?
- How can I discuss behaviour with the parent or carer?
- How should I respond to arguments or disputes between young people?
- Teaching skills in managing behaviour
- Some questions and thoughts to think about in terms of the leadership team
- Sources of support
- Further Information
Teaching skills in managing behaviour
Below are some suggested techniques that you could support young people to use in managing their behaviour, particularly when they are feeling angry, and in turn, enable them to make positive choices. Young people may also need support in recognising their own emotions and understanding the feelings/perspectives of others.
The techniques which are appropriate will depend on the individual young person and their age/maturity, and their preferences. They may also have their own ideas about what helps them to be happy and calm.
- Walk away – distract yourself by doing something else.
- Count to ten.
- Breathe deeply and slowly, for the same time in as out. (It might be helpful to count in your head, like ‘in, 2, 3, out, 2, 3’).
- Focus on relaxing your muscles.
- Use a stress ball.
- Pick a catch-phrase that you can say to yourself (like ‘chill out’).
- Pretend to be or think about being somewhere else, where you feel happy and calm.
- Hide behind an imaginary shield.
- Pretend you are a turtle and hide inside your shell, until you feel a bit calmer.
- Write down or draw how you feel, and why. Then destroy it or talk to someone about it.
- Anything else that works (without harming yourself or others).