Documentation Verses Daily Life

A new support worker once admitted to me, almost in a whisper:

“I’m supposed to track data every 15 minutes, but it leaves no time to actually be with her. I feel like I’m ticking boxes instead of supporting her.”

On paper, the requirement made sense. Data is important. It helps us understand patterns, measure change, and demonstrate that strategies are working. But in practice, it was pulling this worker away from what really mattered, being present with the person she was supporting.

The easy response would have been: “That’s the requirement. Just get it done.”

And technically, that would have been correct. The NDIS wants evidence.

Compliance does matter.

But when compliance gets in the way of connection, something’s gone wrong.
Instead, we made a shift. We redesigned the data collection so it could be done less often, in simpler ways, without interrupting the flow of support.

The information was still there when we needed it. But the participant gained something far more important: presence, attention, and dignity. She no longer felt like a case study under observation. She felt like a person being supported.

This is the balance we often forget in Positive Behaviour Support. Data is supposed to serve people, not the other way around. The numbers should help us build better lives, not take us out of them.

Good Behaviour Support Plans never make staff choose between paperwork and people.

They find the middle ground where compliance and humanity can co-exist. Because in the end, the most powerful evidence of good practice isn’t in a spreadsheet.

It’s in the relationships we build, the trust we earn, and the lives that quietly improve because we put the person before the paperwork.