Understanding Why Behaviours Escalate: Responding in the Moment

Facilitated by Rarni Rothwell

Working in OSHC, educators are increasingly encountering complex, escalated behaviours from children and young people — often without the understanding, training or support structures needed to respond and process these events effectively. These behaviours, while deeply challenging, frequently represent a child's best attempt at coping, connecting, or communicating distress — particularly for those carrying unresolved trauma due to their lived experiences. Importantly, they also evolue in a somewhat predictable way and this escalation cycle offers important insights that educators can tap into when things have seemly gotten out of control.

Building on the information in our In-Depth Behavour Series, this training helps educators reframe the chaos, see the patterns as to why behaviours are occuring occur, and focus on what to actually do — in the moment, when things escalate. Rooted in evidence-based research and trauma-informed practice, thi…