Allied health
Active Support for Support Workers
A quick-reference guide to Active Support: five core ideas for helping the people you support be genuinely engaged in everyday life, plus a self-reflection checklist for your own practice.
- Step 1: Read through each of the five elements - tap to expand it.
- Step 2: Look at the 'In practice' examples for practical ways to apply each one.
- Step 3: Use the self-reflection checklist at the end of a shift, then tap 'Start a new shift' to clear the ticks for next time.
- Step 4: Note down small opportunities that suit the specific person you support.
- Step 5: Print this page to keep as a quick-reference guide.
This tool is designed to help with everyday communication and support - it isn't medical or clinical advice and doesn't replace guidance from a qualified professional. Read the full disclaimer.
What is Active Support?
Active Support is a way of supporting people with intellectual disability to be genuinely engaged and included in everyday life - in the small, ordinary moments as much as the planned activities. It's about how support is given, moment to moment, not just what's on the activity plan.
Why it matters: people supported this way tend to spend more of their day meaningfully engaged and doing things for themselves, and services that practise it consistently tend to see less challenging behaviour - not because behaviour is being managed directly, but because there's simply less boredom and passivity for it to come from.
This page is a plain-language introduction to the five core ideas behind it, for quick reference and reflection. It's not a substitute for accredited training - see the free training callout below for where to find that.
Free training available. La Trobe University's Living with Disability Research Centre and Greystanes Disability Services publish a free, self-paced Active Support training course - eight modules with videos and interactive activities, no registration required. Start the free training at everymomenthaspotential.com.au.
1. Every moment has potential
Every part of the day - not just planned activities - is a chance for someone to participate, make a choice, or do something for themselves. Getting dressed, making a coffee, folding washing or waiting for a bus can all be opportunities, not just tasks to get through.
In practice:
- Notice the small moments in a routine, not just the 'big' activities
- Ask 'what could this person do here?' before doing it for them
- Turn waiting time or transitions into a small opportunity, not dead time
What this looks like for this person
What are the signs this person is ready for an opportunity, and what does meaningful engagement actually look like for them?
2. Little and often
Frequent, brief opportunities to participate build more skill, confidence and engagement than occasional, lengthy ones. A short go at stirring the pot most days beats one long cooking lesson once a month.
In practice:
- Offer small opportunities throughout the day, not just at 'activity time'
- Keep individual opportunities short if that suits the person - little and often, not all at once
- Look for the same task coming up again tomorrow, and offer it again
What this looks like for this person
How long or how often does this person tend to engage well, before it's time to step back?
3. Graded assistance
Give the least amount of help that lets the person succeed - no more, no less. Start with the lightest support (like being nearby, or a gesture) and only step up to more (a verbal prompt, a demonstration, hand-over-hand help) if it's genuinely needed.
In practice:
- Try presence or a gesture before a verbal prompt
- Try a verbal prompt before physical help
- Step back in as soon as the person can continue on their own again
- Avoid doing the whole task because it's faster - the goal is participation, not speed
What this looks like for this person
What's the lightest kind of help that actually works for this person, and what does too much help look like?
4. Maximising choice and control
Build real choices into activities, not just 'what to do' but how, when, and in what order - and respect the choice to not participate in something, too.
In practice:
- Offer options rather than a single instruction ('Would you like to start with the cups or the plates?')
- Ask, don't assume - check preferences even for routine tasks
- Respect 'no' as a valid answer, and revisit later rather than pushing through
What this looks like for this person
How does this person actually show a choice, or show 'no' - especially if it isn't always in words?
5. Positive relationships
Support is delivered warmly and respectfully - through genuine interaction and relationship, not just task completion. How something is done matters as much as what gets done.
In practice:
- Chat, joke, and connect while supporting a task, not just direct it
- Notice and acknowledge effort and success, not just the end result
- Treat the person as a person first, and the task second
What this looks like for this person
What helps this person feel genuinely connected to, rather than just 'managed' by, whoever is supporting them?
Common pitfalls
A few ways Active Support tends to slip in practice, even with good intentions:
- Doing it for them because it's faster. Task completion isn't the goal - participation is, even if it takes longer.
- Treating it as one big weekly activity rather than lots of small moments spread through the day. Little and often beats occasional and lengthy.
- Offering a choice, then overriding it if the person picks something inconvenient. A choice only counts if "no" or "something else" is a real option.
- Confusing it with "no support at all." It's not hands-off - it's giving the least help needed for the person to succeed, which can still mean a lot of support for some tasks.
Self-reflection
A quick check-in at the end of a shift - tick what applied today
Ideas for this person
Small, everyday opportunities that suit the specific person you support
Active Support is researched and championed in Australia by La Trobe University's Living with Disability Research Centre, building on work originally developed in the UK. This page is a general summary for everyday reference, not accredited training - see the free training link near the top of this page for the full course.