Vanessa Miller
Vanessa is a Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner and Social Worker with over thirty years of experience across the disability, mental health, child protection, juvenile and adult justice, and forensic sectors. Specialist behaviour support is at the centre of her practice — the lens through which she understands behaviour, reduces restrictive practices, and builds safer, more enabling environments. She works across the lifespan, supporting individuals with complex disability, dual diagnoses, trauma backgrounds, and mental health needs across community and NDIS settings.
Her practice is grounded in evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and rights-based approaches that prioritise dignity, safety, and meaningful quality of life outcomes. As a specialist behaviour support practitioner, Vanessa conducts Functional Behaviour Assessments, develops and implements evidence-based Behaviour Support Plans, and leads restrictive practice reduction. She has extensive experience navigating high-complexity environments and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, families, guardians, Child Protection, education, mental health services, psychiatrists, GPs, and safeguarding bodies.
At the heart of Vanessa's practice is the psychological concept of agency — the capacity of a person to influence their own functioning and the course of events in their environment, and the lived experience of initiating, executing, and controlling their own actions. For many people living with impairment or a disability diagnosis, that capacity is not diminished by a lack of will, but by a lack of accessible ways to communicate. When a person cannot readily express what they need, want, or feel, those needs are often communicated through behaviour rather than words. Vanessa understands that so-called challenging behaviour is rarely random — it is communication, and frequently a person's attempt to exercise agency in an environment that limits it.
Rather than seeking to control or suppress behaviour, she works to close that communication gap: identifying the function behind the behaviour, introducing the mechanisms and supports a person needs to communicate effectively — from communication aids to new skills — and shaping the environments and routines around them so those messages can be recognised, understood, and responded to. In practical terms, this shapes every assessment, plan, and intervention she delivers — each one designed to expand genuine choice and control, reduce restrictive practices, and build the conditions in which a person's voice is heard and their agency can be exercised safely and fully.
Areas of Expertise
- Functional Behaviour Assessment
- Positive Behaviour Support planning and implementation
- Restrictive practice reduction
- Trauma-informed and sensory-informed practice
- Mental health and complex behaviour support
- Dual diagnosis (mental health, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, forensic disability)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and neurodevelopmental conditions
- Risk assessment and behaviour management
- Capacity building and family support
- Culturally responsive and neurodiversity-affirming practice
- Clinical Supervision
Therapeutic Approach
Known for her warm, honest, and collaborative style, Vanessa adapts her practice to the unique needs of each individual. She integrates Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), DBT-informed strategies, mindfulness-based approaches, Motivational Interviewing, Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), and Positive Behaviour Support principles. Her practice is grounded in curiosity, compassion, and respect for autonomy, with a strong focus on choice, inclusion, and long-term wellbeing. Above all, she works to build the agency of the people she supports — strengthening their capacity to exercise genuine choice and control over their own lives.
Areas Covered
Based in South Australia — Adelaide and surrounding areas, including the Hills, Murray Bridge, and south to Victor Harbor, the Limestone Coast, and the Riverland, soon to include the Upper Spencer Gulf Coast. While based in South Australia, Vanessa provides services nationwide, offering both face-to-face and Telehealth appointments.
