How This Book Was Born: The Story Behind Targeting the Positive
I didn’t set out to write a book. I set out to understand people.
More than 25 years ago, a traumatic experience triggered a fascination with human behaviour that would eventually lead me to where I am now: the founder of a training company, a coach, and the author of Targeting the Positive: Positive, Empathic Approaches to Manage Behaviours that Challenge.
This book is the culmination of decades of curiosity, learning, and frontline experience. And I wanted to share a bit about how it came to be, and why I believe it can make a real difference.
Where It Started
When I was 16, I was robbed at knifepoint. But what happened after surprised me more than the incident itself. I didn’t feel overwhelming fear — I felt an urgent need to understand. Why did I react the way I did? Why did he act the way he did? What made someone lash out like that?
That moment was the start of my lifelong exploration into behaviour — not just what people do, but why they do it.
In the years that followed, I worked across multiple sectors — from hospitality and retail to social care, education, and health. And regardless of the setting, I saw the same patterns: behaviours that challenged the people around them were often misunderstood, mishandled, or punished.
And too often, the emotional toll fell on both the individual and the caregiver.
Why I Wrote It
In 2014, I started Able Training — a company focused on helping people understand behaviour, build resilience, and improve outcomes across care and education. We trained staff in schools, care homes, foster care, retail, security, and more.
We’d regularly receive calls from organisations saying, “We’ve got this really difficult person,” or “Our staff don’t know how to handle these behaviours.”
Different settings, different people. But the same question — how do we manage behaviour better?
Over time, I realised I was building a set of consistent, practical principles — a model that brought together everything I’d learned from psychology, trauma-informed care, positive behaviour support, therapeutic parenting, and more.
That’s when the ABLE Target System® and the 6-Stage Target Model were born.
This book exists to share that system — not as a checklist, but as a mindset. It’s a practical toolkit for anyone who wants to move away from “What’s wrong with them?” and toward “What’s happening for them?”
What I Hope Readers Take Away
This book isn’t about controlling people or “fixing” them. It’s about connection.
It’s about recognising that behaviour is communication — and that behind every behaviour that challenges is a person trying to cope, express, or survive.
I hope readers walk away with:
- A better understanding of behaviour
- More empathy for themselves and the people they support
- Practical tools for managing difficult moments
- And a renewed sense of confidence and clarity in their roles
Because when caregivers feel competent, supported and empowered — it changes everything.
I also hope this book challenges some old thinking. Many of us were raised with the belief that behaviour should be managed through punishment or reward. But as I explore in the book, that “old logic” approach often doesn’t serve us — especially when we’re supporting individuals who have experienced trauma, who are neurodiverse, or who have unmet emotional needs.
We need a “new logic” — one built on empathy, understanding, and proactive support.
One More Thing…
This book is also about you — the caregiver, the teacher, the parent, the support worker.
Too often, we focus only on the person we’re supporting. But your wellbeing matters too. In fact, it’s central.
You can’t support others well if you’re burnt out, unsupported, or unclear. So Targeting the Positive also explores how our environments, attitudes, and responses shape outcomes — not just for individuals, but for whole teams and organisations.
I don’t claim to be an expert. I’m a student of behaviour, always learning, always listening. This book is a collection of insights I’ve picked up along the way — from researchers, thinkers, frontline staff, parents, children, carers, and countless individuals whose behaviour challenged the systems around them. I hope this book helps you. And I hope you’ll pass that help on.
Targeting the Positive with Behaviours that Challenge is available now in paperback or ebook.