In short: reframing is separating what a person actually did from the label a team has put on it. Change the frame you carry in your head and pass to the next worker, never the accuracy of the record.
Recognise & Reframe means
See past deficit labels/assumptions to what's actually happening; correct an unhelpful frame.
What it looks like on shift
- You hear a handover describe somebody as difficult, and you go in without that word in your head.
- A behaviour written up as attention seeking turns out to be the only reliable way that person has of saying they are in pain.
- You notice you have started using a word about someone that you would not use in front of them.
What it looks like when it slips
- Inheriting a frame from a handover and then only seeing the evidence that fits it.
- Treating a diagnosis as an explanation for everything a person does.
- Describing what somebody cannot do when what changed is what you offered them.
One thing worth knowing about these words
Difficult, non-compliant, aggressive, attention seeking. These words do not get applied evenly. Whether somebody picks one up can have as much to do with how they communicate, and with who was writing the note that day, as with anything they actually did. That is not a comment on any individual worker. It is a pattern in the paperwork, and once a word is in there it follows a person from service to service.
Which makes it worth asking, when you inherit one of these words, who wrote it down first and what they actually saw that day.
Three things to try on your next shift
- When you catch a label in a handover, ask what actually happened. “What did that look like?” turns a judgement back into an observation.
- Try saying the sentence with the person in the room. If you would not, it is probably a frame rather than a fact.
- Swap one deficit word for a description this week. Not “aggressive” but “raised his voice and walked out”. It changes how the next person reads the note before they have even met them.
Where reframing stops
Reframing is about the words you carry in your head and the words you pass to the next worker. It is not licence to soften a record. If somebody declined their medication, that gets recorded as what it was, because a nurse or a prescriber may be relying on that word meaning one specific thing. Change the frame, not the accuracy.
And if what is actually sitting behind the label is pain, an injury, or somebody being hurt by another person, that is not a reframe. That goes up.
Where this is covered properly
What Is Behaviour of Concern? A Guide for Support Workers covers what sits underneath a behaviour, why the label rarely explains it, and what to do with what you work out.
Common questions about recognising and reframing labels
What does reframing mean in disability support?
Seeing past a deficit label to what is actually happening. Words like difficult, non-compliant and attention seeking describe somebody else's frustration more often than they describe a person, and they get passed down a team until nobody questions them.
What is wrong with describing someone as attention seeking?
It closes the question. A behaviour written up as attention seeking can turn out to be the only reliable way that person has of saying they are in pain. The label is then inherited by the next worker, who notices the evidence that fits it and misses the rest.
How do you challenge a label you inherited at handover?
Ask what actually happened. "What did that look like?" turns a judgement back into an observation. It is also worth asking who wrote the word down first and what they saw that day, because once a word is in the paperwork it follows a person from service to service.
Is reframing the same as softening a record?
No, and this is where it goes wrong. If somebody declined their medication, that gets recorded as what it was, because a nurse or a prescriber may be relying on that word meaning one specific thing. Change the frame, not the accuracy. And if what sits behind the label is pain, an injury, or somebody being hurt, that goes up rather than gets reframed.
More in Reads the person and the moment:
- Read the RoomClock the real emotional/behavioural signal under the surface and respond to that.
- Spot the ChangeNotice shifts in health, mood or behaviour early.