SERVICES
Justice & Forensic Behaviour Support
From custody to community, without starting over.
People in contact with the justice system often fall through the cracks between services with support that stops at the prison gate, or starts too late to matter. This is made harder by the fact that disability is significantly overrepresented, and under-supported, in the justice system, where people often carry more than one diagnosis alongside trauma histories, unstable housing, and fractured support networks.
Generic behaviour support, built without an understanding of how the justice system actually works, often falls short here.
Somaterra's founder and behaviour support practitioner, Jennifer, has worked directly within custodial and correctional centres across NSW and QLD, as well as with community corrections, police, and the courts. That firsthand experience shapes somaterra's justice and forensic-facing services and framework, built specifically to close this gap.
Behaviour Support & The Justice System
Behaviour support is about understanding why a behaviour is happening, not just managing it. Every behaviour serves a purpose, whether that's communicating an unmet need, responding to distress, or navigating an environment that isn't set up for the person in it. Quality behaviour support isn't just about removing what's unwanted, it's about building something better in its place: new skills, new ways of coping, new options a person didn't have before.
In a justice context, that environment shifts constantly, custody, release, supervision, community, and each shift brings its own pressures and restrictions. Conditions, orders, and requirements that aren't optional.
Good behaviour support works within those boundaries, and builds strategies and options to support the individual.
With that mind, somaterra’s approach follows three stages of the justice pathway, though not everyone moves through all of them. Some people have spent time in custody; others haven't, and are managing a community-based order.
Custody:
Support can begin while someone's still in custody, building a behaviour support plan early, so it's ready to go the moment they're released, rather than starting from nothing. Somaterra can work with an individual within custody, alongside correctional officers, case managers, custodial psychologists and health staff during this stage, so the transition to community is planned for.
Release:
The first weeks out are when support tends to be thinnest, right when it's needed most. Working alongside parole officers, family, and community providers, somaterra can individuals through this period. Housing instability, loss of routine, and re-establishing relationships all tend to collide here, and that's exactly when risky behaviours are most likely to escalate without the right support in place.
Community:
Ongoing support for people managing parole, community corrections orders, probation, or diversion programs, whether or not custody was ever part of their story. Somaterra can work alongside corrections and parole officers to deliver quality behaviour support.
A 6-MONTH POSITIVE SUPPORT FRAMEWORK
Custody to Community Pathway
For adults navigating the transition out of custody specifically, somaterra offers a more structured framework.
Who this is for:
This work is for individuals in contact with the criminal justice or forensic system and the services around them. I've worked with people managing complex and high-risk behaviours, offending histories, and a range of disabilities and impairments, including:
Acquired brain injury (ABI)
Intellectual disability
Psychosocial disability
Cognitive impairment and dual diagnosis presentations
Whatever someone's history or diagnosis, the approach is the same: understanding the person, the function behind their behaviour and expanding their quality of life, not just managing risk.
If you work with someone in custody, approaching release, or navigating community corrections or a community-based order, or if this is you, and you're looking for support that actually understands this system, get in touch.