The Rupanyup woman is one of the first people to graduate from Monash University's Master of Education in Applied Behaviour Analysis, Australia's first and only course in the specialised field.

To her knowledge, she is the only behaviour analyst between Adelaide and Bendigo.

Tully has a background in teaching, early intervention, children's services and child protection.

Her research into using Applied Behaviour Analysis as an intervention to change problematic and complex parenting behaviours within child protection contexts is an Australian-first.

"ABA has historically been used as an intervention for those diagnosed with autism, behaviour modification in the prison system, with children, and in education," she said.

"Applied Behaviour Analysis is a unique area where professionals focus completely on changing behaviours. It has been around for 30 years or so. It has been successful in the United States, and is used in the United Kingdom as well.

"Behaviour analysts don't speculate beyond the data. We don't look for mental disorders or explanations that cannot be observed, counted or measured. We stick to observables.

"My goal is to improve outcomes for families. An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released in March showed more than 70 per cent of children who received child protection services were repeat clients. That shows something's not working."

Tully's interest in behaviour analysis sparked when she was completing post-graduate studies in psychology, and came across an elective on behaviour modification.

"I could see the potential for science and evidence-based methods to support and improve individual's lives in both challenging and everyday circumstances, and changed direction towards specialising as a behaviour analyst," she said.

"I've been working with children in different roles for quite a few years. I've seen children in different contexts being exposed to environmental stimulus and impacts. We talk about the child being part of a family and a larger community, but then we say the child is responsible for their own behaviour. It's a bit of an oxymoron in a way.

"Coming from a child protection background, I saw children in environments that were dramatically affecting their outcomes in terms of long-term well-being. We've got all these conflicting things - there's what we know should be happening, and what actually is happening. And then we wonder why we're getting the outcomes we are. It seems pretty straightforward to me.

"It popped up that Monash was offering a course in ABA, and I knew that was where I wanted to go. The more I learned, the more I saw there was an opportunity there to take ABA into areas it's not traditionally known for.

"Across my years of working in child protection, teaching, early childhood and early intervention, I've never seen a more thorough, comprehensive and effective way of supporting people to improve their lives."

Tully, who has a private part-time practice in the Wimmera, is working towards achieving international certification as a behaviour analyst.

"This involves completing 1500 hours under supervision from a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst. That person is based in Sydney. I'm nearly three quarters of the way through that," she said.

"Then I have to sit an exam, which is based in the United States. I'm hoping to do that before the end of the year."

Tully believes there are people working in other areas within the Wimmera who have the skills to adapt the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis to their professions.

"There will be people out there who say you can't change certain behaviours. I don't have that belief. I think that means we just haven't found the right tools and we might not have the funding, the services available and the structures in place to change it," she said. 

"That's probably especially relevant for people in regional and rural areas where we have limited services. Then that responsibility is pushed on to other people, for example teachers. They are trying to be a psychologist, a counsellor, a therapist - they're trying to do everything, when they should be able to focus on teaching.

"It happens particularly in rural towns that pressure is put on the services that are there to take on everything."

As well as working towards research in applying the benefits of Applied Behaviour Analysis to criminal behaviours, Tully also plans to explore workplace behaviours, and behaviours causing self-harm.

She also hopes to complete further studies specialising in forensics.

"All behaviours serve a purpose and have a function. A person might be seeking something tangible like food or a toy, or seeking to escape or avoid a situation. Understanding the function is a key to changing behaviour," she said.

"Too often the function is completely ignored and professionals head straight towards punishment.

"Punishment can be very unsuccessful in changing behaviour. If punishment were successful, we wouldn't have recidivism with criminal behaviour. If the goal is to truly change the behaviour or stop it, then we have to think differently about how and why to do that, and start using science and evidence.

"We can be the change we want to see, and support individuals to bring lasting and effective change to their lives."

Tully said people could find out more about her work by visiting the Sparks Behaviour Change Consulting Facebook page.