Bob Bowen is a behavioral consultant and trainer with Prag Consulting in Melbourne, Australia. He has over 40 years of experience supporting individuals with complex behavioral needs in the United States, Canada, and Australia. He has provided keynote and plenary presentations at conferences in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States. Bob is the developer of The Matrix of Needs, an innovative approach to understanding human needs. he has published over 20 peer and scientifically reviewed articles, three book chapters, and presented hundreds of workshops on the prevention of workplace violence, while improving the quality of life for people affected by disabilities, and the staff who support them.
During his career in human services, Bob has held positions ranging from direct support professional to CEO and almost everything in between. He has also served as an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester in New York for eleven years, and also has experience teaching at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio, and at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa. Additionally, Bob was a field placement supervisor for the Malone University Department of Social Work in Canton, Ohio, and is currently a member of the Department of Social Work Community Advisory Board at Malone.
Bob is a member of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability, the Restraint Reduction Network in the United Kingdom, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Organization of Human Services, the Association for Positive Behaviour Support, and the National Association of Qualified Intellectual Disability Professionals. Bob is certified in trauma treatment through the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, and the Trauma Research Foundation.
Below is a brief listing of some of his publications:
Partial Listing of Publications for Bob Bowen
Bowen, B. and Bowen, E. (2022) Moving Away from Coercion: Social Justice and Behavior Change in Disability Services. Health, 14, 194-203. doi: 10.4236/health.2022.142014
Bowen, B (2021). The Matrix of Needs: A new way to understand and respond to needs. Human Services Today, 2(3): 34-35,
Bowen, B (2021). The myth of attention-seeking behavior: Supporting health and wellness in people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disabilities. Health, 13(12):1452-1459. doi: 10.4236/health.2021.1312103.
Bowen, B (2021). Hope and despair: The healing power of listening. Health, 13(5): 591-599. doi: 10.4236/health.2021.135044
Bowen, B. (2021). The Matrix of Needs: Reframing Maslow’s Hierarchy. Health, 13(5), 538-563. doi: 10.4236/health.2021.135041.
Bowen, B (2021). Hopelessness and hope in human services, Human Services Today, 2(2): 20-21.
Bowen, B (2017). The positive practice of safety: Reductions in workplace violence through increases in safety and security at organisational and interpersonal levels. Routledge International Handbook on Forensic Psychology in Secure Settings, Jane L. Ireland, Carol A. Ireland, Neil Gredecki & Martin Fisher, Ed. New York, NY: Routledge
Bowen, B (2016). Creating and sustaining cultures of care: Minimizing aggression by maximizing safety related behaviors. Ian Needham, Kevin McKenna, Odile Frank & Nico Oud (Eds) Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Violence in the Health Care Sector, 268-271. Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah.
Privitera MR, Bowie V & Bowen B (2015). Translational Models of Workplace Violence in Healthcare, Violence and Victims, (30)2, 293-307. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-13-00119
Bowen, B (2015). Risk, gain, liability and hope: Integrating and training family members in the treatment planning and implementation process when aggression history is present. In Patrick Callaghan, Nico Oud, Johan Hakon Bjorngaard, Henk Nijman, Tom Palmstierna & Joy Duxbury (Eds), the Proceedings of the Ninth European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, (pp 249-251). Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah.
Bowen, B & Kemp, S (2014). Replacing Restraint: Good Practices in North America Human Service Programmes for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism, in A Human Rights Perspective to Reducing Restraint Practices, Sam Karim (Ed): BILD
Bowen B, Geels T & Bowie, V (2013). Creating Safety: How Risk Management Leads to Aversive Decisions. Intellectual Disability Australiasia, 33(3): 3-6.
Bowen, B & Risser, P (2013). Strengthening the pavement of good intentions: Ethical and legal implications of restraint and seclusion strategies. In Patrick Callaghan, Nico Oud, Johan Hakon Bjorngaard, Henk Nijman, Tom Palmstierna, Roger Almvik & Bart Thomas (Eds), the Proceedings of the Eighth European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, (pp122-125). Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah.
Bowen B, Privitera MR, & Bowie V. (2011). Reducing Workplace Violence by Creating Healthy Workplace Environments, Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research, 3(4) 185-198, October 2011, https://doi.org/10.1108/17596591111187710
Bowen, B (2011). Moving Away From Coercion and Enhancing Patient Dignity and Respect in Workplace Violence in the Mental and General Health Care Setting, Michael R. Privitera, MD (Ed), 2011. Boston, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Bowen, B (2010). Commonalities in Maximizing Safety in Various Human Service Sectors. In the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Violence in the Health Care Sector, Ian Needham, Kevin McKenna, Mirielle Kingma & Nico Oud, editors. Pages 380-383. Dwingaloo, the Netherlands: Kavanah
Bowen, B (2009). The Dance of Aggression: Learning to Follow Instead of Lead, in the Proceedings of the 6th European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, Ian Needham, Patrick Callaghan, Tom Palmstiera, Henk Nijman & Nico Oud, editors. Pages 218 - 222. Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah.
Bowen, B & Mohr, WK (2009). Measuring the Presence of Coercion in Psychiatric Settings, in the Proceedings of the 6th European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, Ian Needham, Patrick Callaghan, Tom Palmstiera, Henk Nijman & Nico Oud, editors. Pages 223-226. Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah
Mohr, WK & Bowen, B. (2009) Decreasing Workplace Violence Means Increasing Workplace Safety Through Positive Behavior Supports. the Proceedings of the 6th European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry, Ian Needham, Patrick Callaghan, Tom Palmstiera, Henk Nijman & Nico Oud, editors. Pages 250-253. Dwingaloo, The Netherlands: Kavanah