The person
At the centre of everything. Their rights, their voice, and a good life come first.
Positive Behaviour Support
Everyone deserves a good life.
We specialise in understanding disability, brain injury and neurodiversity. We provide Positive Behaviour Support for people to lead full and meaningful lives. We work with children, young people and adults, their whānau and the teams around them.
Why it matters
When behaviour is hard, and no one can work out why.
Behaviour is often how a person tells us something is wrong: stress, anxiety, frustration, confusion. Over time their world gets smaller. It can start with missing out on everyday activities and being left out, and at the harder end, mean losing their freedom or their home. The people around them, whānau and support workers, run on empty, and good people burn out and leave. As crises build, the response is usually to manage the behaviour rather than understand what is happening for the person.
None of that means anyone has failed. It usually means the support around the person has not yet caught up with what they actually need. That gap is what we close.
What it is
Behaviour is communication. We start there.
Positive Behaviour Support is a respectful, evidence-based way of supporting people whose behaviour challenges. Behaviour is communication, usually a sign that something isn't working for the person. So rather than control it, we work out what's driving it and change what's around them, building skills and a better life with fewer restrictions.
Who it is for
For the person, and everyone in their corner.
The person is at the centre of our work. But a plan only works when it's shaped by the whānau and team who live it every day.
Whānau
The people who love them and know them best, and live the day-to-day with them.
Support workers and teams
The people there every day, who make the plan real in the moments that matter.
Funding agencies
The agencies who fund the support and want to see it genuinely work.
What we do
Understand, plan, coach and stay alongside.
1
Understand
We get to know the person and their world, and work out what their behaviour is telling us. A careful assessment of the person and the situations around them, not a label.
2
A plan, built together
A practical Positive Behaviour Support plan, made with the person and whānau rather than handed to them. What needs to change, what to do, and how to keep everyone safe.
3
Training and coaching
We build the confidence and skill of the people around the person, whānau and support teams, so the plan works in real life. The best plan is useless if the people using it aren’t supported.
4
Ongoing support
We stay alongside, work with the person and their support people, review what’s working, and adjust. Real change takes time, and we’re there for the long part, well beyond the assessment.
Safety planning
A clear plan for the hard moments.
When behaviour escalates, no one should have to work out what to do in the heat of it. We build a safety plan into the wider support plan, agreed in advance with the person, their whānau and their team: the early signs, what to do in the moment, and the least restrictive way to keep everyone safe, with the person's dignity kept at the centre. We train the people who use it and review it after any incident, so reliance on restrictive responses keeps coming down.
Our approach
Rights-based, person-centred, and proven.
Our work follows the international evidence and the established frameworks for Positive Behaviour Support. In plain terms, the person's rights and quality of life come first, we lead with strengths rather than deficits, and a core aim is always to reduce and remove restrictive practices like restraint and seclusion. Less restriction, more life.
Where we work
Trusted across the system.
We work right across New Zealand's disability and injury support system, from everyday support to the most specialist settings.
- The ACC Behaviour Support Service, for people whose behaviour has changed after a brain injury.
- Mana Whaikaha and NASCs, within the disability support system.
- Forensic services and high and complex needs, the most specialist end.
- Consulting to disability providers, building their capability so good practice spreads beyond any one person.
Who you are working with
Registered psychologists with real PBS experience.
You'll work with registered psychologists who do this work across injury, disability and forensic settings, not in theory. We're a New Zealand practice, we respect how your whānau and culture shape things, and we keep the person, and a good life, at the centre of everything.
“Behaviour always makes sense once you understand what the person is trying to tell you. Our job is to listen for that, change what is around them, and keep their dignity at the centre.”
Common questions
Questions people ask us about Positive Behaviour Support.
Who is positive behaviour support for?
Positive behaviour support is for people with an intellectual or learning disability, autism, or a brain injury whose behaviour has become hard for them or those around them, along with the whānau and teams who support them.
Is positive behaviour support about controlling behaviour?
No. Positive behaviour support is about understanding what behaviour is communicating and improving the person’s quality of life, while reducing restrictive practices rather than increasing them.
Does positive behaviour support reduce restraint and other restrictive practices?
Yes. Reducing and removing restrictive practices such as restraint and seclusion is a core aim of the work. The point is more freedom for the person, not less.
Do you train support staff and work with disability providers?
Yes. Alongside working with the person, we train and coach the whānau and support workers around them, and we consult to disability providers to build their capability.
Is positive behaviour support funded by ACC or disability funding?
It can be, depending on the person’s situation, including injury-related pathways and disability support funding. Talk to us and we’ll help you work out the right pathway and how to access it.
What ages do you provide behaviour support for?
We can work across the lifespan. Tell us about the person you’re supporting and we’ll let you know how we can help and who would be the right fit.
Where in New Zealand do you provide positive behaviour support?
We work across New Zealand’s disability and injury support system. Get in touch and we’ll confirm what’s available in your area and how support can be delivered.
Start here
Let's talk about what would help.
Related services
