Positive Behaviour Support

with Amity Behaviour Consulting

Creating harmony through mutual understanding

Candice Heffernan smiling while sitting on a dark hardwood floor next to a wooden bench, on which there is a white pot with green leafy plant, a black mug, and a closed notebook.

About

A graphic of a flock of birds flying.

Behaviour support that sees the whole person.

At Amity, peace and harmony are brought to people's lives through understanding and connection. Our holistic approach to PBS accounts for a person's physical, emotional, cognitive, social, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing for them and everyone important to them.

Because when the whole person is understood and supported, quality of life improves and the need to use behaviours of concern reduces.

The approach behind this work.

Amity takes a holistic, neuro-affirming, and trauma-informed approach to behaviour support. Every plan considers the whole person, their unique disability, history, strengths, and environment, to improve quality of life and reduce the need to use behaviour as communication.

Support begins with what the person does well. Because people who feel happy, healthy, and valued do not need to use behaviour to advocate for themselves. At the crux of everything Amity does is a commitment to upholding the rights of the person. Ensuring any restrictive practices used are the least restrictive alternative, for the least amount of time, while supporting the person to learn new skills that reduce the need for restriction over time.

Neuro-affirming

Trauma-informed

Strengths-based

Holistic

A butterfly with iridescent blue and black wings wing resting on a green background.

Person-centred

Rights-focused

Evidence-based

Solutions-focused

Amity’s Values

Neuro-affirming practice

A graphic of a flock of birds flying.
Candice Heffernan smiling while leaning on a white railing on a porch or balcony during daytime.

Strengths-based

Understanding the theory behind a person's disability to build meaningful accommodations that support them to live well, without promoting compliance or masking that can lead to mental health concerns.

People with disabilities often experience trauma through living in a world not designed for their needs. Understanding a person's history, past experiences, and triggers ensures support never risks retraumatising the people it is designed to help.


Support starts with what the person is already good at. Building from existing strengths and areas of interest creates momentum, success, and the confidence to keep growing.

Solutions-focused

Rather than arriving with all the answers, Amity works collaboratively with the people in the room to find solutions that are practical, agreed upon, and genuinely suited to the needs of the environment and the people in it.

The person is always at the centre of everything. Involving them as much as practicable in their own support ensures they understand what is being done, why, and have had genuine input into the strategies designed to support them.

Person-centred and collaborative


Quality of life

Every strategy and recommendation made by Amity is grounded in research and driven by data, ensuring support is evidence-based, measurable, and genuinely meeting the needs of the person and their environment.

Trauma-informed

A close-up of a butterfly with metallic blue and black wings, against a blurred teal background with bokeh effects.

Rights-focused


Grounded in a rights-based model of Positive Behaviour Support, every decision respects the dignity and autonomy of the person. Including them in decisions and understanding their whole life to support them toward the goals that matter most to them.

Evidence-based practice

Using the PERMA Plus model to support whole-person wellbeing, ensuring people have positive engagement, meaning, and accomplishment. Because people with connection, relationships, and a good quality of life naturally reduce their need to use behaviours of concern.

Positive Behaviour Support doesn't mean what most people think.

Unfortunately Positive Behaviour Support is frequently misunderstood.

At Amity we do not focus on changing the person or really on the behaviour alone.

Through building understanding, collaboration and focussing on prevention and inclusion, we create a supportive environment that increases the persons quality of life and in turn naturally reduces their need to use behaviours at all.

Things are done different here at Amity.

ABA has a complicated reputation and I understand why.

What makes the difference is adding a neuro-affirming lens that offers a whole new context. One that builds quality of life, fosters genuine understanding, and never asks a person to be something they are not. Strategies are never drawn from a single model but from a wide range of modalities, frameworks, and lived experience to ensure support is truly individualised.

At Amity, I don't develop behaviour support plans that prioritise compliance or encourage masking. The focus is on understanding the purpose of behaviour and supporting authentic self-expression. Behaviours like stimming aren't problems to eliminate; for many, they're essential tools for self-regulation, communication, and wellbeing. Rather than teaching people to suppress behaviours, educating the environments around them, creating spaces where regulation can happen safely and without shame.

The Difference

Candice Heffernan, smiling and sitting on a woven bench, wearing a white top, wide-leg jeans, and white sandals, in a room with natural light and dark wood flooring.
Deep blue ocean water with ripples and slight waves.
A graphic of beige birds without background.
Candice Heffernan, smiling and holding a mug, sitting in a bright office space with large windows and potted plants.

Get in touch

Which of Amity’s services matches your unique situation?

Book a free 30-minute connection call to find out how Amity can help.