Positive Behaviour Support · Registered NDIS provider
Behaviour makes sense once you understand why
Positive Behaviour Support starts with a question, not a correction: what is this behaviour achieving for this person? We answer that question properly, then build a plan the people around the participant can actually deliver, in the home, the school and the community where the behaviour happens.
- Registered NDIS provider
- Victoria, NSW, SA and WA
- Ages 3 through to 65 and over
- Home, school, community and telehealth
Not sure if we are the right fit? Call 1300 824 930 and we will tell you honestly, including when someone else is a better match.
How long is the wait?
Waiting times sit between 4 and 12 weeks depending on the region, and we publish them openly rather than quoting them on request. Check the current figure for your area before you refer. See current wait times.
What PBS actually is
Two things people expect, and what happens instead
Positive Behaviour Support is one of the most misunderstood supports in the NDIS. Before anything else, here is what it is not.
"You will come and stop the behaviour."
What actually happens: behaviour is communication, and it works, otherwise it would have stopped on its own. We identify what the behaviour is achieving, then build a safer, easier way for the person to achieve the same thing. Behaviour that no longer has a job tends to fade, and it fades without anyone having to force it.
"The practitioner works with the participant, one to one."
What actually happens: the practitioner is with the participant for a few hours a fortnight. Families, support workers and teachers are there for the rest of it. So we teach and coach the people who are already present, because a strategy only changes anything if it is used on a Tuesday afternoon when nobody from Insight PBS is in the room.
Every plan we write also has a legal job: reducing and, where possible, removing regulated restrictive practices. That obligation sits under the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and it is one of the reasons a Behaviour Support Plan takes the time it does.
How the support reaches the participant
We work through the people already in the room
This is the part that surprises most referrers. Our practitioners spend a large share of their time with the support network rather than the participant, and that is deliberate.
Practitioner
Assesses, writes the plan, and coaches the people delivering it
Key supports
The people present every day
- Family and carers
- Support workers
- Teachers and day programs
Participant
Experiences consistent strategies across every environment, every day
A plan that only works when the practitioner is present is not a plan, it is a visit. The measure of a good Behaviour Support Plan is what happens on the days nobody from Insight PBS is there.
The process
From referral to review, and who does what
Behaviour support is a cycle rather than a one-off piece of work. Here is the shape of it, and what is expected from the people around the participant at each stage.
Referral and matching
We confirm funding, location and complexity, then match the participant with a practitioner at the right capability level, with relevant clinical experience, based as close by as possible.
Assessment and FBA
Interviews, direct observation in real environments, file review and data collection, including risk and restrictive practice assessment. The aim is a clear picture of triggers, history and function, not a label.
The Behaviour Support Plan
An individualised plan built on the assessment: environmental changes, skill teaching, communication supports, and a considered path away from any restrictive practices in place. Lodged with the NDIS Commission where required.
Implementation, coaching and review
Training for the people delivering the plan, care team meetings we facilitate, and monitoring against the data your team collects. The plan is adjusted as the participant changes.
Want the longer version, including what a practitioner actually does between visits? Read our process and role in full.
What is included
Everything in one engagement, not billed piece by piece
Every engagement is customised to the participant's NDIS goals. These are the pieces of work that sit inside a Positive Behaviour Support service with us.
Behaviour support assessment and FBA
A thorough look at the reasons behind behaviours of concern: environment, triggers, communication, health, history and the responses the behaviour currently produces. Everything after this depends on getting it right. Available as a standalone assessment where there is no PBS funding yet.
Individualised Behaviour Support Plans
Plans written for one person, built on their own assessment and their own goals. The focus is teaching skills, strengthening communication and changing the environment, so the participant has better options available than the behaviour.
Risk and restrictive practice assessment
Where regulated restrictive practices are in place, we document them, test them against legal and ethical standards, and work to reduce and remove them in line with NDIS Commission requirements, replacing them with positive alternatives.
Care team meeting facilitation
Participants, families, carers, support coordinators, schools, GPs and allied health each hold part of the picture. We run the meetings that bring those parts together, rather than leaving the coordination to whoever has capacity that week.
Ongoing monitoring and review
PBS is a cycle. We track progress against the data the support team collects, review what is working, and adjust the plan as the participant's needs, environments and goals change.
Staff and carer training
Strategies are only as good as their delivery. We train families, support workers and staff teams to use the plan consistently, and we offer customised PBS training for workplaces where a whole team needs lifting at once.
- Home visits
- School visits
- Telehealth
- Day program and SIL visits
- Continuity of care
- Early intervention from age 3
- Adults and older participants
- Regional and metro coverage
Our services are not just for children. We work with participants from age 3 through to 65 and over, including early intervention, adolescents, adults in supported accommodation and older participants moving toward aged care. Behaviour support is often assumed to be a children's service, and that assumption leaves a lot of adults without support they are entitled to.
Who does the work
An experienced workforce, at every capability level
Behaviour support has grown quickly, and a lot of providers have grown with it by hiring whoever was available. We carry a deliberate mix of practitioners across all four NDIS capability levels, which is what lets us match a participant to the right person rather than the only person.
Core
Working with lower complexity under close supervision, building toward independent practice.
Proficient
Managing moderate complexity independently, including plans involving restrictive practices.
Advanced
High complexity work, multiple environments and providers, and supervision of other practitioners.
Specialist
The most complex situations, plus clinical oversight and quality review across the wider team.
What our practitioners bring
- Most come from a psychology or mental health background, so the clinical grounding is there before behaviour support training begins
- Most have at least five years in the industry. This is not a workforce of new graduates learning on your participant
- Six weeks of internal training before they begin working with participants, on top of qualifications and NDIS Commission suitability
- Supervision is delivered internally by our own senior practitioners, so improving a practitioner's proficiency is our job rather than something outsourced
- Employed directly, with a progression path from Core through to Specialist, and an average tenure of 2.85 years
Clinical experience
Ask who has worked with this before. We will have someone.
Behaviour support is not generic, and neither is a practitioner's experience. Across the team we hold depth in the following areas, and matching on it is part of how we allocate a referral.
- Autism, levels 1, 2 and 3
- ADHD
- OCD
- Intellectual disability
- Early intervention
- Forensic background
- Trauma-informed practice
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar
- Dual diagnosis
- First Nations participants
- School refusal
- Self-harm and violence
- Borderline personality disorder
- Pathological demand avoidance
- Oppositional defiant disorder
- Executive function difficulties
This is not the full list. If the participant's situation is not represented here, ask us anyway. Call 1300 824 930 or email hello@insightpbs.com.au and we will tell you who on the team has done this work before, and whether they have capacity in your region.
Where we work
Local practitioners, not metro practitioners on a long drive
Our practitioners work from home in their own local area rather than travelling out from a central office or clinic. It sounds like a small operational detail. It is actually one of the biggest differences in how far a participant's funding stretches, because travel time is billable time and every kilometre saved goes back into the support.
Regional hubs with local teams
We build hubs where practitioners already live rather than sending someone from the city and calling it regional coverage. Each of these locations has at least two Insight PBS practitioners based locally, which also means cover when one is on leave.
Fly-in, fly-out where it is the only way
Some communities are too remote to support a resident practitioner. Rather than declining them, we run fly-in, fly-out services, currently in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, where a practitioner flies in, stays several days, and sees every participant in the area across the week before returning home.
- BallaratVIC
- BendigoVIC
- SheppartonVIC
- EchucaVIC
- GippslandVIC
- WollongongNSW
- NewcastleNSW
- NowraNSW
- BunburyWA
- RockinghamWA
Victoria
Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Echuca and Gippsland
See Victoria → NSWNew South Wales
Sydney, Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong, Nowra and Albury
See New South Wales → SASouth Australia
Adelaide and surrounding regions
See South Australia → WAWestern Australia
Perth, Rockingham, Mandurah, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie
See Western Australia →Where travel does exceed the distance the NDIS allows us to claim, we absorb the remainder rather than passing it to the participant. Outside these regions, telehealth is often still workable depending on the participant and the goals, so ask us before assuming the answer is no.
Behind every practitioner
Five in-house teams, so the clinician can stay clinical
In a small practice, the practitioner is also the invoicing department, the compliance officer and the person you chase for an answer. Here those are separate teams, employed in-house, and none of them bill to a participant's plan.
Compliance
Audits our own practice against the NDIS Practice Standards and the Behaviour Support Rules, and keeps plan lodgement and reporting obligations on track.
Financial audit
Reviews invoicing before it reaches a plan manager or participant, so errors are caught on our side rather than discovered on your statement.
Participant support
Handles outstanding invoicing issues and any query that comes up during the engagement, so questions get answered without waiting for the practitioner's next free hour.
Relationship management
Every referrer is assigned a dedicated relationship manager: a named contact for anything beyond an individual participant, including capacity, new referrals and escalation.
Clinical supervision
Delivered internally by our own senior practitioners rather than bought in, so lifting a practitioner's capability is our responsibility and happens continuously.
AI committee
Sets what technology may and may not be used in clinical work. Assessments and plans are written by practitioners, and generic content is what our quality review exists to catch.
A dedicated relationship manager is the one worth noting if you are a support coordinator. It means there is a person who knows your caseload, who you can call about capacity or a stalled referral, and who is not the practitioner you would otherwise be pulling out of a session.
If you are changing providers
What tends to go wrong, and how we are built
A good share of our referrals come from participants who have had behaviour support before and want something different this time. Behaviour support is a young, stretched workforce and most of these problems are structural rather than anyone acting badly. Structure is exactly what you can ask about before you commit, so here is ours.
| What people tell us happened last time | How we are set up |
|---|---|
| "Our practitioner left and there was nobody to take over." | We keep at least two practitioners in each of our regional hubs and substantial teams in every metro area, so cover is local. The work is picked up by a colleague who already knows the region, rather than the participant going back to the bottom of a list. |
| "The turnover was constant. We had four practitioners in a year." | Our practitioners are employees, not sole traders taking contract work, with internal supervision and a progression path from Core to Specialist. Average tenure is 2.85 years, which in this sector is a long time, and it is the number we watch most closely. |
| "The practitioner was brand new and had no real training." | Most of our practitioners come from a psychology or mental health background and have at least five years in the industry, and every one completes six weeks of internal training before working with participants. |
| "They had no experience with anything like our situation." | We match on clinical experience as well as location and complexity, drawing on a team with depth across autism, ADHD, trauma, forensic backgrounds, dual diagnosis, school refusal, self-harm and more. Ask us who has done it before and you will get a name. |
| "They wrote the plan and then we never saw them again." | Implementation is the service, not an optional extra. Training the support network, facilitating care team meetings, monitoring the data and reviewing the plan are all part of the engagement. |
| "The report read like a template with a name swapped in." | Each plan is built on its own functional behavioural assessment, and generic content is exactly what our internal quality review is looking for. Our AI committee sets what tools may be used in clinical work, so technology never writes a participant's plan for them. |
| "The funding disappeared and I could not tell you on what." | Practitioners work from home in their local area, so billable travel is lower from the start, and where travel exceeds the claimable distance we absorb the remainder. Our financial audit team checks invoicing before it goes out, and every rate is published on our pricing page. |
| "There was nobody to call when things stalled." | Every referrer gets a named relationship manager, and an in-house support team handles invoicing and process queries. Wait times are published by region, so the timeframe is visible before you refer rather than after. |
None of this makes us the right provider for everyone, and there are good practitioners in small teams and sole practices doing excellent work. Ask us these questions anyway, and ask them of whoever else you are considering. A provider who cannot answer them plainly is telling you something.
Why Insight PBS
Four claims, each with something behind it
Every provider says they are evidence based and person centred. These are the things we can actually point to.
Evidence based practice
Strategies are drawn from current research and best practice standards, not habit. Our practitioners work within the NDIS Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework, and most bring a psychology or mental health foundation to it.
Effective implementation
Practitioners build strategies with the participant and their carers, so what ends up in the plan is something the people around the participant can genuinely deliver in their own setting, with their own constraints.
Decisions informed by data
Strategy implementation is monitored so changes can be tracked and tested. If something is not working, the data shows it before the next review and the plan changes accordingly.
Continuity you can plan around
Behaviour support only works over time, so the question that matters is whether the same practitioner will still be there in twelve months. Ours usually are, and where they are not, a local colleague already knows the region.
PBS resources
The source documents, not our summary of them
These are the NDIS Commission publications that govern behaviour support in Australia. If you want to know what a provider is required to do, read them directly.
PBS Capability Framework
Sets out the capabilities required of anyone delivering behaviour support under the NDIS. It is the framework our four practitioner levels are mapped against.
NDIS Practice Standards
The benchmark providers are assessed against, and the standard of service participants are entitled to expect. Read alongside the NDIS Code of Conduct.
Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide
Explains what a restrictive practice is and covers the five regulated types: chemical, environmental, mechanical and physical restraint, and seclusion.
Practice Guide: assessment and FBA
The Commission's 2026 practice guide on behaviour support assessment, written because plan quality across the sector still sits in the underdeveloped range.
We publish our own plain-language explainers too, covering funding periods, PACE and what changes each July. Read our articles and resources.
FAQ
Positive Behaviour Support questions, answered straight
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
PBS is an evidence-based approach to behaviours of concern that works by understanding what a behaviour achieves for a person, then changing the environment, teaching skills and strengthening communication so the person has better ways to achieve the same thing. It focuses on quality of life and on reducing restrictive practices, rather than on suppressing behaviour.
Who is PBS for, and is there an age limit?
NDIS participants of any age presenting with behaviours of concern. We work with participants from age 3 through to 65 and over, including early intervention, school-age children, adolescents, adults living at home or in supported accommodation, and older participants moving toward aged care. Behaviour support is often assumed to be a children's service, which leaves a lot of adults without support they are funded for.
Will the practitioner have experience with our particular situation?
Usually, yes, and clinical experience is one of the three things we match on alongside location and complexity. Across the team we hold depth in autism at all three levels, ADHD, OCD, intellectual disability, early intervention, forensic backgrounds, trauma-informed practice, schizophrenia, bipolar, dual diagnosis, First Nations participants, school refusal, self-harm and violence, BPD, PDA, ODD and executive function difficulties. If your situation is not on that list, ask, because the list is not exhaustive.
Do you actually service regional areas, or send someone from the city?
Our practitioners work from home in their own local area. We run regional hubs with at least two local practitioners in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Echuca, Gippsland, Wollongong, Newcastle, Nowra, Bunbury and Rockingham. Where a community is too remote to support a resident practitioner, such as Kalgoorlie, we fly a practitioner in for several days to see every participant in the area across the week.
What funding do I need in my plan?
Behaviour support is usually funded under Capacity Building, Improved Relationships. It can also sit under Improved Daily Living or Core, Assistance with Daily Life, depending on how the plan is written. We confirm which applies at referral and write it into your Service Agreement before anything is billed. Every rate is published on our pricing page. If there is no behaviour support funding at all, start with a Behaviour Support Assessment.
Do you accept self-managed participants?
We support plan-managed and NDIA-managed funding. Since September 2024 we have not accepted self-managed participants. The reasoning, and what to do if you are self-managed, is explained on our self-managed plans page.
How long does it take to get a Behaviour Support Plan?
After allocation, assessment typically takes several weeks, because it involves interviews, observation across different settings and file review before anything is written. Rushing that stage produces a plan built on guesswork. Current waiting times before allocation are published on our wait times page.
What is expected of families and support workers?
More than most people expect, and it is the single biggest predictor of whether the plan works. We need access for observation, honest history, participation in training, and simple data recording between visits. In return you get strategies you can use every day, not just while the practitioner is present.
What happens with restrictive practices already in place?
If regulated restrictive practices are being used, they must be documented in a Behaviour Support Plan lodged with the NDIS Commission, and the plan must include a considered path towards reducing and removing them. We work through that with the care team rather than removing supports abruptly, because safety comes first at every step.
Who do I contact if something stalls?
Every referrer is assigned a dedicated relationship manager, so there is a named person to call about capacity, a new referral or anything beyond an individual participant. Invoicing questions and process queries go to our in-house support team rather than to the practitioner, which keeps clinical time clinical.
Can I change providers part way through a plan?
Yes. You are not locked in, and a lot of our referrals come from participants moving across from another provider. Bring whatever documentation you have, including any existing Behaviour Support Plan and assessment, because it saves repeating work and funding. We will tell you honestly whether a fresh assessment is needed or whether the existing plan can be picked up and reviewed.
How do I make a referral?
Complete our online referral form. You will need the participant's plan dates, funding details, consent, and a description of the behaviours of concern and the goals for the service. We will confirm receipt, check funding and capacity, and let you know the expected timeframe for allocation.
More questions about how we work are answered in our full FAQ.
Start with a conversation
Referring someone for behaviour support is a big step, and it is worth getting to the right provider rather than the first one. Ask us anything before you refer.
Talk to a human
Call 1300 824 930 or email hello@insightpbs.com.au and we will talk through the situation, the funding and whether we are the right fit.
Contact usReady to refer?
Complete the referral form and we will confirm funding, capacity and expected timeframes. Current wait times are published before you start.
Refer to us