Challenging Behaviour is communication

We listen to you. We help you build more skills, more freedom and more social connections so you can live without restrictive practices.

Challenging Behaviour is communication

We listen to you. We help you build more skills, more freedom and more social connections so you can live without restrictive practices.

Our Why

More freedom and more social connection for people with disability and their support people.

Our How

We take the stress out of the NDIS and make Behaviour Support easy to access. No long waiting lists.

We build powerful systems that free us to focus on people.

We honour Applied Behaviour Analysis and seek to practice it in a person-centred way. We recruit brilliant clinicians, and invest heavily in their training and clinical supervision.

We sponsor our professional association, share our learning, and support the growth of new behaviour support organisations.

Our What

We help NDIS Participants with functional behaviour assessments, behaviour support plans, training, coaching, and consulting.

Key factors in our service include:

Person-Centred Practice: we listen, and we build supports, based on your values, goals, strengths and needs
Applied Behaviour Analysis: we use ABA to build services that are functional, and effective in meeting your goals
Challenging Behaviour: we measurably reduce challenging behaviour by building new skills and supports that match your needs
Restrictive Practices: we manage, reduce and eliminate Restrictive Practices and empower people to lead freer and more socially connected lives.

Our values

Respect, Excellence, Collaboration, Innovation

Our Team

Monique Peisley

Senior Behaviour Support Specialist
Clinical Leader

Bachelor of Arts & Sciences (University of Sydney)
Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Macquarie University)
Masters in Applied Psychology (Behaviour Analysis - Waikato University)
Postgraduate Diploma in the Practice of Psychology
Board Certified Behaviour Analyst
Registered Psychologist (AHPRA)
Behaviour Analyst Certified Board approved Supervisor

Claire Connolly

Senior Behaviour Support Specialist
Team Leader North-West Sydney

Bachelor of Arts (Psychology Studies) (2007)
Master of Science (Applied Behaviour Analysis) (2009)
Level 1 PECS training (2018)

Claire has over a decade of experience working with people with disabilities.

Claire joined Ability Consultants in May 2018 and has provided function-based behaviour support with dozens of NDIS participants to build new skills and overcome complex challenges.

Daniel Salvatorie

Senior Behaviour Support Specialist
Team Leader Western Sydney

Bachelor of Psychological Sciences, Swinbourne University of Technology (2019)
Member: Association of Positive Behaviour Support; Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia

Daniel has extensive experience providing specialist behaviour support with people experiencing a variety of complex needs, including intellectual disability, offending history, AOD and mental health. During Daniel's employment with FACS (2007-2017) he managed clinical teams, Restrictive Practices panels, developed policies, and trained organisations in Positive Behaviour Support.

Liliana Smolinski

Senior Behaviour Support Specialist

Bachelor of Psychological Studies (2014)
Master of Forensic Mental Health (2019 - final semester)

Lily has six years of experience providing function-based behaviour support with people with intellectual disability, mental health and behaviour challenges.

Felicity Heydon

Behaviour Support Specialist

Master of Teaching, University of NSW
Bachelor of Arts (Psychology & Music), University of Sydney
Music Therapy, University of Western Sydney (Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Golden Stave Centre)
Professional Member, Australian Association for Behaviour Analysis

Kire Gulevski

Behaviour Support Specialist

Bachelor of Social Sciences (Psychology and Sociology)
Professional Member, Australian Association for Behaviour Analysis

Kire comes to Ability Consultants with 17 years of experience improving the lives of people with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. Kire has extensive experience in psychotherapy, forensic casework, and child protection. He is passionate about working with families and teams to provide empowering, person-centered supports.

Kirsty Passmore

Behaviour Support Specialist

Bachelor of Health Science (2006)
Master of Education in Applied Behavioural Analysis (2018)
Member: Australian Association for Behaviour Analysis; Association for Positive Behaviour Support.

Kirsty started with Ability Consultants in January 2019. Kirsty has worked as a Senior ABA Therapist in Perth and Singapore, gaining extensive knowledge, experience and tools to support people of all ages with diverse needs to achieve their goals through the science of applied behaviour analysis.

Ryan McGaughey

Behaviour Support Specialist

BSc.(Highest Hons) in Psychology, 2015, University at Buffalo.
Professional Member, Australian Association for Applied Behaviour Analysis

Ryan comes to Ability Consultants with four years of experience in the assessment of behaviours for children, teens and young adults, with Developmental Disabilities. Ryan uses his ABA skills and person-centred approach to build independence and greater quality of life for the people he supports.

Emma Hession

Behaviour Support Specialist

BSc.(Hons) in Psychology, 2007, University of Sheffield
Member of: AABA, AHPRA, APS, ASID, PsychDD

Emma is a Registered Provisional Psychologist with 15 years of experience providing specialist assessments, advice and treatment. Her aim is to help her clients experience improved learning, thinking, emotional balance and behaviour. Emma is committed to working in partnership with her clients, their families and carers to achieve person-centred goals.

Michelle Thompson-Lang

Behaviour Support Specialist

Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Macquarie University (2006)
Master of Clinical Audiology, Macquarie University (2007)
Memberships: Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia, Audiology Australia, Speech Pathology Australia

Michelle has developed and implemented behaviour support plans for several years. Michelle has extensive experience working in a clinical capacity with people with disabilities. Michelle is passionate about helping people build functional skills to help them participate more meaningfully in their community.

Vicki Boler

Behaviour Support Specialist

Bachelor of Psychology, with Post-Graduate Diploma (Hons) in Psychological Practice (2014), Western Sydney University.

Member of AHPRA, AABA

Vicki is a Registered Provisional Psychologist with 5 years of experience supporting people with complex mental health and behaviour support needs.

Vicki has extensive experience working with people with Intellectual Disability in contact with the criminal justice system.

Her passion is in advocating for people with special needs and ensuring they can lead their best life.

David Ackling-Jones

Behaviour Support Specialist, CEO

BHSc. University of Technology Sydney, 2003
Professional member, Australian Association for Behaviour Analysis.
Associate with the Centre for Disability Studies, Sydney University
Member, Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).

Denisa Valera Hanik

Manager Customer Experience

BA (Hons) European Business Studies, University of Lincoln (2003)
Proficient in seven languages (Swedish, English, Spanish, French, Czech, Danish, Norwegian)
Manager Learning and Development, European Union, Brussels (2002-2007)
Specialist in Leadership Development, Kinetic Concepts, Inc., Netherlands (2008-2012)
Director, Management Consultantcy, Koudos Ltd, Windsor, UK (2013-2017)

Denisa is the powerhouse of Ability Consultants. Thanks to the initiative and empathy demonstrated by Denisa and her team, clinicians focus on behaviour support rather than administration, and customers have a smooth and streamlined service.

Trini Macrae

Administration Officer

BA (Anthropology), University of Sydney (1995)
Grad Dip (Rehabilitation Counselling), University of Sydney (2016)

Trini has a background in disability support, aged care, website management and rehab counselling.

She is passionate about the quality of life for people with disabilities and brings her varied skills to provide administrative support to the team.

Working with us

We are a growing team in every sense of the word.

You will love working with us, if you are motivated to foster learning and growth, in yourself and in others.

We practice Hands-Off Leadership. We don't micromanage or impose KPI's. We provide a highly rewarding work environment, and partner with you to hit your goals. Each team member can build new systems and strategies.

We are an empowering workplace, driven to attract and develop brilliant clinicians, so NDIS Participants have easier access to life-changing behaviour support.

Founder’s statement

Hello,

This is me abseiling off a perfectly good mountain. Starting Ability Consultants in 2016 was a similar leap into the unknown world of the NDIS.

In 1999 I began working with and caring for people with intellectual disability and challenging behaviours. People who are ignored, over-medicated, restrained, secluded, cut off from their community or who are punished because they often do not have a high enough level of positive support.

So, we have a clear mission, to help people lead a freer more socially connected life. Our vision is easy-access to Positive Behaviour Support for all NDIS Participants.

We serve 6 customer groups:

NDIS Participants. We work with you on delivering measurable goals that matter to you.
Our referrers. We focus on making the referral and support coordination process a relief and a joy. Short wait time, detailed progress reports, responsive communication, evidence-based recommendations.
Carers. We make the process of sharing ideas, and information simple and time-efficient. We work in partnership with carers and NDIS Participants to build an assessment and plan that fits.
Our clinicians. We provide an empowering workplace. We fund clinical supervision, professional courses, and conference attendance for our brilliant team.
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). We present evidence to ensure Participants are funded for all of their reasonable and necessary supports, at the right level.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. We ensure our team provides Participants with high-quality function-based Behaviour Support, to minimise Restrictive Practices, build liberating skills, and improve quality of life.

Applied Behaviour Analysis is the backbone of Positive Behaviour Support. Each new member of our team is supported to gain BACB certification within four months if they do not already have ABA qualifications. We are a registered Specialist Behaviour Support Provider and we are working to exceed the required standards. Ability Consultants is a learning ecosystem.

Person-Centred principles of empowerment and strengths-based practice underpin our approach. We apply these principles to everything we do.

Finally, we are all about innovation. We use technology to be more human. We build and shape the powerful tools we need to serve our customers in new and unique ways.

Thanks for joining us on the learning and growth journey.

David Ackling-Jones

David Ackling-Jones

CEO - Ability Consultants

David is a Member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and provides MI Training on request.

Have an enquiry?

Want to learn more about our services or how we can help you?
We’d love to hear from you.

We serve Greater Sydney & beyond

Ability Consultants is a team of Behaviour Support Specialists who work with clients on site throughout Greater Sydney all the way through to the Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Illawarra regions.

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