HolistiCare
The NEST Program: Support Built on Trust
NEST is HolistiCare's approach to behaviour support: neuroaffirming, empowering, safe, and trauma-informed. It's for schools, daycares, and families who want support that feels like partnership, not a program done to your child, but one built with them.
Book a Free ConsultationThe Four Pillars
The NEST Philosophy
Four commitments that shape every session, every plan, and every conversation we have with your family.
Neuroaffirming
How they move, communicate, and self-soothe is valid, not something to correct.
In practice
We never target stimming or eye contact for reduction just because it looks different. Goals are about real skills and quality of life.
Empowering
We don't hand you one.
In practice
Goals are built together at the start, and revisited often, so the plan grows as your child does.
Safe (Felt Safety)
It's whether your child's whole body and nervous system feel safe.
In practice
A clear "no" pauses the activity. Every session is built on consistency and trust, not compliance.
Trauma-Informed
Never "what's wrong with this child?"
In practice
Every new student starts with a trauma-aware conversation. Our team is trained to stay calm and steady, so your child can borrow that calm before anything else is asked of them.
How It Comes Together
Program Components
Getting to know your child
Before any goals are set, we spend real time learning what your child loves, what overwhelms them, and how they already communicate.
Understanding what's underneath
Behaviour is information. We observe, listen, and figure out what your child is trying to tell us, not just what they're doing.
Building the plan together
You and your child help shape what we work on. Goals are co-created, never handed down.
Walking alongside you
Steady, consistent support over time, from real people your child comes to know and trust.
Two Ways to Start
How We Work With Your School or Family
NEST Awareness
A first conversation, built for staff and families together.
Format: live, virtual or in person · Audience: everyone, no prior experience needed- Introduces the NEST philosophy in plain language.
- Real, usable strategies staff and caregivers can try the same day.
NEST Consultation
Ongoing or short-term expert support, led by a CPBAO-registered Behaviour Analyst.
Format: on-site or remote · Scope: one student, a classroom, or school-wide- A written report you keep, not just a conversation.
- Coordination with your child's other professionals, with your consent.
- Secure, shared progress tracking, so you're never left wondering how it's going.
Inside NEST Awareness
Five Things Every Session Covers
Every relationship with a new school or family starts with a shared language. Before any assessment or plan, everyone hears the same foundation, in the same room, at the same time.
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1
What neuroaffirming really means
Moving from "fix the behaviour" to "understand the child," and why that shift changes everything downstream.
Connects to: N · Neuroaffirming -
2
Felt safety, not just safety rules
Why a physically safe room isn't the same as a room where a child's nervous system feels safe, and how to build the second kind.
Connects to: S · Safe -
3
Reframing behaviour
Practicing the shift from "what's wrong with this child" to "what happened to this child," with real classroom examples.
Connects to: T · Trauma-Informed -
4
Co-regulation in the moment
How to be the calm a dysregulated child can borrow: practical, in-the-moment strategies, not just theory.
Connects to: T · Trauma-Informed -
5
Following your child's lead
What assent actually looks like day to day: recognizing a "no," and what to do the moment you see one.
Connects to: E · Empowering
Services & Assessments
- NEST is delivered and supervised by Behaviour Analysts registered with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO).
- HolistiCare is an OAP Approved Provider, serving families in Ottawa and Toronto.
- Our clinical team is trained in Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment (PFA-SBT), an assent-based model of applied behaviour analysis.
- NEST is a new HolistiCare program, built on established, published research, not an independent research claim about NEST itself.
References & Further Reading
NEST draws on real, published work. These sources are provided so families and schools can look into the research themselves, not as a claim of partnership or endorsement by these authors.
On assent-based ABA (PFA-SBT)
Hanley, G. P., Jin, C. S., Vanselow, N. R., & Hanratty, L. A. (2014). Producing meaningful improvements in problem behavior of children with autism via synthesized analyses and treatments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(1), 16–36.
Jessel, J., Hanley, G. P., & Ghaemmaghami, M. (2016). Interview-informed synthesized contingency analyses: Thirty replications and reanalysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49(3), 576–595.
Rajaraman, A., Austin, J. L., Gover, H. C., Cammilleri, A. P., Donnelly, D. R., & Hanley, G. P. (2022). Toward trauma-informed applications of behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 55(1), 40–61.
On trauma-informed practice in schools
Ayre, K., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2020). Trauma Informed Behaviour Support: A Practical Guide to Developing Resilient Learners. University of Southern Queensland. Open access via the Open Textbook Library (ISBN: 9780648769835). CC BY-SA.
On neurodiversity-affirming practice
Mathur, S. K., Renz, E., & Tarbox, J. (2024). Affirming neurodiversity within applied behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17, 471–485.
Regulatory context
Applied Behaviour Analysis Act, 2021 (Ontario), in force July 2024. College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO), cpbao.ca.