The Buddy Zone

The Buddy Zone has been in Christchurch for over 20 years. Over that time we have helped many families by providing programmes for behavioural, social and academic needs. We also provide a disability respite support service to our families.

We aim to improve the lives of children with disabilities including neurodiverse students, to reach their individual goals and aspirations for a good life.

The Buddy Zone offers a wide range of programmes and respite care to suit each individual.

Individual Lessons

The Buddy Zone offers personalised programmes designed for each individual tamariki (child). We work with families to ensure the best programme is designed and is implemented by a team of therapists.

The Buddy Zone offers programmes for the following:
ASD, Challenging Behaviour, Anger Management, Anxiety, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysnomia, PDA and Twice Exceptional. We also have programmes for children who display developmental delays in one or more of the following areas; cognitive performance, speech/language development, social skills, self-help skills or other behavioural disorders.

At The Buddy Zone, we use evidence-based therapeutic approaches to support children’s emotional, behavioural, and social development. Our programmes are grounded in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), helping children understand the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and develop practical coping and problem-solving skills.

We incorporate the Zones of Regulation framework to support children to identify emotions, recognise levels of alertness, and learn effective regulation strategies. Interoceptive awareness is a key focus of our work, using the Kelly Mahler Interoception Curriculum to help children tune into internal body signals such as hunger, fatigue, stress, and anxiety, and understand how these sensations influence emotions and behaviour.

At The Buddy Zone, we prioritise expectation management models rather than traditional behaviour management models. Instead of focusing on rewards, consequences, or “fixing” behaviour, we work to understand what expectations may be overwhelming a child and why. This approach allows us to adjust demands, build missing skills, and create environments where children are set up for success, emotional safety, and regulation.

As part of our CBT approach, we also use the Power Pack strategy, providing children with personalised, visual tools to support emotional and energy regulation in the moment. Together with each child, we develop individualised “Power Up,” “Power Down,” and “Maintain” strategies that support consistency across home, school, and social settings.

In addition, we draw on Ross Greene’s Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) approach, which is closely aligned with expectation management. CPS focuses on identifying lagging skills, understanding a child’s perspective, and solving problems collaboratively, helping to reduce conflict while building flexibility, resilience, and problem-solving skills over time.