With growing demand for disability services, Council is expanding its National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Support Coordination team to offer participants greater support.
As a registered provider of support coordination, Council has been assisting people with disability for more than 25 years, with our experienced team of practitioners well versed in providing effective ways of ensuring the NDIS works best for each client.
Client Practitioner Jason McLeod has been a member of Council's team since 2019 and said the COVID-19 pandemic posed some challenges for NDIS participants.
"Many of the people we work with were really concerned – particularly with vaccinations and how they might impact on maintaining services," Mr McLeod said.
"One of the benefits of being part of the Council team is that we aren't a large provider and can offer a personal approach. This has allowed us to stay in touch with many of our participants.
"It's important to ensure that people who come to us have an understanding of the NDIS, how it works and what it can provide for them as participants – whether they are in their teens or early 60s.
"This means we have a good understanding of each individual's needs and requirements – after all no one participant is the same. We deal with a wide variety of accredited providers and we can develop support services to meet the needs of each person."
Mr McLeod, who has a Bachelor of Counselling, said members of the team were all tertiary trained and brought a different skill and expertise to the unit.
"We practitioners take pride in being able to offer one–on–one service to participants but we also have a good understanding of each other's cases, which means if one of us is away, no participant is left stranded," he said.
"We work as a team, finding solutions to issues, building connections or helping people become more independent and capable of managing their own lives."
With the prospect of 2022 being less restrictive, Mr McLeod said Council was looking to expand its capacity to provide NDIS support coordination, with additional staff to make up a team of 8 people.
