The NDIS can be tricky to navigate. There are services to organise, funding to track and stakeholders to communicate with. So, who helps participants and their families with all this?
Some definitions
Local Area Coordinators (LACs) are community-based organisations that have partnered with the NDIS to help deliver LAC services to people aged 7+.
In Queensland, the organisation funded to provide LAC services is Carers Queensland. Children, six and under, are assisted by an Early Childhood Early Intervention equivalent service, which in Queensland is the Benevolent Society.
The NDIS website provides this information about the role of LACs:
LACs can help you to:
- Understand and access the NDIS
- Create a plan
- Implement your plan
- Review your plan
Additionally, the same website has this to say about Support Coordinators:
Support coordination helps you to make the best use of your supports in plan. Support coordination is a capacity building support which helps you to:
- Understand and use you NDIS plan to pursue your goals
- Connect you with NDIS providers, community, mainstream and other government services
- Build your confidence and skills to use and coordinate your supports.
Same, same, but different?
Definitions aside, at the risk of upsetting the LACs out there (and believe me, there are some really helpful LACs who have made my job a lot easier), LACs rarely have the capacity to provide ongoing, personalised assistance to participants after their NDIS plans are released.
There are just not enough LACs employed compared to the ever-growing number of people with NDIS plans.
In response, many LAC offices have now moved to a “shared-care” model, where any LAC in the office will respond to an enquiry about a participant living in a defined geographical area. On the other hand, a Support Coordinator will work one-on-one with a participant throughout the NDIS planning cycle.
There are Support Coordinators... and Support Coordinators...
At Connect4U Australia, we provide independent support coordination. As a matter of fact, support coordination is all we do!
Unlike some organisations, we don’t do support workers, assessments, therapies, accommodation and we don’t do windows (shout out to Mrs Doubtfire – fabulous movie!), and tack on support coordination as well.
As a result, we have less potential for conflicts of interest and we can support participants to exercise true choice and control over their services.
Connect4U Australia is also NDIA registered to provide Level 2 support coordination and Level 3 Specialist Support Coordination. This means we have to meet NDIS quality standards and benchmarks.
Support throughout the life of your NDIS plan
Here at Connect4U Australia, our Support Coordinators come from multidisciplinary backgrounds and have lived experience of disability. It’s important to realize that we have a broad role to help participants:
- Learn about the NDIS and how plans work
- Connect with service providers and supports
- Communicate and negotiate with stakeholders
- Access assessments and therapies
- Access disability specific accommodation
- Purchase aids and equipment items
- Progress home modifications
- Prepare for Plan Review meetings
- Liaise with mainstream government (eg housing, health, education, Public Trustee) and community services.
Need a Support Coordinator? Give Connect4U Australia a call on 1800 595 423!
