NDIS 101: How to get the most out of support coordination
Navigating the NDIS can be daunting, especially if the NDIS marks the first time you or your loved one are accessing supports and services. That’s why we’ve created the NDIS 101 series. Inform’s NDIS 101 series aims to take some of the confusion out of understanding, accessing and using the NDIS by providing straightforward information and resources.
What is support coordination?
Support coordination is about building your capacity and helping you to see the possibilities and opportunities available to you.
The role of support coordination in your plan will depend on your situation and what your individual needs and wants are. But basically, the task of your support coordinator is to assist you to explore and determine what your goals are.
Once you’ve figured out what your goals are, you support coordinator can help discover what services or supports you might need to achieve those goals and how you can access those services or supports.
Support coordination can be particularly useful when you first get your plan and need help working out what those services and supports are and how to get them implemented.
But the role of support coordination is about more than just NDIS related supports. Your support coordinator can also help you access mainstream and community supports and support you in your interactions with other government systems.
Support coordination could be considered holistic capacity building. From navigating a crisis to planning a holiday, your support coordinator can act as research tool providing you with the knowledge and access to skills building that you can then use to engage with the people in your life, whether that’s your support workers or your family.
Things your support coordinator can help you with
- Supporting you to learn more about the NDIS and your plan
- Supporting you in implementing your plan
- Find service providers
- Communicate with service providers or supports on your behalf
- Teach you to use the online portal
- Assist you with referrals for assessments or equipment requests
- Finding opportunities to access mainstream and community services
- Preparing for your plan review
Making the most of support coordination can help you achieve your goals.
How you can get the most out if support coordination
You can include support coordination in your NDIS plan. Your individual situation will determine how many hours of support coordination you can include in your plan.
Regardless of how many hours of support coordination you have in your plan, making the most of support coordination can make a big difference between you achieving your goals and not.
So, how can you make the most of support coordination? Here are a few of our tips:
- Before you choose a support coordination, make sure you’re happy that they’re the best person to help you. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions about them and how they might help you. You can find a list of useful questions in this Inform article.
- Make sure you understand what support coordination is and how they can help you. That means knowing the sorts of things they can help with and the sorts of things they can’t help with. That way you won’t waste any time trying to get help from your support coordinator for things they can’t help you with, like advocacy or making decisions for you.
- Be clear about what your goals are and what you want the support coordinator to help you with. That way, they can get started right away. Find tips on setting goals in this Inform article.
- Make sure you understand what your barriers are and let your support coordinator know what they are. Maybe you need to change the time you get personal care so you can make a morning activity.
- Let you support coordinator know how you best learn and communicate. Do you prefer to receive information via email or a phone call? Do you learn best if you can read something or is listening to someone speaking better for you? Everyone has different communication styles. So be really clear up front with your support coordinator about how you need your information.
- Don’t shy away from expressing your needs. Tell you support coordinator what’s working for you and what’s not working. That way they will have a better understanding of how they can help you achieve you goals.
You can read more about support coordination in this Inform article.
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