Disability Services

In-home support is a wonderful option for people who wish to continue living with independence in their own home. We can assist you with a wide variety of everyday tasks to ensure the smooth running of your household, such as helping out with the cleaning, cooking, shopping, or gardening. Our experienced and friendly support staff will enter your home with respect and a genuine care for a job well done.

Just as importantly, we will listen to you from the beginning to make sure that the in-home support you receive aligns with your goals, such as building up to increased independence or providing you and your support network with a better balance in your routines. We view this service as one that fulfills more than the completion of household tasks – we see ourselves as partners, helping you to create the kind of future you envision for yourself.

This is a service funded for participants as part of the Core Supports budget, under the category of ‘Assistance with Daily life’. Aspire Together ensures that support workers delivering this service are appropriately screened and trained for their role, so you can feel at ease allowing our staff into your home. Furthermore, as we respect the right of participants to have input and exercise control when it comes to the support they receive, we invite you to be involved in the process of matching our support workers to you for this service.

Community access is a service with a value that is difficult to overstate. We believe it is vital for people to stay engaged with their communities in order to help them lead social and active lives – and, of course, to have some fun. That’s why we strive to make community access easy; whether you would like to pursue your favourite activities and hobbies, go on holiday, or reliably attend medical appointments, we provide transport for a range of community-focused purposes, as well as assisting with your participation. And if you don’t yet have any activities you’re undertaking, we are happy to sit down and chat with you to work out which activities might align best with your interests and broader goals.

Participants who are eligible for this service will have funding available for ‘Assistance with Social and Community Participation’ under their Core Supports. Funding in this category can be used in a wide variety of ways, on recurring activities (such as a weekly sporting event) or on once-off events such as attending a concert or going on holiday. Our support workers can drive you there and back or travel together with you using a pre-booked service (e.g., taxi). We will make sure you arrive back home safely, have a great time, and ultimately stay connected with your community. You can have peace of mind knowing that our support workers are well trained and experienced. They will support you to liaise with other parties and communicate your needs to ensure the effectiveness and quality of your support.

We would love to help you develop your skills further so you can feel confident taking on more of life’s challenges. Our skills development program will do just this, by building up your capacity in a number of different areas so that you will have the tools you need to live with greater autonomy. We can help you with such things as:

·  Communication

·  Personal presentation

·  Self-esteem and emotional resilience

·  Travelling by public transport

·  Meal planning and nutrition

·  Personal finance (e.g., budgeting, banking)

·  Technology (computers, smart devices)

Of course, these are only some of the areas we can assist you with, and our first step is always to listen to you about what matters to you the most. Once we’ve identified the skills you’d like to work on, we can connect you with the right coach or mentor for you.

Skills development is a service that we can offer when a participant has funding available under the Capacity Building budget. Within this budget there is funding available for up to 9 categories, these being:

·  Support Coordination

·  Improved Relationships

·  Increased Social & Community Participation

·  Improved Living Arrangements

·  Improved Learning

·  Finding & Keeping a Job

·  Improved Health & Wellbeing

·  Improved Life Choices

·  Improved Daily Living

The Short Term Accommodation/Respite service provides a number of benefits for participants, as well as for their carers and informal support network. Through short term accommodation, participants will enjoy a change of environment and a change from their usual routine, with opportunities to have new experiences, form new friendships, and build greater independence. At the same time, this service also offers respite for carers and others who make up a participant's informal support network, which can have the effect of strengthening relationships between participants and carers by giving all parties a change of pace from their established routines.

Typically, participants who are eligible for this service are entitled to 28 days per year of short-term accommodation, as part of their Core Supports. This can of course vary, and Aspire Together will work closely with participants and carers to use short term accommodation entitlements in flexible ways that best suit individual needs.

We aim to give you an experience that is safe and inclusive, with an approach that balances a high standard of care with a respect for your independence and control. 

Individual Living Options, or ILO, is a very tailored approach to your living and support needs. ILO packages are suited to participants who wish to exercise more choice and control over their living and support arrangements by planning where they will live, who they will live with, as well as who they will receive support from and how. ILO is different from Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), which will cover the cost of the housing itself, while the focus of ILO funding is to help you to work out a plan that maximises your independence and uses your supports in a way that complements your preferences, strengths, and needs. This might see you choosing to live alone, with a host family, or with a housemate, and having a plan of support not just from paid support workers, but from friends and family as well.

We will help you to guide you through the two stages of the ILO process, which begins with Exploration and Design, where we sit down with you to understand your situation and discover what your ideal living arrangement might look like. With this stage complete, we can begin the second stage of Implementation with you, to put your plan into action and monitor how things are going and whether any adjustments need to be made.

Supported Independent Living is about giving participants the support they need to live independently, either by themselves or in a shared home setting with others. Aspire Together will work with you to create a roster of care, which is a plan for what support you’ll receive every week to make sure you are living your life as independently as possible. This could mean assistance with a variety of things, including shopping, cooking, cleaning, personal care, and community access. An important part of the SIL service is that when we support you in these areas we do so with the aim of also developing your own skill in these areas, to maximise your independence over the long term.

Funding for ‘Supported Independent Living’ is found under the category ‘Assistance with Daily Life’ in your NDIS plan. In some cases a participant will receive funding for SIL when they first begin using the NDIS, but if you do not yet have funding in your plan for it then Aspire Together can engage with an Occupational Therapist and your Support Coordinator to help you apply for SIL funding.

According to NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2022 – 2023, the NDIS will fund disability-related health supports that directly relate to a participant’s significant and permanent functional impairment and assist them to undertake activities of daily living. These supports are provided individually to participants and can be provided in a range of environments, including (but not limited to) the participant’s own home. 

If you have funding related to health supports in your plan, and require certain professional nursing support, our intake officer and nursing team will work out a suitable and effective plan to address your individual disability-related health care needs. After the right plan has been put together, a support assistance team will put your plan into action with a combination of support from a  Support Worker, Enrolled Nurse, Registered Nurse, and Social Worker as required. 

Our experienced Enrolled Nurse and Registered Nurse are specialised in Post-acute care, Complex wound care, Medication management, bowel and incontinence care and catheter management.

Our support coordinators will help you to understand your plan, your funding entitlements, and the processes used by the NDIS, so that your plan can be implemented in a personalised and optimised way.

Overview

Some NDIS plans include funding for support coordination, or specialist support coordination, which can be found under Capacity Building. A Support Coordinator is there to help you in two big ways: to understand the NDIS and your plan, and to help you implement your plan.

Understanding

Having a support coordinator means having someone who can guide you through the ins-and-outs of your plan and answer any questions you may have about it. When participants understand their plan better and how it all works, they are able to take more control and exercise more choice. Having more say, not less, is one outcome that a good support coordinator will achieve with you.

Implementation

Support coordinators are also there to maximise your plan's potential and make sure everything is running smoothly. This means doing things like:

- Ensuring that the service agreements and bookings you have in place with providers are being delivered as agreed.

- Connecting you with suitable providers, as well as government and community services.

- Assisting with plan reviews.

- Engaging with participants' informal support networks to optimise support around your needs and goals.

Mental health issues pose unique challenges and impacts on individuals seeking to foster independence and greater community engagement. Fortunately, mental ill-health has in recent years seen increased support under the NDIS, and nowadays participants assessed as having psychosocial disabilities are able to access support from specialists in mental health. These specialists are known as Psychosocial Recovery Coaches, and they use their experience supporting participants with formal knowledge and qualifications in mental health.

Recovery Coaches will take the time to understand you and the particular challenges you face to guide you through the NDIS, assist with setting and realising goals, and connect you to the right services. Psychosocial Recovery Coaches will help you both with managing your day-to-day life by strengthening your skills around such things as budgeting and transport, while helping you to plan for the mid and long-term by creating a recovery plan with you, conducting periodic plan reviews, and assisting with your Annual Plan Review.

Funding for Psychosocial Recovery Coaching is found within Capacity Building under Support Coordination, with the number of hours of funding varying with each individual’s needs and circumstances.