What is support coordination?
All families and participants need to implement their NDIS plan. This may include engaging providers and ensuring that their service delivery is of satisfactory quality and is helping their child or participant achieve their goals.
Plan implementation may be completed independently by the family and participant, or with assistance from an NDIS registered provider.
Support to implement the plan (known as support coordination) is the provision of assistance, support to families and participants. It is designed to build capacity in implementing all aspects of a child’s or participant’s plan, including informal, mainstream, community and funded supports.
For children under 8 years NDIS acknowledges that the key worker will assist the family with this role. Once a child is over 8 years of age, Coordination Support can be included to take on this role if needed. Families can discuss with their planner their need for Support Coordination.
What activities does a support coordinator usually undertake?
Support coordinators work with families and participants in how they will implement their support budgets/ funding to achieve the NDIS goals described in their plan.
This may include:
Support coordinators may also undertake some specialist activities including:
What activities doesn’t a support coordinator provide?
They do not make a judgement about the adequacy of the plan and do not make requests for an unscheduled plan review on behalf of families or participants.
The families and the participants need for support coordination is expected to decrease as their skills and capacity increases.
Because of this, support coordinator are not funded to provide:
How are support coordinators engaged?
Families choose the support coordinator they want.
The planner will send a request for service to this agency. The request includes details of what supports the participant requires.
Support coordination providers consider the request and inform the planner whether it is accepted. A plan handover is then arranged between the planner and support coordinator.
What are support coordinators expected to do?
Support coordinators are expected to:
What outcomes do support coordinators deliver for participants?
Support coordination enables families or participants to:
There are three levels of Coordination Support:
Each one responds to the different levels of need a family or participant may have in order to implement their plan.
Level 1:
Support Connection is a non-ongoing service focused on enabling the participant to connect to supports in the plan. The word “connection” is appropriate for a support that assists participants to establish arrangements with funded providers, and to build a network of informal and mainstream supports.
Support Connection’s focus is helping the participant to start their plan implementation by assisting them to:
By providing this support it is expected that families/ participants will gain the skills they need to participate in NDIA processes and gain independence in creating and maintaining supports.
Support Connection may be made available to support the participant to learn how to:
Level 2:
Support Coordination has the features of Support Connection, with an increased focus on:
The word “coordination” indicates a more intensive engagement than “connection”.
As well as the features of Support Connection, Support Coordination would focus on:
Support Coordination may be made available to enable the family or participant to activate their plan and learn about other aspects of the plan cycle, including preparing for review.
If Support Coordination is required in a review plan, it is included for a specific purpose, such as to support the family or participant to change service provider, or to resolve specific points of crisis or barriers affecting support.
Level 3: Specialist Support Coordination - Used only in exceptional circumstances.
Copyright © 2017. Yarran Early Intervention Services.