How do you navigate the complex nature of your client base and the complexities of working with them and their families? How do you set expectations, so they’re reasonable?
KR – My full time job is managing people’s expectations. We are selective about who we take on as clients. We don’t take on complex clients, as they are time consuming, and me not being available can be life threatening. I am trying to raise three young children.
RA – Communication, case noting, and sometimes even ensuring I send an email or text message to confirm what was discussed and agreed upon. This does not always work, but at least it gives me and my participant a reference point to relate back to if needed.
ZD – I navigate everything one step and one day at a time, using proper, clear, concise communication with everybody involved, and maintaining transparency and open conversation with all family members and support services involved in each participant’s individual journey.
I also make a point of calling all of my clients once a month to check on how the participant’s progress has been, and if all services are working out or if they need to change something.
KW – We set everything up from the beginning and advise we prioritise based on the urgency of the situation. We always reply within 24 hours to acknowledge the email, call etc, and give a reasonable time to get a response to them.
If a caseload has a lot of complex participants, we keep it to a minimum, and ensure the complex cases are spread across the team and not allocated to one support coordinator.
SM – From the start, I set the boundaries. In these particular instances, sometimes it isn’t the participant themselves who is complex but the multidisciplinary teams and other stakeholders around them that make it complex.
I outline what my role is, what my work times are, and expectations for correspondence and actions to be completed. Outlining what your role actually is is extremely important. As support coordinators, we are not case managers or crisis workers. Entering into arenas where a support coordinator does become one of those roles can lead to burnout and over utilisation of funds.
VS – I am incredibly lucky that I have clients with supportive family members. If someone is being overly demanding, I simply remind them one call/message/email is sufficient and I will call back as soon as I can. I reiterate my work hours and remind them I will endeavour to follow up on their request.
SH – It is cliché, however you need to listen and operate at the level that the participant is at. Ultimately it is the participant’s choice and control that will guide their journey, and as support coordinators, we should guide them through as best we can.
Expectations play a critical role with this, encouraging participants and their families to be involved in all aspects of the implementation of their plan is key to having positive changes in their lives.
AT – I’m very transparent with the participants I work with, and I ensure boundaries are set in place from the very beginning – regardless of the complexities. This allows me and the participant to work more effectively together.
If a participant has concerns or has stated that it’s my job to do certain things for them, I always remind them of my role and how I best support them. They generally may not like it, however I do manage to remind them of what has been done so far and the end goals, and how we’re working towards those goals. This has worked many times.
I also reiterate that if they’re not happy with my services, they’re more than welcome to go to another support coordinator.
EH – One of the biggest lessons I learnt from working with complex families is that boundaries must be set in stone – especially if you have skills in many areas. It can be easy and tempting to step in and help with all sorts of different things, especially when the support is not available when it is needed.
Being a support coordinator, you are likely to be a very caring person and likely to find saying no hard. However, having the training to know what you can and cannot do, along with the knowledge and experience to know that you don’t have to fix everything, is important to ensuring that you work safely.
Set the expectations and boundaries from the first interaction. Being clear with a client and their family from the outset is important to ensuring the relationship is sustainable. Have specifics in your service agreement and discuss them when you complete it.
Ensure you are clear and that you provide honest feedback about both what you can and cannot do – and know the rules that the NDIS runs by. These will usually help you more than hinder you in ensuring that you are able to set appropriate expectations.
(DB) – I don’t believe people are complicated, but I do think systems are. At ARC, we work with people primarily who have a psychosocial disability. Many of the people we work with must navigate a range of different services and systems such as Centrelink, job providers, mental health services, housing and homelessness, child protection and/or guardianship and Public Trustee services. This can be incredibly overwhelming and create a lot of complexity in a person’s life. We walk alongside people and help them to navigate these with care and compassion.
It is really important to be clear about what you can and can’t help a person to achieve as a support coordinator or recovery coach. For example, a person my be homeless and in desperate need of stable housing. It's important to validate that need and the distress it is causing a person, but not to promise to ‘fix’ the situation. It's important to let the person know what you can and can’t do and then understand from them what they want from your service, within those limitations. So, in the example of someone who is homeless, we would be letting them know how we can assist them to explore and source stable housing, but we would never want to give the impression we can find their ideal home.
