Support coordination: Lessons from the trenches – Question 9

Lessons from the trenches - panel members

• Miranda Purchase (MP) – Support Coordinator, MP Coordination
• Veronica Santomingo (VS) – Support Coordinator, Richmond Fellowship Queensland
• Aylin Taylor (AT) – Support Coordinator, Tailored Options
• Sue Grier (SG) – Managing Director, Let’s Connect Support Services
• Elizabeth Hickey (EH) – Support Coordinator, AFA Support Coordination
• Hannah Redford (HR) - Support Coordinator, Tulip Coordination
• Sabine Hazlett (SH) – Support Coordinator, Lifestyle Mentor Services
• Zena Dyson (ZD) – Specialist Support Coordinator/Team Leader, Esteem Care Services
• Sera CrichtonAita (SC) – Support Coordinator, Australian Regional & Remote Community Services

Where do you spend most of your time – e.g. connecting clients to supports, engaging with the NDIA, writing reports, preparing clients for plan reassessments etc?

MP – Most of my time is connecting to clients and engaging with providers. This is followed by the NDIA, and very little time writing reports and preparing clients for plan reassessments, as my job is to coordinate the allied health team to ensure the evidence for assessments is sufficient.

VS –

• In the office – responding to enquiries, engaging with NDIA (60%)
• Client engagement – calls and face-to-face (30%)
• Writing reports (10%)

AT – All of the above (connecting clients to supports, engaging with the NDIA, writing reports, preparing clients for plan reassessments etc)

SG – A real mix of all stuff. Phone calls are a big thing.

EH – My job as a support coordinator is to provide a client with assistance in their NDIS journey. Typically, the process I work though looks something like:

• Work with person to develop a budget and plan for the new plan (typically this is based off the plan review information that outlines what it was the client requested).
• Connect with current providers and identify new providers.
• Communicate with providers to ensure that services are in place and that they are aware of the budget and when review/reports will be due.
• Ongoing support to participant to manage plan and review services regularly.
• Preparation for next plan – prepare for planning meeting.
• Contact with the NDIA and writing reports.

I try to focus most of my supports initially in getting the plan implemented right and then provide regular support to review and fix problems. If you have set the services up right and have a plan for what is going to happen during the plan you should only need a couple of hours for plan review.

Unless the client has very complex support needs, reports should be short and should primarily highlight what has happened – it is not the support coordinator’s job to justify support. A good planning template should outline the prime points from other providers and highlight what funding is needed – this should be where the focus is put when helping someone prepare for planning.

Contact with the NDIA should be limited – if you are needing lots of contact, this is probably an indicator that the participant needs a change of circumstances review.

HR – Most of my time as a support coordinator is spent doing a variety of things, there is no one thing I spend more of my time on.

It is connecting clients to supports, calling and emailing to find which allied health professionals have capacity, engaging with the NDIA, gathering, reading and writing reports, preparing clients for plan reassessments, explaining why evidence is needed for everything they are asking for.

SH – Equal amounts.

ZD – All of the above! I don’t think I spend more time on one thing or the other.

SC – Connecting with clients.