The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) allows participants to access and manage their benefits with ease. The NDIS does this with help from support providers.
One of the most critical aspects of accessing support services for NDIS participants is NDIS support coordination. Coordination is important because it allows for clarity of purpose, united goals among providers, and the ability to adjust benefits based on changing goals.
NDIS plan coordination is handled by designated NDIS support coordinators. In addition to being one of the most important roles, an NDIS support coordinator position is also one of the most satisfying careers a person can have within the NDIS ecosystem.
Take a look at everything there is to know about the role of an NDIS support coordinator!
What Is NDIS Support Coordination?
NDIS support coordination is designed to help NDIS participants make the best use of the benefits available in their plans. Support coordination services are delivered by a support coordinator.
The goals of support coordination include:
- Helping participants understand their plans.
- Assisting participants with using their plans to pursue their unique goals.
- Helping participants to connect with NDIS providers. In addition, coordinators actually help to connect participants with community and government service providers.
- Working toward the goal of helping participants to have the confidence and skills to eventually take proactive roles in coordinating their own supports.
What makes support coordination especially interesting is that it’s not “just” something that’s done on behalf of a plan participant. Support coordinators truly work in collaboration with their clients.
In fact, coordinators are constantly helping their clients pivot toward being able to manage more and more of their own services to build confidence.
What Do NDIS Support Coordinators Do?
The role of a support coordinator can look different for every client. That’s because NDIS participants are all people with different backgrounds, goals, and capabilities.
Here’s a rundown of the tasks support coordinators are expected to manage:
- Assessing options for providers based on the specifics of a participant’s plan.
- Helping participants to choose preferred options and providers.
- Navigating the NDIS myplace portal.
- Negotiating prices and services.
- Developing service agreements.
- Creating bookings with preferred providers.
- Adjusting provider service agreements whenever necessary.
- Helping participants understand their responsibilities.
- Helping to organize a budget for each type of support.
- Informing plan managers of how support funds will be spent.
- Ensuring that each participant is getting the full value of their current plan.
- Helping to resolve any problems or issues that arise.
- Assisting with plan reviews, evaluating progress, creating new goals, deciding if goals have been reached, and measuring the value of different supports.
The value of a support coordinator is that they actually help to keep a plan on track in the present while constantly evaluating the value of support services to make improvements.
The awareness and intervention that support coordinators bring to the table create a real sense of advocacy for an NDIS plan participant.
In addition, support coordinators are valued by support providers because they help to set up clear expectations between participant and provider.
See also: Interested in starting a career in NDIS Support Coordination? Check out How to Become an NDIS Support Coordinator here.
Types of Support Coordination
One of the more interesting aspects of support coordination is that there are actually several different choices. The NDIS is flexible when it comes to how participants can choose to access their benefits.
This is more than evident in the way that participants can choose from three different options for support coordination.
Support Connection
The goal of support connection is to build the NDIS participant’s ability to connect with different types of support providers. This includes funded supports, community supports, and informal supports.
Ultimately, support coordination enables a participant to enjoy a well-rounded support system that covers many different angles.
Coordination of Supports
Considered the “mainstream” option, coordination of supports is a robust tier with a goal of helping NDIS plan participants to build the skills and awareness necessary to understand their plans.
Support coordinators working in this tier are focused on helping participants to increase their capacities for maintaining relationships, managing tasks related to support delivery, and thriving as an independent member of the community.
This tier combines organization and management with a goal of helping a participant to manage more of their own support coordination over time.
Specialist Support Coordination
Offering a higher level of support for NDIS participants with complex situations, this tier provides assistance with managing the challenges that one might face within their support environment.
The main goal is to guarantee consistent delivery of services across all providers. Specialist support coordination is often accessed by participants with higher needs.
How to Access NDIS Support Coordination
NDIS support coordination is something that’s open to qualifying NDIS participants. In order to be included in an NDIS plan, support coordination must be deemed “reasonable and necessary” before it can be added to a participant’s Capacity Building budget.
If a plan states the specific level of support coordination that will be funded for a participant, this is the level of support coordination that can be purchased.
However, some plans do not include a specific level of support coordination that is funded. This means that the participant is able to select the level of coordination necessary to help them meet the goals specified in their plans.
Final Thoughts on NDIS Support Coordination
NDIS support coordination can be a valuable asset that allows participants to squeeze every ounce of potential from their plans.
One of the perks of NDIS support coordination is that it allows participants to access resources from many different directions that include community, government, and “organic” supports.
In addition, support coordinators play key roles in ensuring that the process of accessing support services from various providers and sources is going smoothly.
Related article: Looking for more information on NDIS Plan Management? Check out NDIS Plan Management Explained here.