Anyone started with the NDIS?

Hi @Tight-Control I was with PHaMs and they cut me off with 1 day's notice once they knew I had received an NDIS plan and funds. Probably can't name and shame the organisation that was providing it but gee I wish I could. They did not help me one bit in my long battle to get NDIS acceptance.

I'm glad you see my story as a good one. I certainly can't complain about the eventual outcome but if you have the patience to read back to when my initial access request went in you'll see it's been a very rocky rollercoaster (to mix metaphors) that lasted 1 1/2 years. I had to go as far as taking them to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal before they conceded 2 days before the hearing was scheduled.

I know it's a lot to read and I wish I could put a contents page at the start of it like a book! I went through every possible avenue before I was finally accepted, so I hope I can help others dealing with similar challenges.

Hey @eth and all reading this great thread on the NDIS.

Has anyone has to come up with their own service plan before? My psychologist is basically saying how much she'll charge me and I have to come up with my own service plan which we'll both sign. Sounds weird... yes?

Hi @Queenie I haven't had to do that myself. All my providers had their own 'service agreement' that they each got me to sign before services began. But as far as I know there is a template of a sample service agreement on the NDIS website. I'll have a look for a link to it for you now. Do you have a Coordinator of Supports? - I think they should handle this for you. Or your plan manager if you have one.

Maybe this will help @Queenie :

https://www.ndis.gov.au/html/sites/default/files/documents/Service_Agreement.docx

or this :

http://carersaustralia.com.au/storage/self-management-service-agreement-example.pdf

Hey @eth sadly I wasn't funded for support coordination, I have had to do it all myself (which is a nightmare). I think I will need to put something together and email my psychologist about it. I was funded for about $5K for therapy, so we shall see how we go. I don't even have a support worker yet, I'm still waiting to hear back from organisations (they don't seem too interested in helping me or getting their hands on my funds - equating to about $26K). I contact organisations stating what I am looking for but never hear back from them. I call again and they 'pretend' they've not heard of me before, despite me knowing the names of particular staff members. It is starting to wind me down really.

Thanks for the link @eth. It is much appreciated. You're a wealth of knowledge with this stuff! 🙂

Sorry to hear that @Queenie I understand your frustration. I had quite a few weeks trying to get supports too, even with a coordinator of supports. I highly recommend looking into HireUp and how it works.https://hireup.com.au/ You create a profile on there, do their safety plan and service agreement (another you could use as an example for what you need to do with your psychologist) and then you can see the profiles of the support workers and book your own jobs and people working in your area will contact you if they want the job. Once they become part of your team you can book that person specifically. It works well for me for occasional needs. Then I also have support workers from two organisations that do regular hours. Not sure what area you are in so there's not much point naming them. Took almost 2 months to put all this in place. Don't give up! I think also you could ring the NDIS yourself and talk through the problems you are having, if you are self-managed this could be helpful.

My day started with agitation and irritation as 5 minutes after I woke up I had a message from a new support worker I'd never met telling me they'd be here in 1/2 an hour. Hands shaking, palpitations, the works. 1. I had been told I had one of the workers I've been with before this afternoon. 2. the coordinator of supports knows and has on my file that I need an introduction meeting with her present before I go out with someone new. Even the worker that came agreed it was just plain rude to only give me 1/2 hour's notice of the change. I have to give them 24 hrs notice of changes from my end or else pay so it's just not ok for them to do what they did. Not the sw's fault at all but she got to hear my complaint nevertheless. Hoping this isn't a sign of an unreliable organisation that does this sort of thing regularly.

Not so sure I want to see the support worker from yesterday again. She kept referring to her marriage break-up and moving process that she's going through at the moment and joked about the bottle of scotch she found while packing that her daughter had hidden from her. After telling me her 'lived experience' as a peer worker is 8 months rehab to give up drinking. I might sound selfish, but I think there's such a thing as the peer worker sharing too much about their own life. After all, I am the 'customer', the one being supported. Plus several times she forgot what I'd already told her.

I'll be trying to contact my coordinator of supports tomorrow before I go to discuss the above and the way the booking happened.

@eth I've been following your ndis journey and am really pleased that you were successful in your appeal!

regarding the peer worker, the information she shares needs to ensure that you feel safe with her, be appropriate and beneficial. There are key principles of peer work that she needs to abide by, were you able to bring up that her sharing wasn't helping?

Is both the support staff and COS from the same organisation, I ask because the COS may or may not be updated on individual support workers.