ADHC Northern Sydney District MWP Community Forum Information

ADHC Northern Sydney District MWP Community Forum Information
Share September 2014
MENTAL HEALTH & DISABILITY:
COMPANION CARD IS HOLDING A ONE DAY SEMINAR ON DISABILITY AND MENTAL
HEALTH.
The seminar is a free event for mainstream health care professionals and the disability sector, and is
designed to bridge the gap between mainstream services and the disability sector.
Currently, information about mental health in the context of disability is limited, although we know that
people with disability have an increased risk of mental illness and those with significant disability are
more than twice as likely to experience mental illness because of risk factors which increase their
vulnerability, such as poor social networks and lack of meaningful and stimulating activities.
Participants in the seminar will be provided with an evidenced based educational forum to share their
knowledge and experience with the aim of improving service delivery to people with disability.
People with disability, health professionals including support workers and indeed anyone who would like
to learn more about mental health in the context of disability are encouraged to attend.
SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS - Celebrating the International Day for People with Disability Program
Save the date! THURS 4 DEC 2014
SEMINAR DETAILS - TIME: 9:00AM – 4:00PM
ADDRESS: - SMC CENTRE, 66 GOULBURN ST, SYDNEY
FOR MORE INFO OR TO RSVP CALL:
1800 893 044
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Assoc. Prof. Julian Trollor Chair, Intellectual Disability Mental Health, Head, Department of
Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry UNSW Medicine
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Assoc. Prof. Leanne Dowse, Chair, Intellectual Disability and Behaviour Support, School of Social
Sciences UNSW
HOW MENTAL ILLNESS PRESENTS IN PEOPLE WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Dr Kathleen McCarthy, Rehabilitation Physician, Westmead Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE SECTORS
Janice Jankovic, Clinical Nurse Consultant, Department of Family & Community Services, Aging
Disability & Home Care
AUTISM AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY WHERE A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE HAS
DEVELOPED AS A SECONDARY DIAGNOSIS
Louisa Carroll, Clinical Psychologist and Educational & Developmental Psychologist, Psychological
Medicine, Children’s Hospital Westmead
UNDERSTANDING THE PATHWAYS THROUGH THE SYSTEMS
Pamela Rutledge, CEO, Richmond PRA
Partnership paying dividends for Hornsby’s long-term homeless
Homeless people living in the Hornsby area have been found housing following a
morning tea held in June. Pic by Nadeeka Hettihewa.
Five long-term homeless men living in the Hornsby area have been found housing for the first time
in decades courtesy of a partnership between FACS and local community organisations.
As reported in last month’s Stakeholder Newsletter, it follows a morning tea at Hornsby Park in
June hosted by the FACS Northern Sydney District Housing Services Access & Demand team
(Northern Suburbs & Northern Beaches) and the Hornsby Homelessness Task Force (HHTF).
The morning tea provided the Housing Services Access & Demand team with the opportunity to
discuss housing solutions with people sleeping rough in the Hornsby area.
The homeless people – some of whom have been living on the streets or in caves for more than
15 years – were given information on available Housing NSW services and encouraged to seek
assistance.
Five men who attended the morning tea have now been found housing throughout the Northern
Sydney area.
One man, who had been living in his car for 10 years, has been found a place in Pennant Hills
with his dog.
He has been embraced by his neighbours, who have offered him food and friendship. “(He) loves
the place and the neighbours have taken a huge liking to him,” Northern Sydney District Access
and Demand Team Leader Kulangani Mataraarachchi said.
Another man had been sleeping rough in a railway station but has now been given
accommodation in Waitara.
“Their independent living skills are coming to the fore,” Kulangani said.
“They are looking after themselves, they are keeping in touch and letting us know how they are
managing.
“They’re starting their new life,” she said.
The success of the morning tea was recently highlighted in an article published in the Hornsby
Advocate.
The initiative is part of a fledgling partnership between the Access & Demand Team and HHTF – a
community organisation that provides food and support for the homeless – which aims to help
homeless people in the Hornsby area find housing solutions.
St Vincent de Paul in Dural and Hornsby are also involved and have provided household items
and other support.
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It is part of a wider move to develop a long-term plan and protocols for the Northern Suburbs &
Northern Beaches Access and Demand Team to work together with HHTF to address
homelessness faced by rough sleepers in the area.
HHTF Chairwoman Alison Stewart said the partnership was now interested in holding a further
event in Brooklyn in November – the area in which the majority of the long-term homeless live.
Local Hornsby MP Matt Kean has indicated he is interested in attending the event if his schedule
allows.
Kulangani said the Access & Demand Team is also working with the Manly Community Centre to
host a similar event in Manly on 19 September at Manly Oval.
Woolworths’ Balgowlah and Dee Why stores have agreed to provide food, sanitary and other
packaged items to be distributed at this event.
For more information, contact the Northern Suburbs & Northern Beaches Access and Demand
Team on 9809 8444 or [email protected]
NDIS Planning Process
Once a person with disability has been told they are eligible for the NDIS, their individual planning
can begin. The success of this planning depends on three aspects working together:
1. The planning process
2. The person with disability – the participant – and, if the person needs support, families
and carers
3. The NDIS planner
Let’s examine each of these roles.
The planning process
There are five elements to the NDIS planning process:
1. Setting needs and goals
2. Connecting with a personal planner
3. Building a plan
4. Deciding how the plan will be put in place
5. Reviewing their plan
The person with disability – the participant
The planning process is all about the participant because the goal is to
work closely with the person to determine what works best for them
and to give them the opportunity to make their own decisions.
However, with their unique understanding of the person for whom they care, the views and
experiences of families and carers are also important.
The NDIA provides participants, their families, carers and, if appropriate, their support workers
with the information they need to start thinking about the planning conversation they will have with
their planner. Participants, their families and carers will be supported to think outside the box.
Feedback from some participants is that in the beginning they were daunted by this process
especially anticipating the conversation with the planner. But having the chance to get information
about what they should expect at the meeting really helped them.
The NDIS planner
People with disability, their families and carers in the Hunter trial site have stressed the
importance of the planner's role in ensuring a positive outcome for NDIS participants.
The NDIS planner will arrange to meet for the first conversation. This is held at a time and place of
the participant's choosing – in their home if they wish – and they can ask a family member, friend
or carer to help them and be part of the conversation as well.
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This conversation is about their life including anything they have been thinking about or have set
out in plans they might already have. The meeting will take as long as the person needs to talk
through what’s important to them and to help them make decisions. There will usually be more
than one meeting to work through everything with a person. It includes:
 Turning goals and aspirations into a set of actions
 Developing the steps they need to take to achieve their goals and aspirations
 How they will be able to tell if the plan is working
 Options for managing the plan
 Agreement on plan review dates
Once the planner has all the information they need, they develop an individual plan of supports
that they can go back and check with the person. Once a plan is in place, it will be reviewed every
12 months or more often if the person's needs change.
What about people with complex needs?
That all sounds good and probably what we would expect, but we know that the planning process
would not be so straightforward for someone with complex support needs. So, what happens?
Rather than talk about policies and procedures, let’s look at a real life example from the Hunter
trial site where a person with highly complex needs transitioned successfully to the NDIS. The
following key factors contributed to the success of this transition:
 Early identification – current support workers identified very early with the NDIA that this
person had complex needs and the support planning process would need to be handled
very carefully
 Early agreement – NDIA and current support workers agreed on a planned approach to
this person’s transition
 Right people – because they knew about the complexities for this person, NDIA allocated
a Senior Planner with experience working with people with disability with complex needs
to complete the plan.
 Pre-planning – to ensure they had a complete picture of the person, the NDIA planner
o obtained all the relevant information about the person including his very recent
person centred plan, current reports and support plans and daily routines and
supports
o identified information they would need from the person, so familiar support
workers and the Public Guardian (PG) could have preparatory planning
discussions
 Right approach – the first planning meeting with the PG and current support staff was held
where the person lived. He was given the choice about whether to participate or not – in
person or via telephone from the next room – but he chose not to participate. He trusted
the PG and familiar staff to share the information he had given them in the week prior to
the meeting
 Outcome focussed – because the planner had so much information in advance, the
planning meeting could focus on the person’s goals with the planner only needing some
clarification or additional information
 Prompt follow up – a week later, a second meeting was held to which the planner brought
a draft plan for discussion. This meeting included extra people who were significant in the
person’s life including an NGO providing the majority of his supports
 Final agreement – everyone involved agreed that the draft plan captured the person’s
goals well and would allow for his supports to continue virtually unchanged for the next six
months. This was extremely important as this person does not cope well with change
The person was central to and involved in informing the NDIA about his goals and support needs
– it was important to him to have the right people providing the supports to meet his goals on a
day-to-day basis.
The transition process for this person was seamless, less stressful and manageable because:
 the planning was focussed around the person’s goals and supports
 familiar staff and people communicated this rather than the client having to deal directly
with the planner
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The person has now transitioned and is accessing the same core accommodation supports that
he needs but with more community access and provision for equipment that he would not have
had the chance to access before. The entire process was completed within a month.
The NDIA recognises that risks need to be appropriately managed and safeguards put in place for
some participants who nonetheless will continue to have their ability to exercise choice and control
maximised to the extent possible within the agreed safeguards.
To read the NDIA planning workbook and view some videos on the planning process, go to the
NDIS website.
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