Annual General Meeting 2019

On Saturday, 30 November 2019, Rural Lifestyle Options Australia held the 26th Annual General Meeting at the Murwillumbah Services Club. Please find below the 'Our Year In Review' video which premiered at this event, and our Annual Report for 2018 - 2019. The 'Our Year In Review' video showcases some of the highlights of the organisation in the 2018 - 2019 Financial Year.

Rural Lifestyle Options Australia's 2018 - 2019 Annual Report is now available in a variety of formats. While our mission of ‘Supporting a life of choice’ remains devoted, our approach to delivering this is sharply focused on what matters most, and that is the individual. Behind every statistic is a person, with a name, a story to tell, and a perspective of what it really means to experience a life of choice. We invite you to explore the report online through the link below. To view a copy of the Rural Lifestyle Options Australia Annual Report (2018 - 2019) please visit https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1141/

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#NDIS

Plan Management vs Support Coordination

The NDIS introduced us to some new roles and terminology; the one that appears to have confused most of us has been Plan Management and Support Coordination.

Whilst the titles themselves could be seen as slightly misleading, the expectation of the roles are also often assumed and not accurate. The key difference between Support Coordination and Plan Management is the Plan Manager is only able to assist you to manage the financial side of your supports.

They do not manage or organise your supports, they do not negotiate staff with providers; they simply manage and pay invoices from providers on your behalf and budget your NDIS funds. The benefit of having a plan manager is that it allows you to access services or supports that are not registered with the NDIS, giving you the flexibility to pursue smaller providers or services not typically registered with the NDIS to support yourself or the person in receipt of the NDIS plan.

On the other hand Support Coordination has three levels of support; Support Connection, Support Coordination and Specialist Support Coordination. Depending on the complexity of the participant, types of supports required and your needs, you might get none of these supports in your NDIS plan, you might get one or even two of these supports in your plan. Support Connection is a light touch support to assist in implementing your plan, connecting you with informal, community and funded supports.

Support Connection is typically only a few hours per month and therefore once the bulk of the work has been completed by assisting you to connect with your community and funded supports, your Support Connection supports will decrease to minimal communication with yourself until the end of your plan when they can assist you to prepare for your NDIS review. Support Coordination is a more involved support with the primary focus on helping you understand your plan and to build the skills to implement and manage your own NDIS plan in the future.

Support Coordination is typically a few hours per week, with the majority of this time used in the initial set up of your supports. Once your supports and Service Agreements are in place, the Support Coordinator will communicate briefly with you from time to time to ensure you are still happy with your supports and to ascertain if there is any additional supports required.

The communication might only be once or twice a month at this stage of your plan. Similar to Support Connection, at the end of your plan the Support Coordinator can assist you to prepare for your review, collate any reports from service providers and if desired can attend your NDIS review meeting with you. Specialist Support Coordination is the higher level of supports and is used for those more complex situations who might require the coordination of multiple government agencies or services to ensure your goals are being actively pursued. Specialist Support Coordination is only required when there is a high level of complexity with Specialist Support Coordinators needing to have degree qualified skill sets.

Author: Mr Shane Ferguson, Regional Manager

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This article originally appeared in Issue 12 of the Rural Lifestyle Options Australia Magazine, to read more visit https://online.flippingbook.com/view/794084/ #NDIS

Michael's Fight - Overcoming Adversity and Embracing Change

From an early age, Michael’s goal in life was to never be unemployed and to always be able to provide for his family. A firm believer in continuous education, Michael spent many years of his life investing in his personal learning and development.

He fought to be the top of his field in whatever he set his mind to and his qualifications allowed him to travel extensively, whilst providing a good quality of life for those who were closest to him.

Michael had the world at his feet, until one moment changed his life forever. As Michael was commuting to work on his motorcycle one morning, a truck pulled out in front of him and he went right into the side of it. Michael describes the accident as “a disaster” with the impact crushing his “hands, arms, legs, shoulders, knees, feet and toes.” The next four years would see Michael in the fight of his life. During this period, Michael was in and out of hospital, and as he recalls had “well over 50 general anesthetic surgeries” to put him back together again.

“At the time, there was no NDIS, there was nothing like that. I went to the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centre to see if they would help me get better so I could be employable again, but they refused to help me because there was ongoing surgery. So, their stance was come back and see us when the surgeries are finished, and the surgery is still going on today. That was in 1999.”

Michael continued to explore avenues to become employable again, but with multiple surgeon reports stating ‘home duties only’, he had no luck in finding a job provider to help him. After exhausting all options, Michael took it upon himself to find a job, on his own. Despite receiving multiple interviews, Michael couldn’t pass any of the medical exams, which put him back at square one. The next few years would see Michael’s family breaking down, and despite receiving a payout from the Government, his “lawyers and Centrelink ended up taking almost half of it”. After the payout, Michael was put on a 10 year preclusion period which prevented him from claiming any expenses or benefits through the government, which complicated matters further, as he had two children to raise.

“I managed to scrape through with only a few hundred dollars left to my name. By the end of the ten year period, I had nothing left. I went nowhere. I did nothing. I missed out on a lot of things and my mental health declined dramatically. I went to many places seeking help, but couldn’t get any assistance, as there was no funding.”

“Fortunately, the NDIS came on the scene, and I distinctly remember Julia Gillard standing up and saying “No Australian should have to live a lesser quality of life because of a disability, no matter how they acquired that disability” and I was actually applauding her, that was an amazing statement for me. It took some time to get it up and running, and there were a lot of teething problems as you could well imagine and the reason being that you cannot put disabled people in categories… as every person has a separate disability from the next person.”

Prior to moving his NDIS package to Rural Lifestyle Options Australia, Michael had trialed two other NDIS providers, but felt they couldn’t offer him the “choice and control” the NDIS had promised. “They would change carers almost every single day. Nobody cares about your dignity; they just don’t worry about it. Through no fault of your own, you have lost control of your life. So, eventually I bailed from them and went to RLOA. They were actually quite amazing to begin with. I couldn’t believe the speed at which they worked at. I got to see Vicki and it took her two days to organise everything. I was in tears; I was just stunned.”

“There have been a few carers I’ve had which have just been astounding… Knock, knock, knock on the door and the first thing he does is give you a massive smile. He greets you and shakes your hand before asking “What would you like to do first? What would you like to do today? What can I help you with?””

Over the course of Michael’s journey, he has stayed true to his goal of continuous education. Recently, Michael completed his studies to become a Justice of the Peace and is looking forward to working in practice to give back to the local community.

For the past five years, Michael has been the Manager of the Body Corporate Committee, in the building in which he resides. These days, Michael’s fight looks much different, as he fights to achieve the best outcomes for the residents in his complex. I’ve made massive changes. All for the better. I’ve managed to drop our expenditure by over $50,000 a year. I’m delighted with that. And as a result of this, the body corporate fees have never risen.”

Change has always been welcomed by Michael, who has overcome a lot of adversity in his life. “People are so frightened of change. Nothing… Nothing… can improve unless you embrace change. Change needs to be embraced. Change is the most amazing thing you can find. Everybody can benefit from change.”

As an organisation, we are proud to support Michael in achieving his goals, and hope he continues to go from strength to strength. Today, Michael has rediscovered love. He has an “incredible relationship with his two children” and is still very passionate about personal learning and development.

“I keep on putting myself in the deep end, and just keep learning.”

Rural Lifestyle Options Australia offer our sincere gratitude to Michael for taking the time to share his story.

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This article originally appeared in Issue 12 of the Rural Lifestyle Options Australia Magazine, to read more visit https://online.flippingbook.com/view/794084/ #NDIS