When applying for NDIS services, navigating through the maze of information can be daunting for many people.
To take full advantage of what NDIS may be able to offer you and your loves ones, in addition to having access to the correct information, an understanding of the jargons that are used by NDIS is important as well.
As a result, Takes Care Specialist Centre has developed a list of commonly used jargons, together with their descriptions that participants may encounter (shown below), when navigating through the NDIS processes.
Jargon Descriptions
The criteria that someone must meet to become a participant. The requirements are listed below.
- Age: under 65 years.
Residency: live in Australia and be an Australian citizen or have paperwork letting you live here permanently.
Disability: your disability is permanent (will not go away) and stable
It refers to someone who provides personal care, support, and assistance to a person with disability and who is not contracted as a paid or voluntary worker, often. a family member or a guardian.
It describes partial loss of physical or mental functions. This would in turn result into limitation(s) in activities or a restriction in participation, when interacting with your environment.
Supports refer to the things a participant needs to help him/her to undertake daily life activities, participate in the community, and reach his/her goals.
When the funding of a plan is managed by the Agency, thus NDIA is invoiced directly.
The allocated funding is managed by a Plan Manager. As a result, the Planner is invoiced by the provider.
The participant manages his/her funds, thus invoiced directly by the provider.
A person that is acting in a formal role of caring for someone with a disability.
The role of LACs is to assist participants, their families, and carers to access NDIS supports. As a part of their role, LACs help participants write and manage their plans and connect participants to mainstream services and local and community-based supports.
National Disability Insurance Agency, the Commonwealth government organisation administering the NDIS.
National Disability Insurance Scheme. A new way of providing support for Australians with disability, their families, and carers.
Every participant receives a plan after their planning meeting. A participant’s plan includes information, such as their disability, day-to-day activities, allocated funding for the agreed supports and the individual’s goals.
People who have been granted NDIS plans are often referred to as participants.
Psychosocial disability is an accepted term that refers to disability of an individual that is caused by a mental health illness. These impairments include reduced ability of the individual to think clearly and manage social and emotional aspects of their lives. It also reduces the ability of the individual in economic participation, as their mental illness has adverse effects on working memory and organisational skills.
NDIA refers to ‘reasonable’ as meaning fair and ‘necessary’ is term that refers to something that you must have. NDIS provides funding for supports that are fair and participants must have to live an ordinary life and achieve their goals.
A disability support provider that has met the NDIS requirements for qualifications, approvals, experience, capacity, and quality standards to provide services to participants.
A Referral form is a one-page document, created by Takes Care Psychology, to gather the initial information for triage by the Principal Psychologist and preparation of the Service Agreement. A copy this form can be downloaded from the Services page of the Takes Care Psychology website.
When your NDIS plan is approved, you can then decide on services providers that you can work with. In case you may find coordination of your services challenging, you can include the services of a Support Coordinator in your plan.
Support Coordinators can help find mainstream and other disability services.
Takes Care Specialist Centre services can be provided to NDIS participants through the following options:
- Face to face Sessions: These sessions are provided at either our Toowong or Dutton Park locations (Restriction exist due to COVID-19 pandemic)
- In-home services: Our psychologists can travel to the residents of participants and provide in-home services in Brisbane suburbs, such as Annerley, Enoggera, Jindalee, Kedron, Holland Park and Woolloongabba. Please note that during COVID-19 pandemic, home visits can be provided only if the sessions can be carried out in an open-air areas and social distancing rules maintained.
- Telehealth: Telehealth (e.g. Skype, FaceTime etc) is available to all NDIS participants, who live in Brisbane and the regional areas, such as Esk, Gladstone, Maryborough, Gatton, Kingaroy, Nanango, and Toowoomba in QLD, as well as regional town of Victoria, such as Cobram.
Advantage of Takes Care Specialist Centre
Our psychologists are experienced in providing evidenced-based therapies to assist all clients, including NDIS participants. Furthermore, Takes Care Specialist Centre is in a great position to assist with NDIS participants, as in addition to our experienced psychologists, a participant has the choice of seeing a psychiatrist by obtaining a GP referral, if required.
If a participant were to be referred to one our psychiatrists, it has the advantage that allow both the psychologist and psychiatrist of the participant to discuss the case, thus creating a better outcome for the participant.
To find out more how our psychologists at Takes Care Specialist Centre can assist NDIS participants, please call our friendly staff on 07 3870 9388.