NDIS Information
The NDIS provides support to Australians (under the age of 65) with a permanent and significant disability, as well as their families and carers.
By providing the assistance they need to enjoy an ordinary life, the NDIS helps people with disability achieve their goals.
This includes fostering independence and community involvement – to necessities such as education, employment, health, and wellbeing.
It also provides information and referrals to existing support services within the community.
Where does mental health fit in?
A psychosocial disability is one which arises from a mental health condition. Of course, not everyone with a mental health condition will have a psychosocial disability.
But for those who do, it is often debilitating and long-lasting, and can have a significant impact on their day to day life.
The goal of the NDIS is to provide support that leads to a journey of recovery, where recovery is about achieving a state of optimal personal, emotional, and social wellbeing, as defined by you.
This may mean living with or recovering from mental health issues.
The NDIS offers a lifetime commitment to reasonable and necessary support around everyday activities – underpinned by hope and optimism. The key principles that align with this recovery are choice and control, along with increased social and economic participation. We all know how important connectedness and relationships are to our health and wellbeing.
In an individual plan, there may flexibility built around providing more support when you need it most, and less when you do not.
You need to satisfy three criteria to access the NDIS:
- You must be under the age of 65 (people over 65 can access the aged care system).
- You must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or meet specific VISA requirements living in an area where NDIS is rolling out.
- And finally, you must meet the disability criteria.
This may be where the waters get murky for some.
You need to prove your mental health condition is permanent or likely-to-be permanent. You also need to show that there are no more appropriate evidence-based treatments that could remedy your mental health condition.
The functional impact your mental health condition has on your everyday life is also relevant for NDIS access.
You will need to prove that it prevents you from functioning without support in at least one of the following areas:
- Mobility/motor skills: your ability to move about the home and community carrying out ordinary daily activities
- Communication: being understood, understanding others and the ability to express your needs in spoken, written or sign language
- Social Interaction: interacting with the community, keeping and making friends and coping with feelings and emotions in a social context
- Learning: understanding and remembering information, learning new things and using new skills
- Self-care: the ability to meet your own healthcare needs and activities such as hygiene, feeding yourself and grooming
- Self-management: the cognitive capacity to organise your life and take personal responsibility
Our Psychologists can support your application to the NDIS by providing you with a functional assessment using the ABAS-III, WHODAS, LSP-16, as well as other recognised assessments the NDIS prefers in assisting their decision.
We can also provide you with a comprehensive report on functioning as well as recommendations to support your psychosocial recovery.
Alternatively, if you have a copy of your medical history, we can complete the NDIS Evidence of Psychosocial Disability Form and submit it to the NDIA.
Being NDIS registered providers we can also provide you with psychosocial solutions to improve your independence, daily function, and autonomy.
Our psychologists aim to:
- Identify and work towards your goals
- Understand your functional impairment in the 6 areas relevant to the NDIS
- Empower your support network with tools and techniques for coping with challenges
- Manage any mental health symptoms by creating a plan and offering ongoing support
- Help you increase your community engagement and independence.
