How can a support coordinator help me?
A support coordinator can help you develop the skills you need to use your plan to achieve your goals, live more independently and participate more fully in your community. Support coordinators are funded through the NDIS to work with individuals who have high support needs or who don’t have access to a local area coordinator.
A support coordinator can help you:
- explain how your NDIS plan works and help you understand what fund options are available to you to choose from
- connect you to service providers in your area
- negotiating with your providers on which services they will offer that would benefit you and how much it will cost from your funding
- putting you in touch with the local places where you could potentially meet people and be active in your community
- organise assessments
- negotiate services and prices
- manage your NDIS plan budget
- resolve any crisis in relation to your plan
There are a lot of benefits to having a support coordinator. There is no compulsion for using a Support Coordinator under the NDIS, but there are benefits in engaging someone in someone you trust.
A good Support Coordinator would be able to optimise your NDIS funding and make sure you get the most value and benefit out of your plan. They will also help you make decisions over the services you receive, so you get the support you want.
When you visit your support coordinator, there are some attributes you can look for that would help you find the right one for you. They always put you first when it comes to looking for someone who partners with you, respects your choices and is flexible enough to meet your needs.
They are outcome focused and are motivated to help you achieve your goals, with involvement a lot of thinking and planning.They know your locality and area and know which one would be the right fit for you. They should have knowledge or all the options available. They want you to learn and know about things. Knowledge sharing also shows that your support coordinator is interested in going beyond the work and taking efforts to tell you about NDIS.
They should have amazing communication skills that would help them to write reports to the NDIS on your behalf and communicate what would work and what would not work. Good reading, writing and communication skills are important!
Having the right health care support coordinator can help you get the most out of the NDIS.