My Coordinator

10/10/2023

Collin Mullane is interviewed about fraud in the Four Corners investigation into the NDIS

Collin Mullane is interviewed about fraud in the Four Corners investigation into the NDIS

27/09/2023

We emailed NDIS Minister, Bill Shorten, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and we pulled no punches.

the text reads:

In the ABC 4 Corners program 'Careless' on 25th September, Tracy Mackey smiled her way through a deeply serious interview, washed her hands of any responsibility, and demonstrated she is unfit to lead the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

It is time for the Minister, Bill Shorten, to replace the sheepish Commissioner with a sharp-toothed wolf that is prepared to prosecute instead of defaulting to a little finger wagging.

The Commission also needs more resources to put feet in the doorways of providers and do random checks on welfare, quality, and safeguarding.

Here's a simple 4 point plan:

1. Sack Tracy Mackey
2. Resource The Commission
3. Prosecute With Prejudice
4. Put Safeguarding First

Regards,

12/09/2023

This resonates.

It’s a struggle to find specific supports for individuals.

Does this sound familiar?

Participant (P): Hi, I want assistance to employ a new support worker.

Service Provider (SP): That’s what we’re here for. We can help you find the right people.

P: Perfect. I need the support worker to be flexible.

SP: No problem. We’re extremely person centred. We always put the client first.

P: I know when I need support throughout the week. Sometimes things happen out of the blue and need to organise support at short notice.

SP: No problem. You can call “on call” and they’ll help you arrange the extra support. How many hours do we get?

P: I already have a core team. We work together to ensure all the gaps in my support are filled.

SP: How many hours do we get?

P: There are some changes in my Team coming up, so I need to find someone for 15hours, across Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

SP: Great. We can find some people to fill those gaps. When do we start.

P: No. I’m looking for one additional person, who can work about 15hours. At this stage those hours will be Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. But these arrangements change with appointments. The person needs to work with me and the rest of my Team to ensure I have all my supports covered.

SP: We don’t work like that. We find out who is available for the shift you want and send them out. We need to decide when and where our employees work. There’s no way we can guarantee the same worker for those shifts?

P: So, you won’t allow your support worker to talk to me and the rest of my team about the support times that suit me and who is the best person to support me.

SP: Well, no we can’t do that. It’s policy and the award. We need a guarantee of a minimum three hour shift.

P: That doesn’t suit me and it wastes my funding.

SP: It’s policy. No body else has a problem.

P: …and person centred?

SP: Correct. Now when do we start? Send me a copy of your plan and we’ll send you out our standard service agreement.

P: Errrr

Sadly, this experience is very common. It is why we continue to campaign for choice and control in the NDIS.

Story credit: Peter Gregory

11/09/2023

What do participants, families, and support coordinators look for when researching and selecting potential service providers? You might be surprised by this discussion hosted by Kinora with our own Collin looking too pink for words.

A panel discussion with a busy and experienced support coordinator and an NDIS participant as they talk about how they find, assess and decide to try a servi...

31/08/2023

If you use disability services, you can make a safe choice.

Registered disability workers must meet set standards for safety, skills and experience. And continue to meet them every year.

Ask your disability worker to become registered today. So you can be confident that you’ll get the quality support to live life your way.

My Coordinator is proudly registered.

Learn more at vdwc.vic.gov.au/disability-worker-registration
Victorian Disability Worker Commission

16/08/2023

New disability services are popping up everywhere, and it is difficult for NDIS participants, their carers and support coordinators to sift through the options to sort the good from the not so good.

Kinora is hosting a provider webinar where Collin will offer a support coordinator's perspective, together with an NDIS participant and a risk/compliance manager to talk about:

- looking beyond the marketing facade
- assessment and decision criteria of participants when selecting a provider
- does being NDIS registered offer a sense of credibility?

Tickets are free. Bookings essential to obtain connection details.

A support coordinator, NDIS participant and risk/compliance manager talk about what is important to them when looking for service providers.

17/07/2023

Collin joined Aruna Ellis from LEV Health to chat about NDIS Support Coordination

This conversation with Collin has been so informative. It was a long conversation packed with wisdom, so I will sum up the conversation and highlight the important points in the show notes. Support coordination is one of the categories of funding that people will often see in their NDIS plan. It...

16/07/2023

Had a little bit of fun with the latest article

questions that service providers commonly ask have 10 easy answers

23/05/2023

Kinora is a great place for NDIS participants and providers to share knowledge and experience. We're pleased to be part of this growing community.

03/04/2023

We asked Chat GPT for a haiku about the NDIS. It offered this gem:

Endless paperwork,
Hurdles to jump at each turn,
NDIS, help me.

We then asked it for one with a positive theme and it came up with:

Life with NDIS,
Support and care that we need,
Hope and freedom soar.

Happy Monday to all!

15/03/2023

It was a pleasure to join the Kinora team for this exploration of NDIS Support Coordination.
It's excellent to see the helpful community that is developing at Kinora.

Support Coordination is a valuable resource for NDIS participants as it can connect you with a variety of supports to help increase capacity and achieve NDI...

13/03/2023

This Wednesday - free webinar where you can ask questions about NDIS Support Coordination.

A FREE online event about support coordination and how it can help NDIS participants achieve their goals & get the most out of their plan.

25/02/2023

Do you wonder what Support Coordination is all about?
Do you need it?
How do you get it funded in your NDIS plan?
Join Collin from My Coordinator at this free webinar presented by Kinora.

A FREE online event about support coordination and how it can help NDIS participants achieve their goals & get the most out of their plan.

01/02/2023

This is a great episode with some highly pertinent information relating to reporting dodgy, non-compliant, or fraudulent providers.
There's also some good tips on how to spot a provider that might have questionable motivations.

On this episode of Reasonable and Necessary, Australia's leading podcast series on the NDIS, Dr George Taleporos is joined by Assistant Director of the Fraud...

23/12/2022

Well that crept up quickly, didn’t it?
Where did the year go?

We remain operational throughout the holiday season except for usual public holidays. Please reach out if you need any assistance with your NDIS plan.

Image description: Santa peeking from behind a large white box with a big red bow tied around it. On the box is written “For You, We wish you, and your loved ones, a happy and safe holidays, and look forward to assisting you to reach for your goals in 2023. From [My Coordinator logo]”.

14/11/2022

Protect your NDIS plan from fraud.

This video from NDIS offers a few simple tips to reduce the risk of fraud. You can also get more information about fraud at https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/working-providers/what-fraud
If you suspect something is wrong please talk with your Support Coordinator, Plan manager, LAC, or contact the NDIA directly.

[Transcript]Protect your plan.Sometimes people choose to do the wrong thing with NDIS funds. This is called fraud.As a NDIS participant it’s important to kno...

20/09/2022

It’s official!

Providers that try to enforce minimum shift periods are in breach of the code of conduct.

Participants are entitled to receive a support that is of the duration they need, not to be dictated by a provider’s rostering requirements.

Providers must only claim for the actual time of the service delivered.

10/07/2022

Kinora is a community for participants and providers to connect, share experiences, and to seek advice, all in a moderated safe environment.

We are pleased to be part of this growing community and to be invited to share our experience and knowledge in this upcoming session.

Have you ever wanted to chat with a Support Coordinator? Or wanted to know how a support coordinator can help you?

Join us in the Kinora online community on Thursday 21 July, at 12pm AEST, for a Cuppa & a Chat with Colin from My Coordinator. Colin will be sharing tips, advice, and insight into support coordination!

Not a member yet? Signing up is easy and free! Click here to join the Kinora community today - https://www.kinora.com.au/

20/03/2022

Looks like we got spotted at the January expo.

Melbourne Disability Connection Expo 2022
Wednesday, January 19th
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

07/03/2022

Congratulations from one less-than-talented snowboarder to a real champion!!

BRONZE for Ben Tudhope in the Para-snowboard Cross SB-LL2.

It's Ben's first medal at a and Australia's first medal of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.

Congrats Ben!


Snow Australia | 7Sport

17/02/2022

This is an interesting report. Not so much because of the increase in appeals, which is staggering, but more so that the AAT appears to lack the resources to deal with them in a timely manner.

Applications to the AAT are already onerous and costly affairs that should be avoided. Even more so if they are going to get dragged out to years instead of months.

An important role of the Support Coordinator is to ensure that every box is ticked and every recommendation supported by sound evidence.

This ensures that support requests are readily identified as meeting the reasonable and necessary criteria and makes it easy for the agency to say yes, thereby avoiding any need for an review or appeal.

A free 45 minute consult is available to anyone looking for a new Support Coordinator in Melbourne. Come and say hello.

Three years into a pandemic, the NDIS is grappling with a significant uptick in dispute applications. But a disturbing number of cases aren't being heard.

06/02/2022

Help get the word out about the Victorian Disability Worker Commission and get paid to star in in this campaign.

Are you a person with disability, or a carer? Help us contribute to a safer, stronger disability sector.

We are looking for people with disability and carers to help create awareness of the Victorian Disability Worker Commission’s complaints service by appearing as talent in our upcoming campaign.

The shoot will be hosted in a central Melbourne location between Tuesday 22 February and Friday 25 February, for approximately 2-4 hours. All talent will be compensated for their time.

By participating, you will be empowering people to tell us when they have concerns about a disability worker’s behaviour.

So, if you’re interested, please send an email to recruitment@ellisjones.com.au by 5pm on Wednesday 9th February with your name, age, phone number, and accessibility requirements, and/or your relation to a person with disability.

For a stronger, safer disability sector.

26/01/2022

This is a perfect illustration (pun intended) of the mindest needed to deliver quality person centred services.

If we ignore the disability we won’t see the whole person.

12/01/2022

If the government won't change the date of Australia Day then the people will …

We'll be working and open for business on 26th January. What about you?


https://www.changeitourselves.com.au/

Information and assets to help of Australia Day - Let's find a date everyone can celebrate.

24/12/2021

No matter what you might be celebrating, or whether you are simply enjoying some quiet time, we hope you stay safe and well.

My Coordinator will remain open and continue to assist with your NDIS needs.

22/12/2021

What do you know about funding for assistance animals? The NDIS has released updated guidelines and fact sheets around and we broke it down for you.

A summary of the NDIS guidelines around funding for assistance animals and the difference with therpay animals, companion animals or pets

03/12/2021

Today we are celebrating the 30th annual International Day of People with Disability.

It’s a day to celebrate the achievements and contributions of people with disability.

03/12/2021

13/11/2021

Every aspect of life should be accessible.

It’s great to see this partnership make the beautiful Alpine region a little bit more accessible.

Where do you want to see improved accessibility?

11/11/2021

We support the NDIS, but it must be a strong NDIS that works for people with disabilities.

But if the Federal Government cuts access to the NDIS and reduces support for people with disability, the team will stop working.