Wellbeingsupportspace

10/02/2026

Thank you to my colleagues for sharing this updated clarification from the NDIA.

📣 Important update: This is a funding guide, not a stated support.

The NDIS has clarified that references to therapies in IDL funding (for example, speech, OT, social work, etc.) are only a guide and do not constitute stated supports.

For a support to be considered stated, the word “STATED” must appear directly next to that support in the plan.

This clarification was included in the updated therapy guidelines:

https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/supports-funded-ndis/therapy-supports

What this means:
If your plan includes relevant therapy funding, you can choose to use a Social Worker.ee

Therapy supports are evidence-based supports to help build or maintain your skills and independence.

10/02/2026

Joining the trend….

Sums me up pretty well!

Juggling Mum life with work life 🌸

06/02/2026

How do we define “value” in the NDIS – and who gets to decide?

Social work plays a critical role in the lives of many NDIS participants: supporting adjustment to disability, navigating complex systems, strengthening relationships, building confidence, and reducing distress.
Yet despite this, the value of social work within the NDIS is often poorly understood, inconsistently recognised, and difficult to measure.
Much of our current system defines value through costs, activity, or what is easiest to quantify. But the literature is clear: value cannot be meaningfully defined without the voices of the people receiving support.

That’s why I’m undertaking a practitioner research project focused on participant‑defined value of social work in the NDIS. Rather than imposing assumptions about what “counts” as value, this work centres the lived experiences of NDIS participants, carers, and nominees.

📢 Invitation to join stakeholder consultation
If you are a person interested in this project, I invite you to take part in stakeholder consultation by completing the consultation form.

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/1nsC4J82zC

👉 Please note:
This is not recruitment for research and you will not be asked to participate in a study at this stage. The purpose of this consultation is to co‑design the survey instrument so that it reflects what matters to the disability community. Following this process, a formal ethics application will be submitted before any research recruitment occurs.

This project cannot be done without people from the disability community. Co‑design and lived experience are essential if we are serious about understanding value in ways that are meaningful, ethical, and grounded in real lives.

I’m looking forward to sharing insights as this work progresses and continuing the conversation about how we can define value from the participants voice about social work in the NDIS.

01/02/2026

I have been successful in obtaining a small grant to explore The Value of Social Work in the NDIS: Capturing the Participant Voice (Stage 1: Survey).

We are currently in the early consultation phase of this project. At this stage, our focus is on listening, learning, and engaging with a wide range of people whose lives and experiences intersect with the NDIS in different ways.

We are particularly committed to hearing from people with lived experience of disability, recognising that experiences of disability are often shaped by multiple, intersecting identities, roles, environments, and systems—including culture, gender, caring roles, geography, and access to services.

If you are interested in learning more about this project, we would welcome you to join our stakeholder register. Joining the register will allow you to stay up to date with the project and to consider whether you would like to be involved in co-designing, developing, or testing the survey instrument that will be used in this study.

Please note that this stage of the project is for consultation only. It is not recruitment for research participation.

Please share with your networks!

Please email me directly on cate@wellbeingsupportspace.com.au, or direct message me with any questions or concerns.

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=gJp7fUZw9k6DQjMRk025XSzlQ3jqKt1NtcamaoREbeRUNzdQV0JHR1NXQkg1RE9FUUVXOUZPVDVJSy4u&route=shorturl

31/01/2026

🙌❤️🌟

✨ Going back to school is a great time to reflect on friendships ✨

As we return to school, many young people naturally start thinking about who they are — and who they want around them.

Friendships play a huge role in shaping confidence, wellbeing and identity.

It can be helpful for young people to gently ask themselves:

Do I like who I am when I’m with this friend?
Does this person bring out my best self?
Do I feel safe and able to trust them?
Sometimes we ignore early warning signs because we don’t want to “make things awkward.” But noticing unhealthy patterns early gives young people the chance to set boundaries, have honest conversations, or make thoughtful decisions about who gets their time and trust.

Following are some open discussions you can have with your child to help them navigate their friendships.

💬 Here are 7 signs a friendship might not be as healthy as it seems:

1. It’s all about them
If the friendship always revolves around their problems, plans and preferences — while yours are brushed aside — that’s a concern. You shouldn’t feel like they are the only one that is important in the friendship.

2. Backhanded compliments
Comments like “Your hair actually looks so much better today than usual” or “I wish I didn’t care about my appearance like you” can sound harmless but slowly chip away at confidence. Ask yourself: How do I feel about myself after spending time with them?

3. They make you anxious, not excited
If seeing their name pop up makes you think “What now?” instead of “Yay!”, that’s information worth paying attention to. Healthy friendships help regulate the nervous system — not keep it in constant fight-or-flight.

4. They keep you small
Notice if they minimise your achievements or mock your goals. Real friends celebrate growth. Not put you down.
I saw this firsthand when my daughter was told, “I can’t believe YOU got a leadership position.” She walked away feeling small — and that’s not ok.

5. Constant comparison
When every conversation turns into a scoreboard — grades, looks, popularity, achievements — something is off. Friendship isn’t a competition. There is room for both people to shine.

6. They talk about people, not to people
Be wary if your connection is built on gossip rather than shared interests, values, dreams or goals. A good rule of thumb: If they gossip with you, they will likely gossip about you.

7. You feel drained more than delighted
After spending time together, do you feel lighter — or flattened? That gut feeling is valuable data. Healthy friendships tend to energise, not exhaust.

🌿 A gentle reminder
No friendship is perfect. We all have off days and make mistakes. But truly healthy friendships include respect, repair, and space for honesty.

Supporting young people to recognise what healthy connection looks like is a powerful step toward lifelong emotional wellbeing 💛

30/01/2026

Amazing!

📣 Refer for our upcoming BISA Connect Clinic

Our first BISA Connect Clinic for 2026 offers a 10-week block of free Speech Pathology and Physiotherapy, delivered by our student clinicians.

🧠 Who is eligible?
This service is for adults aged 18–65 with a diagnosed ABI, such as stroke, TBI, hypoxic brain injury, or a degenerative neurological condition.
✅ To be eligible, clients must:
• Have a diagnosed ABI,
• Have no current or active source of funding.

🧠 Upcoming BISA Connect Clinic details
• When: Wednesday 4 March until Friday 8 May 2026 (Sessions available on Wednesdays and Fridays)
• Where: BISA Northern and Southern Hubs
• What: Clients can access up to two sessions per week, per therapy service
• Cost: Free for those who meet the eligibility criteria

✏️ To make a referral, visit → https://ow.ly/bIwp50Y4FvM
For more information, contact us on (08) 8217 7600 or email referrals@braininjurysa.org.au.

25/01/2026

This January 26, I am choosing truth-telling.

I live, work, and raise my children on Kaurna (Adelaide) Country. I experience joy, safety, and opportunity on this land every day. That is not accidental — it is the result of a history that privileged some while devastating others. My gratitude must sit alongside that truth.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, January 26 marks the beginning of invasion, dispossession, and systemic violence. These are not historical events confined to the past — they are ongoing, living realities that continue to shape health, wellbeing, safety, and opportunity today.

Truth-telling requires more than acknowledgment. It requires honesty about how this country was built and who paid the cost.

As a social worker, I cannot look away from my profession’s role in this harm.

Social work in Australia has been complicit in systems of control — including forced child removals, surveillance of families, and practices that prioritised compliance over self-determination. This harm was not abstract. It was lived, generational, and devastating. We cannot claim to stand for justice while avoiding responsibility for this history.

As a non-Aboriginal person, my role is not to centre my comfort. It is to listen, to learn, to challenge my own biases and whiteness, and to actively disrupt the systems that continue to reproduce harm.

For me, truth-telling is not symbolic. It is a commitment — to practice that centres Aboriginal voices, sovereignty, dignity, and self-determination; to name harm when I see it; and to raise my children with an honest understanding of the land they live on and the stories that existed long before us.

Today, I hold gratitude and grief together.
Not as a balance — but as a responsibility.

Truth matters.
And silence is not neutral.

🖤💛❤️

21/01/2026

“I will never accept this — but I will adjust.”

A client once said this to me after a spinal cord injury, and it has stayed with me.

It reminded me of DBT’s Radical Acceptance.

Radical acceptance doesn’t mean liking what has happened.
It doesn’t mean approval, agreement, or giving up hope.

It simply means acknowledging reality as it is — so we can stop fighting what cannot be changed and start putting our energy into living life aligned to our values.

Because pushing against reality often adds another layer of suffering.

Adjustment can coexist with grief.
Strength can exist alongside anger.
Two things can be true at once.

DBTSkills : Distress Tolerance Module. Skill : Radical Acceptance.

We don't have to like a situation in order to accept it.
Pushing against reality only makes a difficult situation worse.

20/01/2026

At Wellbeing Support Space, we spend a lot of time sitting in the in-between.

Sitting with clients while things feel unclear, slow, or heavy.
Sitting with practitioners in supervision as they hold complexity, responsibility, and uncertainty.
And sitting with ourselves — noticing when the urge to rush, fix, or force begins to creep in.

So much of this work isn’t about having immediate answers.
It’s about staying present when waiting feels uncomfortable.
About remembering that progress can be quiet and unseen.
That just because something hasn’t shifted yet doesn’t mean nothing is happening beneath the surface.

In a world that pushes urgency and productivity, there is something deeply grounding about not rushing.
About tending to what’s in front of us.
About trusting that what’s meant to unfold doesn’t require panic or burnout to arrive.

Sometimes the work is not doing more —
it’s allowing ourselves the space to pause, reflect, and stay soft.

With clients.
In supervision.
And within ourselves. 🤍

18/01/2026

🙌

DBT Skills. Module : Interpersonal Effectiveness. Skill : Validation. Validating Others. 6 Practical Suggestions.

by FB page : EmberrelationshipPsychology.

18/01/2026

The other day at the gym, I found myself talking with a group of mums.
Different lives, different stories — yet so much was the same.
Working mums trying to balance life, trying to work hard, trying to be good mums.

And it struck me: we are good mums.

Not perfect. Not calm all the time. Not getting it “right” every day.
But showing up. Caring. Trying — even when we’re exhausted.

Then I came across this poem, and it reinforced that exact moment of speaking with those mums.
That shared understanding. That quiet relief of knowing we’re not alone in this.

Good-enough parenting is enough.
Our children don’t need perfection.
They need love, safety, and connection — and that’s something we’re already giving.

16/01/2026

What a massive day, on my first “offical” Friday for Wellbeing Support Space!

Huge morning in the city supporting a client. Then on the phone supporting multiple clients and liasing with stakeholders.

Then it was off back down South to officially meet and greet with Social Workers Kirsty and Sami and see the offices at Mind Co.

Then headed to Boomers Bar on Beach rd for a meeting to discuss my research grant with an amazing human who is giving me alot of guidance.

It was an EPIC day! Life as a Social Worker in private practice!

❤️