A community for stand alone NDIS Support Coordinators and a reliable, professional and registered Support Coordination only provider for NDIS participants.
You might know us by our old name, The IndividualiTree, established in 2016. We’re here to help you get your NDIS plan to work. We’ve been doing this for a while now and have lots of experience in working our way around the NDIS maze. We are creative, respectful and want the NDIS to thrive. We understand it still has a way to go and are not afraid to advocate for it to be the best it can be. Because we only offer ‘in the middle’ services, we understand the NDIS really well and we spend a lot of our time helping people to stick up for themselves with the NDIS. We are experienced Coordinators of Support and Plan Managers, and, also not the ‘no’ police. You are in charge. The IndividualiTree is run as a Social Enterprise, meaning profits don’t go into the pockets of owners and shareholders, but back into the business to fund things to help others. The Tree is run by sisters of a woman with disability, and locals (real locals!) who have professional experience in both the disability sector and accountancy firms. The IndividualiTree is located in the New England area of NSW. This is our small, family business and we are 100% independent of therapeutic and direct service providers, meaning we can give you unbiased advice based solely on your needs. We work for people throughout Australia as their Plan Managers and offer direct Support Coordination to people across the beautiful Northern Tablelands. We have a specialist team who work with clients in remote areas by distance and specialise in helping you make creative use of your plan. We have a deep respect for the first nations people of this land and hold a strong position on social justice. We are LGBTQI+ friendly and are honoured to work with people from all cultural backgrounds. Our staff are experienced, qualified and, if we do say so ourselves, rather lovely people. We partner with you to help you get the most out of wherever you are at with the NDIS now, but also get you to be where you want to be if you feel like your plan is not there yet. Regardless of how your plan is managed, we can work with you to help you understand your plan, know what your options are and help you find solutions. You can read more about what we can do for your specific situation by checking out our website. Questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
21/03/2023
Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!! 🥳
Lisa Tiernan is one of our fantastic Pathways to Independence facilitators. She also works for the Northern Territory government.
For our World Down Syndrome Day countdown, Lisa wants to let everyone know "My job is important because it's fun, I get paid and I get treated the same as other people."
We are in Canberra today at Parliament House to let our decision makers know that people with Down syndrome have the right to be treated the same as everyone else!
08/03/2023
Today is International Women’s Day. Let’s celebrate the achievements of women and raise awareness of gender inequality against women and girls.
Each of us can actively support and promote gender equality in everyday life and digital spaces by speaking to our friends and family about:
• the importance of having more women in leadership
• supporting financial empowerment, and
• encouraging full participation in all areas of life.
Improving access to opportunities and pathways for all is key for a more equal future.
Learn more at: unwomen.org.au
13/02/2023
Everyday for Everyone
The council for Intellectual Disability are calling for our Governments to do more to make our nation more accessible for people with Intellectual Disability.
You can help support them by signing the petition linked below.
"We are asking the NSW Government to fix this problem by 2025:
-Provide Easy Read versions of all documents relevant to the lives of people with intellectual disability. Make them easy to find on government websites.
-Develop its own Easy Read Style Guide with input from people with intellectual disability.
-Make sure that people with intellectual disability can get government services in a way that works for them, whether that is an easy-to-use website, talking to someone on the phone, or seeing them face to face.
-Make a toll-free phone line available for people who need spoken information."
Help Ella Darling Make Disability Inclusion Happen
05/01/2023
The Family Rural Resilience Program are holding a community event next week in Armidale.
It’s an amazing race style event- where participants will have to solve puzzles/games at different checkpoints over Armidale. The aim of the event is to increase community connections and knowledge around available services in Armidale.
Registration for this event will close on Monday the 9th of January.
04/01/2023
All of us at The Individualitree would like to wish all of you a very happy new year and all the best for 2023! We hope that this year brings joy and happiness to all.
22/12/2022
All of us at TheIndividualitree would like to wish everyone a joyful holiday period and a happy new year!
14/12/2022
Core Budget is flexible right?
Yes, except when it’s not. Here’s four quick things you need to know about flexible core budgets that some LACs and Planners might get wrong (ask them, in writing, for written confirmation if they don’t agree):
1. If you get transport money paid straight into your bank account, then the rest of your core can’t be used for transport (except when it’s for disability related stuff – so OK to claim for support worker mileage when going to the physio, but not when you’re going to visit Grandma). If your transport gets claimed from your Plan Manager or is Agency Managed, then all your core is flexible and you can use more than your “allowance” for transport stuff (but you must still stay within the Corr budget as a whole, of course).
2. Short Term Accommodation does not have to be stated in your plan in order for you to use/prioritise your core funds for STA/Respite. But remember, ALL NDIS Plan claims MUST be disability related. If the short break is to give you and an unpaid carer a break from each other, it’s not disability related to get on a plane and travel interstate. So that part shouldn’t be claimed. It’s also almost never Short Term Accommodation if you go with a family member. That’s almost always a family holiday (in that situation you would likely claim for the support worker and their costs, but not your own, except where parts of the expense are greater *because of your disability*)
3. Home and living funds (the help you need at home), like SIL, are actually meant to be flexible. So if you want to leave a SIL and be supported in a more innovative or a way that suits you better within the current budget, you can ask for those SIL funds to be made plan or self managed, and not Stated (NDIA don’t have to do this, but need to have a good reason if they don’t). Newer plans should nearly always have SIL funds already set up in this flexible way.
4. Anything that says “Stated Support” is not flexible, and those funds can only be used for that particular thing. This is a decision that you can ask to be reviewed though, and you can always ask for the reason why they’ve done that, in writing.
There is plenty more to flexibility, and remember, any and all spending must be in line with your plan and meet the “Can I Buy It?” checklist, but hopefully this will give you a few starters!
Pic desc: an almost impossibly flexible person bent backwards bizarrely so that her feet and her hands are using the same laptop.
06/12/2022
Always love being able to share some really innovative examples of support available for people using the NDIS. We reckon local communities are pretty well placed to find solutions to local shortages if we put our minds to it.
Where might that take us in 2023?
A studio set up in Hobart for an 18-year-old artist who has autism has had a far wider impact than its founders expected, becoming a community space filling a gap for artists with disabilities.
06/12/2022
Being Guided by Children and Young People’s Voices
I’ve got a meeting this week as part of my work on the NDIS Independent Advisory Council/IAC (I’m on the Children and Young People Reference Group), and we’re talking about improving the NDIS for kids and young people by being guided by their voices.
I haven’t read the papers thoroughly yet, but am keen to hear your take - especially if you’re a young disabled person/person with disability.
Aside from the stuff we all want the NIDS to do to be better, what can the NDIS do to make it better for children and young people to be heard and for their voices to matter?
Thanks for your thoughts - you guys always help me do my work better. I read every comment and frequently report back the themes (without names!) to IAC.
--Sam
pic desc: a photo of three young people in front of a chalkboard. On the left is a girl with pigtails and glasses wearing a pink top (I think she has Down syndrome but maybe not), then in the middle is a girl with long dark hair and a long yellow top, looking sassy, and on the right is a young person wearing a white collared shirt, and a shirt haircut, seated in a wheelchair (it looks ike he might have lower limb deficiency, but I'm not sure).
05/12/2022
Thanks The Growing Space - it’s a bit frustrating, but sure it will be fixed soon!
😊
Yes. The NDIS portal is down for providers.
No. I don't know when it will be back up.
Yes. This means your plan manager can't pay any bills and if you're agency managed your provider can't make any claims.
Yes. It looks like the participant payment portal for self managers is still working.
Yes. This sucks.
No. The NDIS haven't notified anyone (providers or participants, AFAIK).
No. I don't have any further information, but I'm pretty sure DSS (who run the portal for NDIS) are on it, because providers have been screaming since lunchtime.
You may now return to your regular programming.
pic desc: the TV test pattern that we oldies grew up with after programming stopped for the evening.
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We’re here to help you get your NDIS plan to work. We’ve been doing this for a while now and have lots of experience in working our way around the NDIS maze. We are creative, respectful and want the NDIS to thrive. We understand it still has a way to go and are not afraid to advocate for it to be the best it can be. Because we only offer ‘in the middle’ services, we understand the NDIS really well and we spend a lot of our time helping people to stick up for themselves with the NDIS. We are experienced Coordinators of Support and Plan Managers, and, also not the ‘no’ police. You are in charge.
The IndividualiTree is run as a Social Enterprise, meaning profits don’t go into the pockets of owners and shareholders, but back into the business to fund things to help others.
The Tree is run by sisters of a woman with disability, and locals (real locals!) who have professional experience in both the disability sector and accountancy firms. The IndividualiTree is located in the New England area of NSW. This is our small, family business and we are 100% independent of therapeutic and direct service providers, meaning we can give you unbiased advice based solely on your needs. We work for people throughout Australia as their Plan Managers and offer direct Support Coordination to people across the beautiful Northern Tablelands. We have a specialist team who work with clients in remote areas by distance and specialise in helping you make creative use of your plan.
We have a deep respect for the first nations people of this land and hold a strong position on social justice. We are LGBTQI+ friendly and are honoured to work with people from all cultural backgrounds. Our staff are experienced, qualified and, if we do say so ourselves, rather lovely people. We partner with you to help you get the most out of wherever you are at with the NDIS now, but also get you to be where you want to be if you feel like your plan is not there yet.
Regardless of how your plan is managed, we can work with you to help you understand your plan, know what your options are and help you find solutions. You can read more about what we can do for your specific situation by checking out our website. Questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
