Uniting

I have been a DES consultant for over 10 years. The reason i left the role was due to the flaws of the des program and i left to do support coordination. Reasons i left is that des does not have the funding to support highly vulnerable people who require support from mental health support workers in their home and to help them go out in the community. They also do not have funding for support from allied health professionals like ot , physio , psychology to help build the participants capacity not only to go out in the community but even to employment. As a des emplyment consultant i found myself helping participants preparing access applications to ndis ti get funded for the support. Trouble is that the federal government does not fund services to assist people with disabilities to fill out or assist getting supporting documents for ndis applications. Des services are also not funded to do this either. I have spoken to so many des managers detailing that most clients in des will not move into a job without formal supports put into place. I still recall a client who worked for the cfa previously who suffered from ptsd and a back injury. He sometimes used to get stuck in his shower without supports. He was to scared to leave his home thinking he might get stuck without getting back home. My des manager was pushing me to get him moving forward to look for work due to his centerlink obligations. Was in the process of assising him for dsp. However the des system is like flogging a dead horse. Its impossible to get clients moving towards work without supports. Its like building a house without the foundations . I have placed people with mental disabilites into work however when things go bad and they loose thier job you have 28 days to place them in another job or your star rating as a des service is affected. What happened to giving this client the opportunity to access appropriate therapy like a psychiatrist or psychologist first. Then look at steps going back to work.

Now as a support coordinator i only explore des options if my client is ready to work . Fortunately with ndis i can provide the necessary supports to build my clients capacity to work. Ie ot, physio, psycology,and most importantly a mental health support worker that can assist the client to and from work and at the start on the job support. Des is not funded for on the job support.

Alot of work and funding is required to fix the flaws of des.