If the Department of Human Services has allocated you funds through an individualised funding package there are a lot of choices you can make about how to use these funds. The great benefit of being able to make choices about how the money is spent is that you can design and influence your own supports so that they are much more personalised and relevant to you. You don’t have to use these funds to access any one particular type of support and it is important that you have the chance to think about your life and the best way to use the resources available to assist you a have a good life.
Our Individualised lifestyle arrangements provide people with an alternative to group and segregated options. We that that the starting point for personalised services is ensuring that individualised suppports develop from a well developed understanding of who people are and what they need and want. In this program we:
Spend time getting to know you.
Support you to develop a vision for the future.
Work with you as an individual; not someone who is sharing resources with a group of other people, and to develop with you a tailor-made support package for yourself which is not limited to any one type of service.
Ensuring that you and your family have greater authority, influence and control over all aspects of your supports.
Create more typical lifestyle responses and supports that include you in your local communities. While some people may need paid supports for different reasons we emphasise the use of natural community supports and relationships.When we talk about natural supports we are meaning ordinary people who work and attend community places and not specialist disability staff.
Some of the ways you can organise your support include:
Using your funds to purchase a range of things such as equipment and access to community supports.
Using Milparinka to host your funds so you can develop a tailor made support package for yourself. This basically means that we hold the funds foryou and you direct how they are spent.
Employing staff from other places or even directly employing your own staff.
Using direct support from Milparinka to assist you to access opportunities and achieve ambitions.
Building up a range of Natural supports in your community
Thinking and Problem Solving
It is important to us that we are supporting you to achieve your ambitions. When you choose to engage with us we will talk to you about your life and what your ambitions are. Some people have already worked this out and we simply join with you to try and make these things happen. The process of thinking is ongoing and can occur and reoccur whenever you want it to. It is this thinking that directs how we assist you. We prefer to work with people through a process of ongoing discussions that is worked out specifically with people rather than doing a once a year plan for everyone. For example some people prefer a series of casual meetings, some prefer Circles of Support while others may want a very formal process. We will assist you to work out ways of thinking that suit you.
Types of Support and Costs
Due to the individualised nature of our relationships the support you access is based on your ambitions and choices rather than a set amount of hours or type of support. We assist you to work out the best way to reach your ambitions. This is different for different people; for some people it may be using natural supports in the community and not using many funds at all, for others it may mean purchasing staff hours for direct support or some other equipment.
For examples of what this support looks like for some people we know, please see the examples on our Real People – Real Stories page.
If you would like to find out more about our individualised lifestyles supports please contact us us on 9387 9985 or info@milparinka.org.au
