OUR NDIS JOURNEY

About Lifestyle Solutions

•Lifestyle Solutions is a national provider of disability supports, as well as services and supports for children & young people in Out of Home Care and Foster care.

•A long-time advocator of “choice and voice™” for people living with disability, we have also been involved with the National Disability Insurance Scheme roll-out from its earliest stages.

•Founded in Newcastle in 2001 with a group home to support five incredible individuals, our not-for-profit organisati on has since touched the lives of so many more Australians, and grown to become a key innovator in the community services sector.

•Today, we provide a diverse range of supports to more than 1,000 people living with disability throughout Australia, as well as 250 children and young people in Out of Home Care and Foster Care.

GOOD NEWS STORIESLifestyle Solutions approach to all supports is focused on choice and compatibility.

Some of our newer People We Support have never lived away from there families, and now they are flourishing due to greater independence and skills development.

Some are using their supports to grow as individuals and achieve their goals and dreams.

To help this process, we have a external engagement manager who is focused on liaising with families and People We Support to ensure the move is positive for all parties.

Each week we hear more and more “good news stories”, and achievements for the people we support. They take great pride in telling their stories!

Sometimes these stories just blow us away!

GOOD NEWS STORIES Introducing Tara

GOOD NEWS STORIESNDIS changes lives….

Our engagement team worked tirelessly and collaboratively with a team of professionals at the Mental Health Unit in Newcastle to assist a young lady whom

had been institutionalised for the past 2 years to gain a safe and comfortable place to call home, surrounded her with a team of 4 female staff who provide her with 1:1

support to achieve her goals. These supports are funded by the NDIS.

She has now successfully started to live out her dream of living out of hospital, have her own home, and start achieving her goals and taking control of her life.

Since she has been engaged with the NDIS and her Lifestyle Solutions workers, her mental health professionals report that she is happier, mentally healthier and has

lost weight from engaging in activities every day.

ABOUT Community Justice Program

• At Lifestyle Solutions we also specialise in providing support to people living with intellectual and other cognitive disability who have had ongoing contact with, or are at risk of entering, the criminal justice system.

• Nationally, we are leaders in the provision of Community Justice Program (CJP) supports and services that encourage participants to re-enter the community and engage in a positive and meaningful way.

• We work together with participants, their families and carers to plan both short and long-term goals that assist in building confidence and self-esteem. Through our supported accommodation, as well as clinical behaviour supports and case management, we have a proven track record of supporting participants to become contributing members of their local communities.

CJP at a glance

Eligibility for the Community Justice Program is based on the following criteria:

• Diagnosed intellectual disability

• Aged 10-65

• Time has been spent in custody

• Ongoing risk of reoffending

CJP at a glance

Service is delivered in the following ways:

•Accommodation, casework & behaviour intervention provision.

•Services are delivered by funded NGO providers like Lifestyle Solutions

•Tertiary support and monitoring is provided by FACS clinical team

CJP at a glance

The Aim of the Community Justice Program is to:

•Reduce risk of reoffending in the people we support

•Improve adaptive functioning in the people we support

•Promote independence in the people we support

CJP at a glance

Demographic of the Community Justice Program is:

•340 clients

•40% Aboriginal

•Average age 33

•Mild Intellectual Disability

•90% history of substance abuse, trauma / neglect

CJP at a glance

Breakdown of Service provision:

Intensive

On site

Drop In

Tailored

LRC

Casework

Assessment

CJP and the NDIS

Currently:

• 10 clients are in the Trial Site

• 5 are currently in transition to the NDIS

• There have been 2 applications for exceptional circumstances

• Currently all are considered lower risk / needs clients

• All utilise drop-in support

CJP and the NDIS

Current Transition process: