NDIS Capacity Building Project: Consumers and Carers
As a part of the NDIS Capacity Building Project, Mental Health Australia carried out a number of activities to build the capacity of mental health consumers and carers to engage with the NDIS, as outlined below.
NDIS Consumer and Carer Advisory Group
In 2015, Mental Health Australia established a NDIS Consumer and Carer Advisory Group, which comprised one mental health consumer and carer from each state and territory and four representatives from the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum. Group members provided a consumer and carer voice on NDIS development and implementation issues and provide information about NDIS back to their networks. The group held two meetings in 2015, at both of which they provided advice to Mental Health Australia about how best to build the capacity of mental health consumers and carers to engage with the NDIS. You can find their meeting notes at the below links:
NDIS Peer Education Capacity Building Activities for Mental Health Consumers and Carers
In 2016, Mental Health Australia engaged Richmond Wellbeing to design and deliver NDIS peer education and train the trainer workshops nationally as a part of Mental Health Australia’s NDIS Sector Development Fund Capacity Building Project.
Richmond Wellbeing delivered NDIS mental health peer education modules in each state and territory, tailored to local needs and designed to:
- improve understanding of the operation of the NDIS and the principles which underpin it among people with psychosocial disability and their carers
- build the capacity of people with psychosocial disability and their carers to exercise choice and control
- encourage and enable people with psychosocial disability to move towards self management, greater independence and meaningful community inclusion.
The workshop resources are available on this website (please click here).
Resources for mental health carers
Mental Health Australia and Carers Australia worked together to develop a discussion paper to outline the impact of current NDIS arrangements on mental health carers alongside some resources to support mental health carers to engage with NDIS, with advice provided by a project advisory group, which included mental health carers and carer organisation representatives.
- The discussion paper is available here
- A Mental Health Carers NDIS Guide and Checklist are available here.
- Please click here to replay a webinar designed to assist mental health carers to engage with the NDIS.
Advice on supported decision making
In 2015, Mental Health Australia engaged ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service (ADACAS) to develop a discussion paper on supported decision making, psychosocial disability and the NDIS. ADACAS notes that supported decision making is the process that happens when one person supports another person to be engaged in decision making. The discussion paper is available on the Mental Health Australia website (click here).
The Mental Health Australia Supported Decision Making Working Group (which includes mental health consumers, carers, service providers and peak body representatives) has also provided input on the discussion paper.
In 2016, Mental Health Australia published a video (click here) and a fact sheet (click here) and held an expert workshop all on the topic of supported decision making, psychosocial disability and the NDIS.
Newsletter
To keep up to date with NDIS and mental health policy and implementation issues please click here and sign up to receive the NDIS Mental Health Network updates.
Information Portal
For more information about mental health consumers and carers and the NDIS, please visit our NDIS Mental Health Information Portal .
