Supported Decision Making - video

In 2013, the Australian Government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to offer people with disability, including psychosocial disability, more choice and control over the supports they use. The intention of the NDIS implies greater ownership of decision making by people with disability. However, some people with disability may require support in order to effectively participate in decision making.

One way to provide support for a decision is through a practice called Supported Decision Making. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) briefly describes Supported Decision Making as “the process whereby a person with a disability is enabled to make and communicate decisions with respect to personal or legal matters.” In Australia the practice of supported decision making is emerging in a number of forms and so there are a number of practice research projects exploring it.

Mental Health Australia recognised the considerable contribution Supported Decision Making could make to ensuring people with psychosocial disability can genuinely engage with the NDIS. So we recently funded the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service (ADACAS), through our NDIS Sector Development Fund Capacity Building Project, to develop a discussion paper on supported decision making, psychosocial disability and the NDIS. On this page you can see a video of a presentation by Kate Rae (project coordinator at ADACAS) at the 2015 TheMHS conference exploring the topic of supported decision making for people with psychosocial disability. The talk covers some of the research, which had been funded through the above mentioned project as well as other research she had undertaken in relation to supported decision making.

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