The Disability Information and Resource Centre

DON’T MISS OUT! Less than 10 places remaining for Bruce Uditsky’s Self-Directed Funding Workshop

International practitioner Bruce Uditisky will visit Adelaide this month to deliver his Self-Directed Funding workshop – Practical Lessons from Canada.

Purple Orange (the shopfront of the Julia Farr Association) invites individuals, families, support staff, service agencies and government agencies to attend this full-day workshop on August 15, which will be enriched by the lived experience of families from Canada.

The workshop will be held at Our Space, 104 Greenhill Road, Unley, South Australia, but places are limited and there are less than 10 left.

Bruce is the Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Association for Community Living, and will highlight what is needed by way of individual and family vision, community resources, government policy, funding, service provision, and other related features if self-directed funding is to be of value and benefit.

Supported by Anne Hughson, Lori Adamchick, and Jim and Diane Reid, the presenters have 30 years experience with self-directed funding, from its utilisation in their own family members’ lives to developing policies, legislation, resources, providing training and evaluating self-directed funding.

Further information and registration details.

For enquiries call (08) 8373 8333 or freecall 1300 857 327.

Purple Orange invites you to a workshop on Monday 15 August 2011 by international practitioner Bruce Uditsky, Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Association for Community Living, on Self-directed funding: Practical lessons from Canada.

Bruce, with support from Anne Hughson, Lori Adamchick, Jim and Diane Reid, will highlight what is needed by way of individual and family vision, community resources, government policy, funding, service provision, and other related features if self-directed funding is to be of value and benefit.

The presenters have 30 years experience with self-directed funding, from its utilisation in their own family members’ lives to developing policies, legislation, resources, providing training and evaluating self-directed funding.

Individuals, families, support staff, service agencies and government agencies are encouraged to attend this full-day workshop, which will be enriched by the lived experience of families from Canada.

Limited sponsorship places are available for people on lower income.

The workshop will be held at Our Space, 104 Greenhill Road, Unley, South Australia.

For enquiries call (08) 8373 8333 or freecall 1300 857 327.

Web2Care is a new tool developed to assist people in managing self-directed care and personal budgets. The web based tool integrates planning, budgeting, employment of support workers, financial management and reporting functions in a format applicable to adults and children in disability who are directly managing a support package.

Expressions of interest are now invited from consumers with a chronic illness or mental illness, and consumers/families in aged care, in trialling the tool in self-managing a support budget in chronic illness, mental illness and aged care.

A presentation on the tool can be found here.

For more information contact Vern Hughes on 0425 722 890 or vern@partnerships.org.au.

This document outlines the outcome of the May/July meeting of the Self-managed Funding Initiative Consultative Committee.

Media statement 29/10/09

SA goes part way with self-management trial for people with disability

50 people with disability and their families in South Australia will have the opportunity to directly manage the funding they get for disability services, but the state government and service providers will still be in control.

This initiative will give a small group of people their current funding package to spend on the same things they already have. People with disability want to use their funding to meet their needs in ways that give them the same opportunities to be included as everyone else. Sometimes this means being creative and flexible, like going to a gym instead of the physiotherapist, or a singing lesson instead of breathing exercises, or going on a holiday with support instead of a respite facility.

Being in control means having the opportunity to make those decisions about what is the best way to meet your needs.

Although it is a step in the right direction, the new initiative announced yesterday by the South Australian government is a trial with severe limitations that only addresses one option of self-directed funding. In Control Australia is disappointed that South Australia has not taken the opportunity to change its funding system to one where there are multiple options for management of funding and support for many different people with disabilities to be in control of their lives.

Both Victoria and Western Australia have implemented successful changes to their systems which include people directly receiving the funds as one option. They also include options for shared management of services with organisations, and using a financial intermediary or a broker to support the person and family in their management of funds.

In Control Australia urges the South Australian government to modify and extend its trial to be a true model of self-directed funding for people with disability.

For more information on self-directed funding see the principles and frequently asked questions on the In Control Australia website www.in-control.org.au .

Media enquiries can be directed to Samantha Jenkinson on 0412 887 674.

Self-managed funding, also known as individualised funding, is an approach used to enable people with disabilities to have control and choice about the supports they receive.  Self-managed funding gives a person with a disability control of the funding that has been allocated for their support needs.  It enables the individual to choose how, where and when they receive the support they need.

Self-managed funding can range from a direct payment to a person with a disability to enable them to arrange and purchase the support they require, through to arrangements which support a person to self-manage.

At the request of the Minister for Disability, the Department for Families and Communities has been planning the implementation of self-managed funding arrangements.  The Office for Disability and Client Services has been leading the work which has entailed broad consultation with people with disabilities and their carers, service providers and other key stakeholders.  Phase one is commencing with current clients of Disability SA being invited to register interest in participating in the phase one initiative.  A panel will select 50 people to participate in phase one.  Participants will be current clients of Disability SA and have an existing allocation of ongoing disability support.  No additional funding is associated with this initiative.

Phase One: Self-managed Funding is a development phase.  Self-managed funding represents a new form of service delivery for people with disabilities and their carers and service providers.  For this reason participants will participate in an evaluation that informs future self-management arrangements.  Disability SA will ensure that participants have access to training, advice and assistance throughout Phase One.

Disability SA has set up an information line to provide information and answer any queries.

People interested in submitting a Registration of Interest and obtaining an information pack can do so via:

www.sa.gov.au/disability/selfmanagedfunding

or

Calling the Information Line on 1300 786 117