NDIS Housing Innovation Showcase

NDIS Housing Innovation Showcase

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Olympic Park, Sydney

Transcript

Su-Hsien Lee, WA Individualised Services

Good afternoon. In the interests of time, I will scroll through the first few slides. We are a WA-based organisation. We are not a housing provider, a service provider, but we work with service providers and individuals and families.
We try to facilitate and support them to plan, design and deliver individualised support services. That is the crux of what we do.
Today we are here to talk about Shared Lives, or shared living. It is used for a range of services that support people in the best way possible, real people connecting and supporting and sharing their lives. These arrangements have been in place in WA over the last 15 years and involve people and families wanting these kinds of arrangements.
It offers more than a formal support arrangement, fundamentally underpinned by relationships and a sense of belonging and connection.
The principles of shared living, or Shared Lives, are belonging and connection, which is about real relationships and being connected. The term 'relationship' will come up numerous times in the next 10 minutes. About independent living, having full access to an ordinary life, the right to being a citizen, self-determination or being in control of their own life and lifestyle.
Flexibility – your right to decide how to manage your own ability. Choice – the life you live in and around your home, and trust – family members and people with disability being equal partners in the relationship.
The presentation before lunch was a great lead-in. They mentioned co-residency. That is the broad term for these kind of shared life arrangements. The home for us when it comes to Shared Lives is the platform for people to develop their relationships, the place where the person with disability is a valued member of the household. We have two very broad arrangements.
It is when the individual moves into the supporter's home or the supporter moves into the individual's home. But what that looks like under that roof and how the support arrangement is, there are as many arrangements as there are people, it is truly individualised.
Shared Lives, the name is obvious, but by sharing, there is a reciprocal benefit for the person with disability and the supporter. It can and has developed new life opportunities for people every day. And it has provided the opportunity for new experiences to the supporters that they may not have had otherwise.
As I mentioned before, there are as many shared living arrangements as there are people. It is not a one size fits all, despite that we talked about the two broad types of home arrangements.
They all differ in a range of ways, including how the home environment is arranged, how the support is tailored to the individual and how the shared lifestyle operates from day to day.
They do share the aim of providing support and opportunities for the individual through the relationships that are formed and some features that are key to the principles that underpin the arrangements – home, sense of belonging, role and purpose, a say in the direction of life, connection, equality and reciprocity and a safe and supportive lifestyle.
What we have found that works over the years is more about the relationships that are involved, not just the technical details, although they are important. The relationship is what will be the basis of a successful arrangement. But the relationship is also in itself a positive safeguard against isolation, loneliness and poor treatment.
Key elements that people and families have told us make a difference are compatibility and connectedness. There is significant investment upfront in finding the right person to be the individual's supporter. A lot of time is required to determine their values, culture, beliefs, experiences, likes and dislikes and lifestyle. Similarly for the individual being supported as well, to find the right person they can develop a relationship with.
The other key element is mutual respect and understanding. Some shared living arrangements are with existing relationships that are built upon, but many are new relationships and we are supporting people to connect and contribute.
The commitment to the living arrangement, and openness. With any relationship, the openness and honesty with their communication is key. Trying to support individuals to be themselves.
Some of the investment in this arrangement, the person, their capacities and vulnerabilities, enabling us to positively safeguard. And designing and developing the right support arrangements.
Next to the significant investment in finding the right person or persons to be a supporter, they can be an individual, couple or family, the designing and development of the right arrangement is the next critical stage, which can take time as well. We have to make sure the person is safe and well while exploring what their arrangements will look like.
We also make sure we celebrate and support the arrangement to make sure it is sustainable, support the supporter, and the legal and regulatory requirements need to be paid attention to.
I would like to end the presentation. To show you a short video about Jonathan Cam. Jonathan and Arthur couldn't be here today, unfortunately.
These are Jonathan's father's words. He compares Jonathan from 10 years ago and says that he was labelled with autism and severe intellectual handicap and epilepsy, non-verbal, isolated and frustrated with no friends, very rebellious with aggressive behaviour, seemed to be no future, they were quite despairing as a family. And apparently a lot of workers and organisations couldn't work with him any more because of his behaviour.
However, they came across an organisation that enabled them to develop a Shared Lives arrangement. He has the same disabilities but he is living in his own home happily with people he can trust and he is able to choose and express his needs and feelings and he is contented, confident and ready for ongoing development.
This, I'm hoping, will work.