Mind Australia has been selected for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pilot program that will help improve home and living supports for people experiencing mental health and wellbeing concerns.

Mind is one of 11 organisations that will implement an NDIS Home and Living Demonstration Project – an initiative that looks at different ways of delivering home and living supports that give greater flexibility to participants and providers, are outcomes-focused, encourage better practice and ensure NDIS sustainability.

These Home and Living Demonstrations Projects will test and evaluate alternative approaches to Supported Independent Living (SIL) - a type of NDIS support that helps people with high support needs to live in their home as independently as possible.

Mind’s Home and Living Demonstration Project is the Psychosocial residential rehabilitation model – a program that places an emphasis on capacity building in addition to daily living activities.

More information on the program location and specifics is still to come, but program participants will have access to:

  • safe, secure housing from Mind – one of the leading specialist community housing providers in Australia for people experiencing a psychosocial disability
  • our award-winning Mind Recovery College
  • and qualified peer workers – people who harness their own lived experience of mental ill-health to engage and inspire clients on their recovery journey.

Mind CEO Gill Callister said the NDIS Home and Living Demonstration Projects were an exciting opportunity that would enable more people to access psychosocial supports – like the kind provided by Mind Australia.

“This project combines mental health support with safe and secure housing – we know that these two elements are vital for a person’s recovery journey,” Ms Callister said.

"I get to see first-hand the positive impact of these services, which help people not just manage daily activities, but strengthen their social connections, engage with education and employment, and participate fully in the community.

“The NDIS Home and Living Demonstration Projects provide a platform for us to grow, develop and expand these much-needed service models, which help people take positive steps in their mental health recovery journey.”

Mind Executive Director Housing Strategy Mark Heeney said Mind’s Psychosocial residential rehabilitation model offers benefits for not just residents to achieve their NDIS goals, but also helps the NDIS and service providers to deliver more impactful and cost-effective services.

“Mind’s Psychosocial residential rehabilitation model allows increased choice and control to participants and how their supports are configured. It provides greater flexibility in supports, which are able to adapt to changing needs over time,” Mr Heeney said.

“Our aim is to build the evidence to demonstrate Psychosocial residential rehabilitation is a proven replicable model fit for national roll out, and is a more sustainable funding model for NDIS Supported Independent Living.”

More information about the Mind NDIS Home and Living Demonstration Project will be announced in the near future.

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Find more information on Mind’s Housing with support services.

To learn more about Mind Australia support services near you contact Mind Connect on 1300 286 463.

If this article raises immediate concerns for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can also call 13 YARN (13 97 76) a 24/7 national crisis support telephone service staffed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.