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Mind Australia is calling for the establishment of a lived experience-led advisory panel dedicated to supporting people with mental health challenges to access NDIS support. 

Establishment of the panel is one of 10 recommendations in a Housing with support paper Mind submitted to the NDIS Review, which is due to hand down its findings in October this year. 

The proposed “psychosocial disability expert advisory panel” would be led by NDIS participants and supported by trusted providers, academics and policymakers to make it safer and simpler for participants with psychosocial disability to access support. 

Psychosocial disability is a disability arising from mental health challenges which can limit an individual’s ability to function, think clearly, enjoy full physical health or manage their social and emotional welfare. 

Mind CEO Gill Callister said more oversight and assistance is needed for the nearly one-in-five NDIS participants who experience significant mental health and wellbeing challenges. 

“The inclusion of people with psychosocial disability in the NDIS has generated transformative outcomes for many people with significant mental health and wellbeing challenges,” Ms Callister said. 

"However, these outcomes aren't consistently experienced by all NDIS participants with a psychosocial disability due to a lack of recognition of the nuanced balance of short-to-medium, occasionally episodic, and long-term support required to live a full and meaningful life alongside their disability” 

Ms Callister said an expert advisory panel was needed to address the entrenched gaps and barriers for people with psychosocial disability caused by NDIA policy and NDIS funding and pricing settings. 

“People with significant mental health and wellbeing challenges - what the sector describes as psychosocial disability - need, and are entitled to, recovery-oriented NDIS support, but as the NDIS Review Panel has already pointed out, providers find it hard to respond to what participants need due to the support and service marketplace not working for all participants. 

“NDIS participants with psychosocial disability are marginalised, both individually at service access points as well as collectively in shaping and driving policy debates around reform and scheme improvements that directly impact them.” 

The inclusion of people with psychosocial disability in the NDIS has generated transformative outcomes for many people with significant mental health and wellbeing challenges.
- Gill Callister PSM​, Chief Executive Officer, Mind Australia

Mind is a recognised leader in the delivery and innovation of lived experience approaches to mental health support. Ms Callister said a proposed panel would value the insights of people with lived and living experience of mental health and wellbeing challenges who had a unique understanding of the NDIS. 

“We strongly emphasise the need for any reform to be co-designed with people who have lived and living experience of mental health and wellbeing challenges and psychosocial disability.  

“If adopted in full, our recommendations will improve outcomes for NDIS participants, and support expert service providers to continue to innovate and deliver complex psychosocial disability services at scale. 

“The recommendations are evidence-based, scalable, and economically efficient solutions to address the needs of NDIS participants with psychosocial disability.”  

Mind’s 10 recommendations include: 

  1. Review Supported Independent Living eligibility criteria and operational guidelines to appropriately support people in their recovery, and integrate housing supports with evidence-based psychosocial supports. 
  2. Block-fund a psychosocial residential rehabilitation program for NDIS and non-NDIS participants. 
  3. Fund the fixed costs of shared supports in specific community housing environments as part of an integrated package for some participants with psychosocial disability, such as through blended (block and fee-for-service) or enrolment payments. 
  4. Improve integration of psychosocial and housing support through an appropriate funding model, including more Capacity Building funding to promote recovery. 
  5. Enhance workforce capacity and capability through alternative funding models and pricing which support recovery-oriented outcomes and enhance workforce sustainability. 
  6. Embed community and peer support services in housing support. 
  7. Facilitate a collaborative process for participants to engage with psychosocial experts in developing a Recovery Plan which is personalised, evidence-based and outcomes-driven. Ensure plan reviews are outcomes focused and providers are accountable to evidencing how they have supported participants to achieve their Home and Living goals. 
  8. Incorporate flexibility in intensity level of housing supports and enable improved transitions as support needs change. 
  9. Implement a preferred provider model for delivery of housing with support to participants with psychosocial disability. 
  10. Establish a dedicated psychosocial disability expert advisory panel, led by scheme participants (and supported by highly specialised and trusted preferred providers, academics and policymakers) to make it easier for participants with psychosocial disability to access evidence-based supports. 

Read the full submission here  

Mind is also a founding member of the Australian Psychosocial Alliance (APA), which submitted a separate significant submission to the NDIS Review, titled: A recovery-shaped NDIS. The APA includes Flourish Australia, Mind Australia, Neami National, One Door Mental Health, Stride Mental Health, Open Minds and Wellways Australia.   

If this article raises concerns for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders can also call 13 YARN (13 92 76) a 24/7 national crisis support telephone service staffed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 

If you would like more information, please contact us via Mind Connect or phone: 1300 286 463