Acquired Brain Injury Series: the tapestry of a fit-for-purpose plan - a template for support coordinators
In this final blog of the ABI series, let us talk about a template you can use to map out, monitor, and advocate for fit-for-purpose supports for your participants with ABI.
Supporting participants with ABI and advocating for greater supports - a complex landscape
Supporting participants with ABI can be complex for support coordinators because of two reasons:
The multi-layered presentation of ABI (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) and the involvement of multiple health and disability support professionals in their care.
ABI participant needs may not neatly fit into NDIS access categories of a physical or cognitive or neurological or a psychosocial disability, which could mean receiving supports that accounts for only half the picture.
Best practice guidelines exist for support planning when working with people with ABI and primarily focus on mapping a participant’s profile of injury and areas of need, and using that data to advocate for supports later on. In this blog, I provide an easy to use template that uses a checklist format and can help you do three things with just one form:
- Map out a program of supports
-Monitor areas of need or progress across time points
- Use that data to advocate for a fit-for-purpose disability support funding.
FORM 1: Initial data to capture basic history and context
Use a checklist format to capture historical data.
History of accident and recovery: Date of injury, type of injury, cause, etc.
Pre-injury life: Education/employment, family background, any medical issues.
Rehabilitation history: Existing rehabilitation reports, contact details of rehabilitation professionals involved, etc.
Status post-injury: Independence with activities and daily living skills, communication/language difficulties, cognitive impairment, personality/behaviour problems, etc.
Family and significant others involved: Name and contact details, level of involvement, etc.
Current issues: Accommodation, respite care, financial, legal, etc.
FORM 2: Setting up a fit-for-purpose individual plan (see form below)
Use it to create an individual program. It can help you outline what you need to focus on with your participant.
Participant goals: NDIS goals + participant’s cherished goals for oneself.
Physical/mobility/transport: Driving ability, public transport, etc.
Relationships: Support to develop new relationships, maintaining existing informal supports, etc.
Accommodation: New options, respite, etc.
Autonomy: Capacity to make decisions, consultation needs, etc.
Communication: Speech, non-English-speaking background, reading, writing, etc.
Living skills: Personal care, health, food prep, etc.
Social and community participation: allied health involvement, GP contact, etc.
Recreation and leisure: intact skills and interests.
Vocational: Education and training needs, plans.
Using FORM 2 to track needs, progress, and create data informed future support plans
As a general rule, it helps to gather this data every 3 to 6 months after the initial individual plan is drawn up. This data is gathered in the context of what supports have been made available to the participant (see current schedule of supports section in form above). This allows you to examine challenges and progress relative to supports provided.
Use this data as a starting point for discussions regarding participant goals, areas that continue to be challenges and areas of progress. Feedback from a cherished person like a support coordinator can often resonate with them even more than feedback received from their allied health professionals. It can also serve to motivate them to try something new or different.
Using FORM 2 to advocate for greater fit-for-purpose supports
Look for consistently and frequently occurring items to advocate for targeted supports with the NDIA. For example, do you see capacity to make decisions being ticked every time you do this review? Do you also see accompanying difficulties with adhering to appointments? It may be time to use this data to advocate for greater capacity building supports in the form of an OT who focuses on cognitive disorders, initiate greater supports to make decisions, or a have a capacity assessment to examine decision-making capacity in personal, financial, health areas.
I hope you found the ABI series useful. Read the first blog outlining psychosocial disabilities associated with ABI here, and the second blog focusing on ABI related engagement difficulties and tools that help here.