Do you need some respite?

Caring for someone can be a rewarding experience and, at the same time, can be stressful and leave you feeling tired. As a carer taking regular breaks is important as it can help relieve stress for both you and the person you are caring for.

Previously, these breaks were referred to as respite care, however, with the introduction of the NDIS, respite care is now known as short-term accommodation.

Short-term accommodation provides you with a break from caring to give you time to do everyday activities or simply look after yourself.

Carers often worry about leaving the person they care for, and this is understandable. However, regular breaks can be important for you as a carer and those breaks need only be for a short period of time.

Planning your short-term accommodation

Planning a break in advance can help avoid stress build-up. If you would like a regular service, for example monthly, this can be arranged. Ad-hoc bookings are also welcome and will be managed wherever possible.

What type of short-term accommodation is available?

Aspire offers short-term accommodation services for both children and adults.

Short-term accommodation houses provide families and unpaid carers of a person or persons with a disability with planned, short-term time-limited breaks from their usual caring role. Our houses aim to provide a positive experience for the person with a disability, while their carer has a break.

The Aspire short-term accommodation houses are comfortable, well maintained and well resourced and offer specialised equipment and are located close to transport and other local services.

The children’s and adult houses are bright, modern, well equipped five bedroom homes. Aspire has professional, skilled staff who specialise in ensuring that the short terms breaks provide positive experiences for all.

Why are breaks important?

Taking a break and having some time to yourself can benefit both you and the person you care for.

There are many reasons you should consider taking a break:

you are feeling stressed, tired or burnt out
you need some time for yourself
you are ill
you need to attend an appointment or event
there is tension between you and the person you care for

Taking a break can often be difficult at first, especially if you are the main carer. However, it is really important to have a break and to ask for help.

Trying to reduce stress is important. If you are feeling stressed, try taking a break so you can have some time to relax.

Aspire currently has short-term accommodation available at both the children’s house and the adult house.

If you would like to be sent a calendar to submit your short-term accommodation for the next quarter or would like to discuss your short-term accommodation options, please contact our Customer Service Team.

T 02 6058 4000 E customerservice@aspiress.com.au

For further information regarding Aspire Short-term Accommodation services follow the links below.

Children’s Short-term Accommodation (Respite) House
Adult Short-term Accommodation (Respite) House

If you have any questions about your NDIS plan and short-term accommodation or require further information feel free to contact our Customer Service Team.

What is the difference between Support Coordination, Plan Management, and LAC?

We have been getting asked about the differences between Support Coordination, Plan Management, and Local Area Coordination, so this month we try to clarify that for you.

Support Coordination

According to the NDIS, support coordination is “a capacity building support to implement all supports in a participant’s plan, including informal, mainstream, community and funded supports”.

This means that Support Coordination can help you to implement your plan, and find services and supports in your region.

What do Support Coordinators do?
Support coordinators work with participants to:

Choose preferred options or providers
Arrange assessments
Work out your budget
Talk with the plan manager to allocate funds
Link to mainstream and community services
Resolve problems or issues
Understand service agreements
Change or end a service agreement
Help you to get ready for a plan review

Aspire is registered with the NDIA to provide Support Coordination, so please contact our Customer Service team if you would like further information.

Plan Management

There are three ways that you can manage your NDIS funds:

Manage your own funds (self-management)
Get a professional to do it (plan-management)
Let the NDIA do it (agency-management)

Or you can choose a combination of the above.

You need to think about how you would like to manage your funds so that you can tell the NDIA what you want at your planning meeting.

If you decide to get a professional to help you with your plan management, A Plan Manager can help you with the financial tasks of your plan. They may organise providers and their payments, process claims and invoices and track budgets.

Like Support Coordinators, they are paid separately in your NDIS plan and they must be a registered provider.

Aspire is registered with the NDIA to provide plan management, so please contact our Customer Service team if you would like further information.

Local Area Coordinators

Local Area Coordinators (LACs) gather data and information from people in their planning meetings and pass the information onto the NDIA to be turned into a plan.

LACs do not work for the NDIA – they are organisations that receive funding to have planning meetings with NDIS participants. In our region, the LAC’s are Intereach and Latrobe Community Health Service.

After your planning meeting with the LAC, they will give the information to the NDIA to develop your plan.
You can ask a friend or someone who knows you well to go with you to your planning meeting. If you would like someone from Aspire to go with you to your planning meeting, please give our Customer Service Team a call.

Please contact our Customer Service team at Aspire if you require further information.
T 02 6058 4000 E customerservice@aspiress.com.au

Our Customer Service Team

To improve the way we answer your questions and communicate with you, we have developed a new Customer Service Team. The key role of the team is to be your main contact at Aspire.

Everyone in the team will be able to help you with questions about your services, experiences and anything at all about Aspire. You can call and talk to anyone on the team during our opening hours.

Some of the team will be familiar to you and you might see some new faces—all are here to help you have the best experience possible with Aspire.

You can contact the Customer Service Team by emailing customerservice@aspiress.com.au, calling 02 6058 4000 or dropping in to see us at 220 Borella Road, Albury.