This month, Patty Kikos interviews Lisa Short, who is the NDIS state manager for New South Wales and ACT. Lisa outlines how to apply to be a participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, what the criteria are, as well as the future plans that the agency has to be of greater service to more people. GUEST: Lisa Short - https://www.ndis.gov.au/ SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Patty on Instagram Follow The Benevolent Society on Instagram Follow Carer Gateway on Facebook Follow The Benevolent Society on Facebook CREDITS: Host – Patty Kikos Producers – Patty Kikos and John Hresc Sound Engineer – John Hresc GET IN TOUCH: Carer Gateway is proud to offer emotional and practical services and support for carers with the aim of making your life easier. You can call us on 1800 422 737 to find out more about peer support groups, counselling, coaching, online skills courses, tailored support packages, emergency respite, other government supports, as well as tips and information, or visit our online home at www.carergateway.gov.au Got some questions or thoughts for Patty or the team? Email us at cgconnections@benevolent.org.au and put ‘Attention Patty’ in the subject line. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The Benevolent Society acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
This month, Patty Kikos interviews Lisa Short, who is the NDIS state manager for New South Wales and ACT. Lisa outlines how to apply to be a participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, what the criteria are, as well as the future plans that the agency has to be of greater service to more people.
GUEST:
Lisa Short - https://www.ndis.gov.au/
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Follow Patty on Instagram
Follow The Benevolent Society on Instagram
Follow Carer Gateway on Facebook
Follow The Benevolent Society on Facebook
CREDITS:
Host – Patty Kikos
Producers – Patty Kikos and John Hresc
Sound Engineer – John Hresc
GET IN TOUCH:
Carer Gateway is proud to offer emotional and practical services and support for carers with the aim of making your life easier.
You can call us on 1800 422 737 to find out more about peer support groups, counselling, coaching, online skills courses, tailored support packages, emergency respite, other government supports, as well as tips and information, or visit our online home at www.carergateway.gov.au
Got some questions or thoughts for Patty or the team? Email us at cgconnections@benevolent.org.au and put ‘Attention Patty’ in the subject line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The Benevolent Society acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Lisa:
Absolutely. So, we've actually undertaken what we call the operational guideline refresh. So, we're rewriting all of our guidance for participants and the sector in plain English. Initially, you know, when Julia Gillard announced the NDIS, we had hardly any time to get all this done before we had to open our doors back in 2013.
So, all our operational guidelines were written by lawyers, you know, it's all written in legal speak and, you know, the first time I read some of them I thought, I don't even know what that means. How do our participants understand that? It's far too complex.
---
Billy:
From the Carer Gateway at the Benevolent Society, we welcome you to, Carer Conversations with your host Patty Kikos.
The Care Gateway is the Australian Government national care hub and provides reliable services, support and advice especially for carers.
This podcast is where we share interviews with guests that have specialized knowledge to help support carers to look after their emotional, mental and physical well-being.
We are recording on Aboriginal country, on lands which were never ceded. We acknowledge the traditional custodians and cultural knowledge holders of these lands and waters. We pay our respects to Aboriginal elders, past and present.
Always was, always will be.
---
Patty:
Hello and welcome to today's episode where we unpack so much information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme, also known as the NDIS.
This is a topic that many of you have actually requested, so I'm thrilled to chat to today's guest about the NDIS. This is a scheme that provides funding to eligible people with a disability so that they can gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, and more access to new life skills, jobs or connected in their community, as well as an improved quality in their life.
The NDIS also connects anyone with a disability to services in their community. This includes connection to doctors, community groups, sporting clubs, support groups, libraries, schools, as well as providing information about what support is provided by each state and territory government.
The NDIS now supports over 500,000 Australians with a disability to access the services and the supports that they need. This includes supporting approximately 80,000 children with developmental delays, ensuring they receive supports early on so that they can achieve the best outcome throughout their lives.
Lisa Short, who I'm interviewing today, is the state manager for New South Wales and ACT for the National Disability Insurance Agency. She's a social worker and a former registered nurse who started her working career in disability.
Lisa has over 30 years of experience in providing support to vulnerable people and communities in both the public and the non-government sectors. With a strong focus on social justice and leadership, Lisa oversees a large frontline workforce across the state and territory that provides NDIS participants with their plans.
We are not recording this podcast together in a studio. as Lisa lives in Newcastle and I can't say I blame her for trying to avoid the hectic inner city traffic to get to our recording studio in Sydney. Lisa, hello, how are you?
Lisa:
Hello Patty, how are you? It's good to be here with you
Patty:
Oh, it's even better to have you and to have all the systems working. Tell me something and tell us all, what do you love most about where you live, Lisa?
Lisa:
I live in beautiful Lake Macquarie which is south of Newcastle and I live between the ocean and the lake which is a wonderful place to live and I can look out at the lake from my window here in my office at home.
Patty:
No wonder you didn't want to leave. No wonder you didn't want to come to Sydney. Now you had a whole career before you studied social work, didn't you?
Lisa:
Yes, I did. Actually, I started my career as in disability nursing. So, I started at Stockton Hospital, which was a large residential centre for people with pretty significant and profound disabilities. I worked there for 3 years, and after that, I went and did my general nursing at the Royal Newcastle Hospital, which has also gone now due to... being damaged severely in the Newcastle earthquake.
Patty:
Yeah, right. What was your first paid job after you received your social work qualification? And then what led you moving into management? Because as I understand, you were the operations manager for Mission Australia, and then as director for Catholic Care, before ultimately moving into various change management positions for the NDIS. Is that right?
Lisa:
Yes, that's right. My first job as a social worker was in the field of domestic violence, working with victims of domestic and family violence. I worked in that job for quite a while and I found myself experiencing burnout, experiencing an imbalance in my thoughts and feelings in regard to the men out there in society, many of whom didn't deserve my thoughts, but some of course who did.
But yeah, it's interesting looking back on that. We were fighting for funds for so long and fighting for change for women and children and just wanting men to stop abusing their wives and partners and families. And yet I look at the way that they have been the news today and it seems like nothing's changed, Patty, and it's quite disheartening at times.
Patty:
Lisa, I wish I disagreed. I feel like we need to change the vernacular around conversation. It's not domestic dispute, it's actually abuse.
Lisa:
Yes, that's correct
Patty:
And then the vernacular that a lot of media publications have, he's not a footy star, he's a footy player.
Lisa:
Yes.
Patty:
And she's not a WAG, she's not a wife or a girlfriend or an extension of him, she is her own person and has her own name and identity.
Lisa:
Exactly, yes, fully agree, Patty.
Patty:
Yeah. Do you have any family who also access the NDIS as a provider?
Lisa:
Yeah, actually my brother-in-law is an NDIS participant. He has Parkinson's disease, which is degenerating as he's getting older, and my sister is his carer at the moment. So, he does receive some paid support from the NDIS and also the informal support from my sister as his main carer.
Patty:
Lucky he's got you in the NDIS.
Lisa:
Well, not really. I'm not allowed to access his record at all. If I do, I'll be in big trouble.
Patty:
That's a policy that the NDIS have?
Lisa:
Absolutely, we take people's privacy very, very seriously. And if I accessed his account, I would be asked why, what was the reason why?
So, anybody can have protection under the NDIS so that staff can't access their record. And we call that restricted access participant. So, for those people who may have family working at the NDIS, many of our staff have children on the scheme.
Patty:
Yep.
Lisa:
So, it's really inappropriate that they access their family members record because they're not their planner or their Local Area Coordinator. And our relationships between the NDIS and the participant is nobody's business really.
So, if any of participants out there listening might... feel like there's someone that does work at the agency that they might not want to be able to access. They can call the call centre number and request to be made a restricted access participant.
Patty:
That is really important information for our carers to know and actually for our participants that are also listening.
Lisa:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Patty:
So, that's a policy?
Lisa:
Yes, privacy is taken very seriously at the agency.
Patty:
Yeah, as it should be.
I mean NDIS, I must confess I'm guilty of being a worker that has also been frustrated. And I've said things like, look, sometimes I feel like I need to have a PhD to understand this whole NDIS thing. Tell me, what kind of myths would you like to most dispel about the scheme today?
Lisa:
I guess there's a lot of myths out there and one of the ones I hear often is that participants need to spend thousands of dollars on lengthy reports in order to access a scheme or to prepare for a plan review and that's just not the case.
A simple evidence of disability form filled out by a GP is adequate enough evidence of the permanency and significance of a person's life impairment to meet the criteria to access the scheme.
So don't feel like you need to go off and spend thousands of dollars on clinicians' reports because a simple form, a few questions asked by a GP and signed off is often very adequate enough.
Patty:
Can other allied health professionals also complete that form? And I'm assuming it's downloadable from the website, is that correct?
Lisa:
Yes, it is downloadable. It's attached to the access request form and yes, other allied health professionals can also complete that form, yes.
Patty:
and it's just called an evidence of disability form?
Lisa:
That's correct, yeah.
Patty:
Are there any differences to what the NDIS can provide funding for statewide?
Lisa:
This is another issue of a lot of contention out there in the community and it's something our Minister, Bill Shorten is very aware of as well.
So once all the states signed up to the scheme, they put a lot of the money that they used to use for services that also cater to people with disabilities into the scheme and as a result a lot of those services are now unfunded so they don't exist.
The main one that comes to mind is community mental health services. So, whilst we know that there are quite a number of people with a primary disability, of being a psychosocial disability, eligible for the NDIS, there's many, many people in the community who aren't eligible for the scheme, but now don't have access to those services like community mental health. And that's something that, is not what the scheme was meant to be, like the only lifeboat in the ocean for everyone who needs support.
Patty:
Why would those services have been stopped or ceased?
Lisa:
I'm not quite sure. That's probably a question to ask the states, but I would have thought that they may have assumed that everyone accessing those services would be eligible for the NDIS.
And that's just not the case. The NDIS was there for people with significant and permanent impairment, not for someone who may suffer periodic depression or anxiety or a condition it may be shorter lived and treatable.
Patty:
I mean I know currently ADHD is not considered to be a disability according to the NDIS. Is this something that's likely to change?
Lisa:
No, I don't think so, not on its own. And whilst the scheme doesn't say it's not a disability, it can be quite difficult for people with ADHD to function in daily life, but it's not a significant impairment. And so, yes, there's no plans for ADHD on its own to come into the scheme, but what we do know is that many people with ADHD also have other impairments impacting on their lives.
So, whilst on its own it wouldn't be eligible for the scheme, many people who have ADHD are actually eligible with another impairment that goes along with it.
Patty:
Can you give some examples?
Lisa:
Well, we don't sort of use diagnosis when we're looking at access criteria. So, to be eligible for the scheme, you must be under 65. You must be a permanent resident or a citizen of Australia.
And you must have a permanent impairment, which is of significance. to being able to manage your daily life in five areas, and they are in your mobility, in your communication, in your ability to care for yourself, in your cognitive ability, and in your ability to manage your own affairs, so self-management.
So, you need a significant and permanent impairment in one of those five areas to be eligible for the scheme.
Patty:
So just to repeat for our carers, so the areas of mobility, communication, self-care, self-management, and all the cognitive domains.
Lisa:
That's correct. Yep.
Patty:
And they've got to have a permanent and significant impairment in one of those 5 domains. How is this significance measured?
Lisa:
Well, it's measured for the impact that it has on someone's life. So, if someone can't communicate, that has a significant impact on their life. If someone has mobility issues, they may need equipment to get around and to mobilize. That has a significant impact.
So, we look at the impact on a person's life and, you know, things they actually may need to bring them up to parody, I guess, to someone who does not have a similar impairment.
Patty:
So it would stop them from participating in community without support or the labour market or general day-to-day activities, maybe like shopping or looking after themselves?
Lisa:
Absolutely. Yep.
Patty:
And can you give some other examples as well? Like for example, someone who is morbidly obese would not be considered eligible, is that right?
Lisa:
That's correct unless there was evidence that the obesity is considered permanent. Some psychosocial conditions like anxiety and mild depression that's not really considered permanent enough, but something like schizophrenia would be considered to be permanent.
So, if in doubt, and I tell your listeners, if people think that they may be eligible for the scheme based on what they've just heard. download our access request form and go to your GP and get them to complete it, complete the evidence of disability part and submit that to the agency and test your eligibility.
Patty:
Hmm because I know many of my clients have said you have no idea how crippling my anxiety or my depression is, and I know that someone can receive treatments and feel better after a little while, but I also know that there are many people that have attempted a variety of treatments over many years and It's just not gotten better
Lisa:
Yes, that's right, exactly right. And having had anxiety myself, I do know how debilitating it is. Luckily, my anxiety was able to be treated and I'm much better now and I do know the signs to look out for. But certainly, if someone's anxiety is both debilitating and permanent, then they would be eligible for the scheme.
Patty:
I see. If someone wasn't eligible for the scheme, would you refer them to somebody else?
Lisa:
Absolutely, absolutely. When we talk to them about not being eligible for the scheme, we assist them to explore what other options may be available to them in their area.
Patty:
Yeah, so what would you do if someone advocated for themselves in this example and then didn't necessarily have a GP referral so you couldn't refer them back to a GP?
Lisa:
Well, we get back to them with some other options. There may be some, you know, non-government agencies who provide mental health services that they could access or some other family-related services in the community that they could access that would be able to assist them.
Lisa:
Certainly, we know in regional remote areas, services are often scarce and there's often nothing available. And that is a shame. And hopefully something that we can improve on as we move along, and we get the scheme sort of more mature and we can look at what services need to be provided for those people who are not eligible for the scheme.
Patty:
How do you actually assess each case?
Lisa:
So what we do, we receive the form and the assessor will look at the evidence and look at the legislation and find statements in the evidence that require us under the legislation, under section 34 of the legislation and make a decision based on that.
If we don't actually have enough information, what we'll do is go back to the participant and ask for further information but tell them exactly what the information is we need.
Patty:
Hmm. And what sort of information is often lacking or still needed?
Lisa:
Sometimes information about the impact of the impairment on the participant's life. So sometimes a GP will just say, you know, person has X impairment, but doesn't go into detail about this means that they cannot access the community. They can't, you know, so we need that broader sort of putting it in context type evidence.
Patty:
Yeah, I understand.
What can people do when they can't apply on their own? Maybe because there's a language barrier or there's access to information that they can't get.
Lisa:
Yep, so people wishing to access the scheme can go to one of our partners in the community, which is our Local Area Coordinators or our early childhood partners, and they will assist you to gather the evidence or make your GP appointment or whatever you need to do to get your access request form completed and then we'll help you submit that and then we'll keep in contact with you about its progress.
Patty:
And the way you can also access your Local Area Coordinator is maybe through the website as well. If you don't have one in your suburb, would that be another way?
Lisa:
Absolutely. On the website is all the information you need on how to contact your local area coordinator or if there isn't one in your direct suburb where the nearest one is or where our agency offices are.
You can also come in into agency office and get the forms and get assistance to make access.
Patty:
that's good. Or call the 1800 number which we'll have in our show notes as well.
Lisa:
Absolutely, yes.
Patty:
So, for carers who are overwhelmed with renewing their plans each year, what would you say?
Lisa:
Okay, I hear this all the time that there's so much anxiety about plan reviews. And look, if your plan is working for you and you're getting everything out of it that you need and you're meeting your goals and your outcomes and you're participating, you know, with a good quality of life, then don't get it renewed. Just request that it gets rolled over. You don't need a plan review.
Patty:
Who do you make that request to?
Lisa:
Well, when you're contacted for your plan review meeting, you just need to say, I'm happy with my plan. Can I just get it rolled over, please?
Patty:
Got it. Is that a new thing? Because I feel like this wasn't always an option.
Lisa:
It wasn't always an option, but it is something we're looking at now purely because, you know, when we've got about 4,000 staff in the agency and that ever since we had about 100,000 participants, we've got almost 600,000 participants now.
Patty:
Yeah, those numbers don't work.
Lisa:
no more staff than what we had back then. So, you know, but it's all, but we're hearing, we trialled it for a, you know, a work, workforce issue, but so many people just loved it and said, I just want to keep doing this. So we've increased it now.
And if people want that, it's absolutely perfect. It's perfect for them and it's perfect for us. Yep.
Patty:
Good, I want our carers to hear this.
And I'm assuming that you make one to two to 3 to 5 year plans even, and I guess, I'm assuming that would work if you go to school and your needs aren't changing.
But maybe if you're transitioning between school and workforce, then you would probably need your plan reviewed because you would need support for different things, I'm just guessing.
Lisa:
Yeah, absolutely. So if you're about to leave school, of course, I would suggest you get a plan review because you might need school leaver supports in there. You might need some support to continue with study or training or finding a job and even learning new tasks when you get a job. So absolutely.
Patty:
So I'm kind of hearing, so with every new milestone, you might want to plan review.
Lisa:
Absolutely, yeah.
Patty:
Okay.
Lisa:
But if things are just going along, you're going along well, there's no major changes coming up in your life, just get your plan rolled over.
Patty:
That sounds like a good idea. What's the average wait time for access? So, from the moment you apply to the moment you are here, whether you've been accepted or not, what's that average wait time?
Lisa:
Yep. So, once we receive the request form, we've got 21 days to make a decision. But if we don't have enough information, the clock stops when we go back to you and ask for more. But we're pretty good at doing it within the time frames at the moment, which is good, though we do actually make over 2000 access decisions every week.
Patty:
Nationwide.
Lisa:
Nationwide, yes.
Patty:
Wow, that's a lot. Where could NDIS make some improvements?
Lisa:
Well, we're about to make some improvements. You may have heard recently as a budget announcement that the government's investing in some changes to reboot the scheme. So, we're looking at more staffing, which is wonderful.
We're doing a capability uplift. So, a lot of training for our staff on different disability types, customer service, a whole range of things, listening skills.
Patty:
So having staff being specialised in one particular area of disability?
Lisa:
Yes, yes, we're going to have some specialist planning teams, specialized planning teams, to work with, you know, early childhood planning. It's very different to be a planner for a 0 to 6 year old than it is for an adult.
So we'll be specializing in that and a few other areas. Yeah, lots of training. Yeah,
Patty:
Training of staff, yep.
Lisa:
Training of staff, yes, and our partners in the community. We're also looking at, you know, moving our partners in the community to working more with those what we call tier 2 participants, which are people with disability who aren't eligible for the scheme.
So, we're wanting to start to move our LAC partners out of planning and sitting in front of the computer, out into the community to build capacity, to build community inclusion and to work with those people with disabilities who... aren't eligible for the scheme. So that's really exciting.
Patty:
Yeah, it sounds like it's expanding.
Lisa:
Yes.
Patty:
And what about writing some guidelines in plain English? Cause NDIS is possibly far too complex. Maybe we can go back to some basics for some participants who are struggling with, you know, basically understanding what it is.
Lisa:
Absolutely. So, we've actually undertaken what we call the operational guideline refresh. So, we're rewriting all of our guidance for participants and the sector in plain English. Initially, you know, when Julia Gillard announced the NDIS, we had hardly any time to get all this done before we had to open our doors back in 2013.
So, all our operational guidelines were written by lawyers, you know, it's all written in legal speak and, you know, the first time I read some of them I thought, I don't even know what that means. How do our participants understand that? It's far too complex.
So, we almost finished that refresh. So, if people look on our website and go to some of our guidelines, you'll actually see that they're written in plain English with lots of examples that you could... say, you know, we would fund this, but we wouldn't fund that, or in this situation, it's reasonable and necessary, but in this situation, it's not.
So, I encourage you all to go and have a look. And you will see much better written in plain English guidance for you that will probably be able to answer a lot of your questions.
Patty:
I want to go back to you talking about specialised teams. And I know that you mentioned that planning for someone that's 0 to 6 years of age is very different to planning for an adult. What about planning for someone that is in aged care and working with someone that can stay living in their own home as independently as possible, as opposed to aging in the system where those kinds of homes aren't necessarily going to be sustainable for them?
Lisa:
Well, that's right. So, you may all probably know that part of the schemes, one of the schemes main objectives was to get young people under 65 out of nursing homes. And we've been really successful at that, but there is a small cohort of those people left in nursing homes, whilst they do have NDIS plans to access the community.
And those people don't have a goal to move out of the nursing homes. And I think it's a lot of fear attached to that; I think. So, I could understand people who might've been there a long time being fearful of moving back out into the community.
Patty:
Oh, especially from a home where everything is done for you.
That would be very, very intimidating.
Lisa:
Absolutely, and we're certainly not about forcing anyone who doesn't want to. So, we do still have a cohort of people who are younger than 65 living in nursing homes and we'll continue to work with them really closely.
But, you know, as you said, at the moment we've also got a few, well, quite a few people with intellectual disability, I guess, or cognitive impairments living with elderly parents. their parents are really concerned about what's going to happen to them when they pass away.
And so we're going to start working with, we're going to identify that group and start working with them and helping them to make some plans, you know, for what is it they want?
Do they want their loved one to remain in the family home with support? What do they need, what's their preference and what work needs to be done with that participant, you know, to work towards that?
Because if you can imagine, if you're in your parents in your 80s, you might be in your 60s and you've lived with them your whole life. How terrifying that is
So yeah, we want to be proactive in that work and identify who they are and start the conversations I think.
Patty:
Many of our carers are actually in that position and it terrifies them. What is going to happen to my child? Many have said, I wish I could outlive my child because I don't know how they're going to survive without me.
Lisa:
Yeah, yeah, it's very scary. Yep.
Patty:
Yeah, I imagine that you'd also be working with providers to do better because participants have also probably given you feedback about how they might have had funds taken out for services that they didn't necessarily use.
Lisa:
Absolutely and you know the minister talks a lot about the fraud issue that is terrorising the scheme at the moment. Whilst there's the big organised crime type fraud there's also some you know what we sort of call “sharp practices” be it a mistake or not where participants are getting charged for some services that they didn't receive so we'll be looking closely into that.
There's also a trend at the moment for people wanting to move into supported independent living or SIL supports, which is basically a group home. And that concerns me because those types of institutions actually create dependents.
They don't build capacity for independence. And I would hate to see someone on the scheme go backwards in their independence as a result of moving into an accommodation style where everything is done for you rather than assisting you to build your own capacity.
Patty:
Yeah. So I'm hearing that there's gonna be a lot of collaboration with users, with service users, with carers even. Is that right?
Lisa:
Absolutely, we've already started looking at our co-design process. We want the sector and the community to help us implement some of these budget reforms that we've got through the budget, how we're actually going to implement. We want to hear from people about what you think out there, how things should be done and what can be done too. As Minister Shorten says, put the scheme back. to its original intention and I find that really exciting.
Patty:
I do too. If you had any advice for our carers, what would it be?
Lisa:
Oh wow. Talk to your LAC partners or talk to your planner if you're concerned about anything but certainly roll over your plan if it's working for you. That's the best advice I can give anyone I think. Don't put yourself through the anxiety of a plan review if you don't need one. But if you need one then please by all means.
Patty:
This is wonderful. Lisa, I think I've picked your brain enough. I think it might be time to reward you with some rapid fire wrap up questions. What do you think?
Lisa:
Haha
Patty:
Okay, I think I know the answer to this. I think our listeners might as well, but would you rather leave your hometown and never be able to return or stay in your hometown, but never be able to leave?
Lisa:
That’s obvious, Patty. I think I will stay in my hometown and never be able to leave.
Patty:
If you had to rename yourself, what name would you choose?
Lisa:
Lucy because it's cute and relatable.
Patty:
Yes, it really is.
Lisa:
My daughter's first little puppy was a little golden cocker spaniel. We called her Lucy, and she was just the love of my life. So, I love that name.
Patty:
Yeah, it's got positive connotations. What does your ideal weekend look like?
Lisa:
Bits of everything. Grandchildren, I've got 4 grandchildren and they're just adorable. A bit of relaxing, a bit of cooking, no house cleaning at all.
Patty:
So that’s done during the week?
Lisa:
Yes, or a husband who does that. Maybe a nice dinner as well.
Patty:
Ha ha.
Lisa:
Maybe a meal out and a couple of glasses of wine and no contact from work is my ideal weekend.
Patty:
Did that happen last weekend?
Lisa:
No
Patty:
As in you did get contacted for work.
Lisa:
No I didn't, not last weekend, no.
Patty:
Oh, that's good. That's excellent.
Lisa:
Yes, it was fantastic.
Patty:
This is what happens when you're the area manager for 2 states when things get escalated, you're the go to person, aren't you?
Lisa:
Well, that's right, certainly for the jurisdictional government, so New South Wales government, ACT government, if something's going wrong with an NDIS participant or something has escalated they will contact me. And then I have to go and upset other people and contact them.
Patty:
Yeah, yeah, well, this is life.
Lisa:
Absolutely.
Patty:
Disability and issues don't stop just because it's the weekend.
Lisa:
That's right. That's right.
Patty:
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Lisa:
Oh, well, I'm very determined. I'm very committed. I'm committed to this scheme 100%.
Patty:
Yeah.
Lisa:
But I'm also pretty bossy and that's how I get things done.
Patty:
That's also why you're the boss. And what's your favourite all time TV show?
Lisa:
Oh, Mash. Mash. I mean, any of you who are a fair bit younger than me won't remember Mash but yeah, Mash was my evening get home from work, watch Mash was just a delight. It made me laugh and I have very fond memories of that show.
Patty:
Captain Hawkeye Piers for the win.
LISA:
Yes, yes, he was great.
Patty:
My last question to you is when do you feel most confident?
Lisa:
Probably when I see my team doing things that need to be done and respond in a way that reflects how I work with them. So I don't know, thinking about a couple of weeks ago, I was in a senior leadership team, we were all in Sydney for a meeting for a couple of days and I looked around the room and thought, you know, 5 of these people used to be my direct reports and I brought them up through the ranks and now they're my peers.
So, I get really proud of that. So, I'm confident in my ability to, I guess, coach and guide my people who report to me through their leadership journey. So, I'm very confident with that.
Patty:
You are, and you don't mind lifting people up. This is wonderful. It goes to show that you're here with your heart and not your ego.
Lisa:
Oh absolutely, there's no room for ego in this agency.
Yeah, no, it's all about, for me it's all about leadership and grooming those skills that we need and getting people thinking bigger and it's wonderful to see them flourish and and develop through their careers.
Patty:
Oh, Lisa, you're amazing. Thank you so much for spending time with us today and for your patience with our technical issues. And especially with you explaining the process of accessing the NDIS or National Disability Insurance Scheme in a way that is just going to be so much easier for us to understand. Thank you so much.
Lisa:
My pleasure.
Patty:
Now folks, the website is www.ndis.gov.au. We'll also have that in our show notes. And if you prefer to chat to someone instead of logging in online, the number to call is 1-800-800-110.
We hope this episode has been helpful for you. And if there are still more questions you'd like to ask, please reach out and share them with us as I'd love to have Lisa come back on the podcast. If you do know of someone that can benefit from this information, feel free to forward this episode to them.
And if you found this episode helpful, liking, subscribing and especially leaving us a 5 star review ensures that we can get this information out to as many people as possible so they too can thrive in their caring role. Until next time, take good care of yourself.
Billy:
If you are caring for a relative or a friend who has a disability, a mental health condition, a life limiting health or medical condition.
Or they are frail because they're getting older. Please contact us at Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737, or look us up on www.carergateway.gov.au
And if you are a carer, you're allowed to take time to look after yourself. You are just as important as the person you take care of.