People living with psychosocial disability have faced a number of barriers in navigating the NDIS and in implementing their plans.  Considerations around what psychosocial disability supports should look like, a pathway for entry to the Scheme for people living with psychosocial disability and the interface with mainstream mental health supports were not fully understood when the NDIS began. The NDIA have since made significant improvements to the Scheme, including the development of the psychosocial pathway, and provision of guidance on determining eligibility for people with psychosocial disability support needs. However, more work is needed to facilitate discharge of people with psychosocial disability support needs from acute services and regarding how to establish NDIS eligibility for a person with psychosocial disability.

NDS recently held a podcast discussion on some emerging good practice in this area, highlighting some practical strategies to assist people with psychosocial disability, to navigate successfully the NDIS environment. Our studio guest in this podcast is Susan Brunton, the NDIS service lead for the mental health program at Monash Health. Susan has also worked as an NDIS appeals advocate, supporting individuals to appeal NDIS decisions. Susan has a background in specialist litigation, a skillset that is particularly useful when engaging with the NDIS legislative requirements, upskilling health clinicians in NDIS language, and supporting participants to navigate the complex NDIS environment.