Your goals can be big or they can be lots of smaller things you want to pursue. Your NDIS supports will help to meet your disability related support needs. You might also have goals you want to work towards that we can’t fund supports for. This is because helping you pursue your goals is only one of the NDIS funding criteria, so not all supports that help you pursue your goals will be reasonable and necessary.
If we don’t fund supports for a goal, your informal, community or other government supports might be able to help you work towards your goals. You can still include a goal in your plan even if it is not related to your disability, or it’s something we won’t fund supports for.
For some goals your disability related supports might help you pursue them. For example, you might have a goal to go to university, but you need assistance to get there because you are unable to use public transport because of your disability. You can use the funding in your plan for transport so you can get to and from university and this helps you to pursue your goal. We only fund supports if they meet reasonable and necessary criteria and help you work towards your goals.
How will you be supported to pursue your goals?
Once you have worked out what the steps might be to pursue each goal we can talk about your supports. This includes support from mainstream, community and informal supports.
We’ll do this by talking with you about how you’re currently being supported by family, friends and in the community. We’ll help you to identify how you could use the funding in your plan for disability supports that help you work towards some of your goals.
Example 1
Goal: I’d like to find work that is part time and where I can use my computer skills.
How I will be supported:
- I’ll ask Centrelink to work out my job capacity and eligibility to access a Disability Employment Service.
- My Local Area Coordinator (LAC) will work with me to find a service that can help me build my skills in looking for a job.
- I will use some of my reasonable and necessary personal care support in my NDIS plan to help me get better at taking care of myself, like showering, toileting and dressing.
- I will use some of my reasonable and necessary support in my NDIS plan to help me get better at managing my feelings and behaviour.
- My parents will support me at home to practice the skills I learn in managing my feelings and behaviour.
- My parents will support me at home to practice the skills I learn in taking care of myself, like showering, toileting and dressing so I can do this independently.
In this example the personal care supports received to help manage feelings and behaviours, and become independent with personal care will assist the long term goal of finding a job.
Example 2
Goal: I want to go on holiday next year
Support that helps me pursue this goal: During this plan I’d like to learn how to manage my own money. This is so I can pay for things myself and save money to go on holiday with my friends.
How I will be supported:
- My mum give me a weekly allowance, which will gradually increase over time.
- I will use my support worker to help me with setting a budget, learning how to manage money and paying for the things I want. This way I can be more independent in the community and not need so much support from my mum.
In this example using some support worker time to set and manage a budget can help pursue the long term goal of going on a holiday.