What career option would you like to explore?
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Explore a range of general support options
I want more variety in my work
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Learn more about providing specialised supports
I want to focus on a specific type of support
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Learn more about building capabilities and communities that support inclusion
I want to pursue my interest in inclusion and accessibility
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Learn more about supervisory or frontline management roles
I want to move into a supervision / frontline management role
Support coordination
A Support Coordinator works one-on-one with participants to support them:
- Understand and use their NDIS plan to pursue their goals
- Connect with NDIS support providers, community representatives, and other services they need
- Build confidence and skills to use and coordinate their supports
- Understand and keep track of their NDIS plan budget
Participants funded for support coordination often face particular challenges or have complex needs. General support work can be a great foundation for moving into a support coordination role. You will work at a deeper level to understand the particular interests, preferences and needs of participants, and help them find what they need.
You will need to build a detailed understanding of NDIS planning and process, rules, and reporting requirements. You will develop contacts and knowledge about different ways to support the needs and preferences of each individual. This includes opportunities for accessing government, community, mainstream, and disability specific supports, and addressing any barriers.
If you are a creative thinker who enjoys thinking outside the box, someone who is committed to supporting a person to pursue their full potential, who enjoys investigating and researching information, a good communicator, networker, and connector, this could be a great next step for you. If you want to undertake formal learning about this type of work you could consider study in fields like community work or social work.
There are different kinds of support coordinator roles.:
- General support coordination roles.
- Support coordination roles with a focus on specific needs, such as exploring preferred living arrangements.
- Specialist support coordination, working with people with very high and complex needs or circumstances. Specialist support coordination requires further study in a relevant qualification to understand the particular types of complexity and barriers participants face in implementing their plans.
Role profile
Rachel is a support coordinator for a small NDIS provider
Describe what you do in a few sentences?
I help people on the NDIS understand what support they’re eligible for and how to use their plan to get the best outcome. I connect them with the right support providers or help build their capacity to manage their own support. I do quite a bit of work with children so I get involved in working with the whole family.
What does a regular day look like?
On a typical day, I’ll go through the list of people I support to work out what needs most urgent attention. I’ll always check in with everyone at least once a week but, depending on what’s happening, that can be more frequent or I might need to chase up with equipment or technology suppliers as well as service providers to make sure the participant gets what they need, when they need it. It can be quite a juggle. You have to be good at prioritising and time management.
Best part of the job?
Being able to make a positive difference, and the variety of different people that I can help make the most of their NDIS plans.
Biggest challenges?
COVID has been the biggest challenge, with scheduling and organising face to face meetings with NDIS participants and support workers. It makes it hard to juggle access issues. Then there’s the pointy end of responding when a participant calls to say their workers aren’t coming because they have to isolate. It can get stressful so it’s important to keep a calm head and work through each challenge as it comes up.
How did you get into your current role?
I was working in support work and then leading a team. Whilst on a training course I connected with the CEO of my current organisation. They said they needed support coordinators and asked if I was interested, and I haven’t looked back!
How did you develop the required skills and experience?
I had a lot of experience working directly with participants and understanding their support needs. I did a three-day intensive support coordination course and then shadowed a more experienced support coordinator for a few weeks.
What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into your line of work?
Put your hand up for as much as possible, particularly any learning or training events. My opportunities have come because I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone. It helps to ask lots of questions and be prepared to try new things.
Where do you see your career going in the future?
It really depends on what my CEO is thinking! I’m getting opportunities to help build the best practice training for our organisation, as well as working to make sure our NDIS compliance is all up to date which I enjoy a lot, so I can see myself being here for a long time yet!
Capabilities
The NDIS Workforce Capability Framework outlines core capabilities for Advanced Support Work that apply to support coordinators. There are two additional capabilities focused on support coordination:
- Work with me to explore and coordinate my supports
- Support me to understand my plan and access and coordinate the supports I need. Think creatively when supporting me to explore innovative solutions, manage complexity and ambiguity, and negotiate with multiple providers and systems to put solutions in place.
- Work with me to explore and establish living arrangements that suit me
- Support me to explore and establish the type of home, living arrangements and related supports that work for me. Think creatively when supporting me to explore my options, manage my living arrangements, and negotiate with mainstream and specialist housing providers and markets to deliver solutions that meet my needs and preferences.
Things to consider
- If you are coming from a support worker role, providing support coordination is more focused on deepening your understanding of the participant’s needs, exploring different options, and supporting the participant to decide what will work best for them. It is less ‘hands on’ than providing direct support.
- Support coordinators need to come to the role with an open mind, as participant needs vary greatly, and both the relationship and participant requirements will change over time.
- You may want to explore general support coordination roles as well as those that specialise in particular types, such as support coordination for children and their families, or establishing living arrangements to meet participant needs.
- Researching, documenting and reporting are a significant part of this role so you should consider the skills needed to perform those tasks.
- There is a large administration component to the role, involving creating and managing service agreements, billing, and other business-related elements.
More information and resources
- NDIS | What is support coordination?
- Seek | Support Coordinator role advice - Seek provide a clear overview of the support coordinator role and recommend different training or courses
National Disability Services has resources to upskill support coordinators in many areas: