The Physical Disability Council of NSW (PDCN) has been running workshops to assist people with disabilities to prepare for their transition to the NDIS. The workshops are are run by experienced, independent facilitators, many with lived experience of disability.

The two-day workshops are designed to give individuals and their carers more information about the NDIS, how to prepare to access the scheme and to start pre-planning. The workshops also look at goal setting and aspirational planning – getting participants to start thinking about they want out of their plan (and life!). Post workshop, participants are also offered the opportunity to book in with an experienced planner and start pre-planning.

So far in 2016/17 there have been 18 workshops held, with another five scheduled before June. The workshops have been held in both metro and rural areas including Broken Hill, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Nowra, Cronulla, Newtown, Lismore and Port Macquarie – to name but a few! Workshops have been very well received, with over 350 individuals and carers attending so far. The remaining workshops are also fully booked – some with extensive waitlists.

Feedback from the workshops has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly in regards to the content and knowledge of the facilitators. Many participants have noted that it was the most informative NDIS workshop they had attended, and that they particularly enjoyed meeting other people with disabilities and carers living in the same area. In addition, PDCN have also achieved positive outcomes for individuals in their increased confidence to develop individual plans, and engage with and understand the NDIS.

While the workshops are currently focused on getting prepared for the NDIS, as the rollout of the NDIS is finalised, PDCN aims to continue offering workshops with a slight shift in focus to building individual’s capacity to implement their NDIS plan, working towards achieving individual goals, developing appropriate service agreements, and providing the tools and resources to self-manage funds.

PDCN still have some additional capacity to assist individuals residing in the 2018 NDIS roll out regions to take up the opportunity to meet with our pre-planners and begin the planning process.

Should you be interested please contact PDCN on admin@pdcnsw.org.au