Tandem – Peak Body for
Mental Health Carers in Victoria
NDIS Panel Healthy Minds Expo
18 October 2016
Gisborne
Emma McGoldrick
NDIS Project Officer
P 03 8803 5555
E emma.mcgoldrick@tandemcarers.org.au
www.tandemcarers.org.au
better mental health involves everyone
Who are Tandem?
The peak body for Victorian Mental Health Carers.
Who is a mental health carer
A carer is someone who provides unpaid care and support to a family member
or friend living with mental health issues.
We advocate for
• Involvement in planning and care
• Participation in system change
• Support for families and carers.
We are part of
The DHHS NDIS Transition support team in Victoria
www.tandemcarers.org.au
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What is the NDIS transition support team?
• Tandem is part of a transition partnership with the Victorian
Government and has received funding to support people with
psychosocial disability, their families/carers, and service providers
to transition to the NDIS in the early stages of the roll out.
• Tandem is partnering with mental health carers, people living with
psychosocial disability, and services in the earliest roll out sites –
North East Melbourne Area (NEMA) and Central Highlands – to ensure
mental health carers have access to the information and resources
needed to prepare for the transition to the NDIS in order to achieve the
best outcomes for the person they care for, themselves and their family.
www.tandemcarers.org.au
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The caring role has significant impacts
on mental health carers
While we acknowledge the positive effects of caring on carers,
mental health carers face particular challenges:
• They have poorer physical health and wellbeing and are at risk
for anxiety and depression.
• They can be more socially isolated because of stigma, the pressure of the
caring role and the strain on family and other relationships, and they can
be reluctant to access support because of stigma.
• They can be impacted financially. Lower labour force participation rates
and lower incomes (ABS 2012).
Mental health carers need support and information to sustain
their caring role and maintain their health and wellbeing.
www.tandemcarers.org.au
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How does the NDIS support families and carers?
While the focus of the NDIS is the person with psychosocial disability and
what they want to achieve, and carers cannot get an assessment of their own
needs or an NDIS plan, the NDIS understands that supporting carers and
sustaining informal support is an important part of meeting participants
needs.
• The NDIA will provide carers with information, referral and linkage to ensure
they are able to access supports in community, which includes courses and
peers support groups to assist in their role.
• The NDIA will provide reasonable and necessary funded supports in a
consumer’s plan which may have direct or indirect benefits for families
and carers.
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better mental health involves everyone
www.tandemcarers.org.au
better mental health involves everyone
• In deciding funded supports for a participant, the NDIA planner needs
to consider what is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal
networks or the community to provide.
• See the Operational Guideline – Planning; Sustaining informal supports
and the NDIS supports for Participants Rules for further information about
the issues the NDIA considers in determining what is reasonable to expect
a carer to provide.
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Carers can access supports outside the NDIS
• The Local Area Coordinator can provide information and referral for
people who are not eligible for the NDIS, their families and carers.
• It is expected that support for carers and families may be available
under Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC).
• Continuity of support arrangements. No one will be disadvantaged
in the transition. The Government are still determining what these
arrangements will be.
• Programs like National Carer Counselling Program (Carers Vic) and
Better Access to Mental Health Care Program (via GP Mental Health
Care Plan).
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• Mutual Support and Self Help Program. Funding for this will
continue until a decision is made about where this fits in the NDIS.
• National Carer Gateway.
• Young Carer Program. Indirect respite, educational support,
information and referral is not transitioning into the NDIS.
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Some of the key issues for mental health carers
(feedback from trial sites )
The experience of carers in the trial sites has varied significantly.
(Laragy et al literature review 2015; Mental Health Australia and Carers Australia Issues paper 2016;
anecdotal information from carers in Barwon; Psychiatric Disability Services of Victoria 2015.)
Positive experiences
• Positive flow-on effects for carers through improved support to the person
they cared for. They noted improvement in the quality, value, and flexibility
of support they received. This benefitted carers themselves, including the
ability to return to work, and reduced stress and financial pressure.
• Some carers also reported positive experiences working with planners.
They built good relationships that supported an understanding of the
person and carers needs.
www.tandemcarers.org.au
better mental health involves everyone
Identified concerns
The level of involvement of carers in planning, and consideration
of the caring role has varied across trial sites.
• Many report not being aware that they could provide a carer statement
or request a separate conversation with the planner.
• Carers have reported difficulty obtaining clear information about supports
for carers that can be included in participant plans, especially respite.
• Carers are concerned that respite and peer support programs they rely
on to ensure the sustainability of their caring role will exist in the future.
(Mental health Respite: Carer Support Program and Young Carers
Program Direct Respite are confirmed to be transitioning to NDIS).
• Also concerns about where support can be accessed if the person
is not eligible for NDIS or declines to engage.
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How can carers get the best outcome for the
person they care for, themselves and their family
Carers can support the person they care for in accessing the NDIS
The guide for mental health carers is a great resource to help carers
prepare for the NDIS, what to think about and do as carer.
Carers can communicate their own/families needs to the planner
• Carers can provide a carers statement. This can be written or verbal. It is
not compulsory and there is no template available for a carers statement.
• Carers can request to have a separate conversation with the planner if
they are not comfortable talking in front of person they care for.
• Carers Australia has developed a checklist for mental health carers which
may be useful in working out what you want to tell the planner in the
carer statement.
www.tandemcarers.org.au
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How can services support carers and families in
accessing and navigating the NDIS
International research into the implications for family carers of individualised funding
and early experiences in the trail sites highlights that the inclusion of carers in the
planning and delivery of supports for the person they care for contributes to better
outcomes for the person with mental health issues and their carers and family.
How can Tandem best assist
• Tandem is keen to work in partnership with services to provide information and
resources to help carers prepare for the NDIS, particularly what they can expect, and
provide recovery-focussed, specific pre-planning support to think about their caring
role and build confidence to communicate their role, and their needs to the NDIA.
• Tandem will continue to be involved in system advocacy and awareness raising about
the needs of mental health carers in the transition to the NDIS to ensure they are not
disadvantaged.
www.tandemcarers.org.au
better mental health involves everyone
Contact details for Tandem NDIS Team
The Tandem NDIS Team is keen to hear from mental health carers about
your experience with the NDIS – either positive or negative – or just have
a general question. This will help to ensure information about the NDIS
is tailored to the needs of mental health carers.
Contact details
Please contact the NDIS Team with any questions or concerns.
Emma McGoldrick
emma.mcgoldrick@tandemcarers.org.au, (03) 8803 5555
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www.tandemcarers.org.au
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