We have tapped into a range of professional supports the last few years to improve Mitchell’s life. The bulk of the support came from allied health professionals↗. The list covers:
- Speech pathologists,
- Occupational therapists,
- Psychologists,
- Exercise physiologists, and
- Dietitians.
All of them play a part in improving Mitchell’s quality-of-life. It has been like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, with all the pieces in their right places you get a great overall picture (outcome!). A few of these professionals will be the subject of posts at a some point.
Given that we are ‘self directing’ Mitchell’s supports, in hindsight we realise we started in the right place, with the right professional – a coach and mentor. Someone who helped us navigate the myriad of tasks before us, providing advice and insight drawn from experience. For us, that someone was Bespoke Lifestyles↗.
In hindsight we realise we started in the right place, with the right professional – a coach and mentor.
Bespoke Lifestyles is a different kind of service provider in the disability sector. They do not provide front-line services – no support workers, no day programs, no accommodation. What they do provide are the skills and knowledge to help people pull together the services they need. Their skills cover:
- A wide range of ‘Human Resources’ tasks – for example, support worker recruitment and engagement, and knowledge of the relevant Awards that apply in the disability sector.
- Payroll and bookkeeping to support the people hiring employees (as opposed to contractors with an ABN).
- A wide range of NDIS-related knowledge and services – for example, support coordination and plan management.
- Coaching and mentoring to empower people to make use of all the above.
Bespoke Lifestyles has a lot of information on its website. To the pessimists reading this post; we realise it is common in the disability sector to find positive, empowering language on a service provider’s website. The uncommon thing to find is a service provider that ‘walks the talk’. The actions of the people at Bespoke Lifestyles demonstrates their commitment to the values they espouse.