As many who know Alex will know by now, he will be receiving Community Participation funding next year and has successfully registered with an agency which will oversee the self-managed model (see 'Alex's LifeBiz' post below).
People who will receive support through the Community Participation Program qualify for a particular funding level, whichever kind of service they'll seek. Then they choose a provider and register.
The way this 'self-managed' model will work for Alex is that an agency will support us (his family) to map out a 'plan' of what Alex would like to do, what will offer him the best opportunities and what will help him meet people and develop his skills. Whatever we think will benefit Alex can go into that plan. Then we can advertise for a team of support people for him to help him pursue those things. We can interview and select people suitable to work with Alex but they are directly employed by the agency, with all the usual award protections and conditions. The support team positions are permanent part-time ones.
In practice, this means that if we want to try to find a young support worker to take Alex to dinner with friends at a pub or listen to music on a Saturday night, we can do that. If we want someone with some artistic background to help him with his art cards, we can look for such a person. Some people might work in pairs to support him with swimming etc and some may work substantial hours. Others may only work an hour a week. That's the kind of flexibility we can offer, because everything is tailored to what Alex wants to do.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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