In this episode, we’re joined by Justin Scanlon, CEO and Chairman of Vision Australia Radio sponsor Hearth Australia, to better understand Supported Independent Living & the Hearth Home Solution.
Drawing on his extensive experience supporting the independence of people with disability, Justin provides a clear overview of Hearth Australia’s services, along with practical tips to help guide listeners through the funding process.
Want to learn more about Hearth Australia? Select the link below:
Hearth Australia | Disability Support Services Melbourne
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
Justin Scanlon, chairman and CEO of Hearth Australia. Welcome to
Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:18):
Thank you Jason and really pleased. Delighted to be here
this afternoon.
S1 (00:21):
So could you tell us your personal journey and what
inspired you to start hearth?
S2 (00:26):
So my son Tristan was born 18 years ago and
he has, uh, complex needs. And prior to that, I
had a 25 year career in corporate Australia. And it
was really Tristan's, uh, journey that impacted my, my career,
my ability to, to travel. Um, and I took the
opportunity then to, to stand back and look at, um,
(00:48):
what what's possible. I'd come from organizations where customer service
was Prime, Foster's, Cadbury's and Telstra. And as I started
to experience, uh, the disability sector pre NDIS, I was
really underwhelmed by the, the quality of customer service. And
it got together with a few people and thought about
what was possible to reimagine, uh, the sector. And, and
(01:11):
we got together in March 2017 for the weekend at
my place with a few people, a flip chart, and
we concluded that at the time pre NDIS that really
all aspects of the sector needed to be reimagined. You know,
equipment broke constantly, the support workers were sent in and
and not necessarily trained. There was no support worker matching.
(01:34):
So if you provided feedback to perhaps the person didn't
really connect with your son or the family, that was it.
There was no other no other opportunity. So, so really
all aspects of the sector, there was an opportunity to
to reimagine and that that was the mindset that we
took into into creating hearth. So March 2017, we decided
(01:54):
that we would give this a go. At the time,
I had different consulting engagements and also a corporate training business,
but I just determined that really, and decided that probably
for the first time, I would really need to focus
full time. So I actually gave up what I was
doing at the time, and between March and August worked
(02:15):
with a few very talented people to look at getting accredited,
which was exciting, but but also quite challenging because we
realize pretty early on that we didn't know a lot
and we had to learn a lot. I really only
had a case study of one, which was my son,
but we worked hard and learnt quickly. Back in 2017,
the the NDIS really welcomed new organisations, but I think
(02:39):
now it would be very, very hard to do what
we did back in 2017.
S1 (02:44):
Yeah, right. So Justin, can you walk us through those
early days? Um, elaborate a little bit more there of
the service itself, the challenges and how it grew into
a registered NDIS provider? Yeah.
S2 (02:54):
So we were registered from day 1st August 2017. That
was that was the the first challenge to build the
policies and procedures and organisation. Um, we realized pretty quickly
the diversity and complexity of the sector. Initially we were
focused on support work and providing really great sustainable supports.
(03:14):
Over the years, we identified a need for allied health
and really great allied health set that up in Covid,
which was probably one of the greatest challenges to when
the hospital demand for allied health was so great.
S1 (03:26):
Yeah, right.
S2 (03:27):
We have persisted and with some great leadership. Cassie Kenyon from, uh,
was formerly the head of Allied Health from Uralla. So
she has done a terrific job over the last couple
of years in building it out. And also, look, we've
had some passion projects over the years around, uh, supported employment,
open employment. We have supported, uh, a few people to
(03:50):
be employed a couple of hours a week, a couple
of times a week within a large, large employers like
Cadbury's Merchandising understood the goals and passions and connected people in.
And we're doing a lot more, uh, of projects like
that at the moment. But the major one is really
housing where 2019 we were approached when the state government
(04:12):
was tendering the group homes to out to the large providers,
and we were approached and at that time we decided
that we wouldn't we wouldn't go into the tender, but
we would rather look at creating a very different solution,
reimagining housing and in particular looking at the area of
(04:32):
housing called Nesta. So those people that might get support,
independent living to be supported 24 over seven away from
the families, but don't actually have a housing solution.
S1 (04:43):
Yeah, right. Okay. Could you explain how someone applies for
supported independent living funding under the NDIS, and what key
pitfalls to avoid?
S2 (04:51):
What's important initially is, is understanding that within the NDIS,
only about 40,000 people will be eligible for support independent living.
And of that, 15,000 of the 40,000 roughly will will
be able to be eligible for supported specialist disability accommodation,
I should say.
S1 (05:10):
So that's like a funding cap set by government.
S2 (05:12):
That's right. Or eligibility really.
S1 (05:14):
Okay.
S2 (05:14):
Right. So it's intended for people that need a fully
modified home. And it's actually too expensive to modify an
existing existing home. So it's 15,000 of 40,000. 25,000 will
be eligible for support independent living roughly but will have
no housing solution from the government. And there's lots of
complexities around that really for supporting independent living. You need
(05:39):
roughly to have eight plus hours of individualised support a day.
So that's the general level of capacity. And occupational therapists
play a key role in terms of determining the eligibility
or at least supporting the hope. What's called a home
and living application, which involves a functional capacity assessment into
the NDIS. So if someone was interested, they would request
(06:02):
a review of their situation. Work with an occupational therapist,
you'd submit a home and living application and then wait
for the process to to play out. I think some
of the things to pay attention to, it's important to
make sure the occupational therapists has the right level of experience.
Our experience is it's not common to have depth of
(06:23):
experience in home and living applications. And and I think
the implication of that is that if the NDIS reject
or decline the application or if they decline the requested
ratio of support, so on average, the NDIS deem that
people should live with at least two other people. So
three people living together with live in support. So generally
(06:46):
a four bedroom house. If the support, if the occupational
therapist deems that someone needs 1 to 1 or 1
to 2 support, it's very important to ensure the quality
of the application because if the NDIS decline the application,
you Then go to the Administrative Review Tribunal. And that's
(07:08):
your final port of call.
S1 (07:09):
Right. Okay.
S2 (07:10):
You know, if the evidence and the support is not
adequate and you rejected it, the art it's called, then
that's it. So there's a lot at stake. It is really, really.
S1 (07:19):
And it seems a little complicated. Like I feel like
I'm going to listen back to this a few times
before I finally get it. So I really value you
being here today and trying to take us through it. Yeah.
It's not something that people can pick up on very quickly,
especially when they're there's the anxiety and the emotion that's
involved in wanting the best for the person you're caring for.
S2 (07:36):
That's right, that's right. And look, the reality I wear
two hats. One is a founder of hearth. But but also, um,
the other one is a parent of someone with a
complex disability. So. So I get it. I get that,
you know, living in the world of disability, you know,
you're generally, um, you're generally time poor, you're very busy,
you're overloaded. So really another very important job to support
(08:00):
your loved one with their home and living application and
through the process, it's a really important process. But but
you know, it's really important to find people to walk
alongside you and support you. As I said, with, you know,
an occupational therapist that has those skills and experience and,
and really do your due diligence up front and a
(08:20):
support coordinator that can bring it all together.
S1 (08:23):
How does Herth housing address the needs of the 94%
of participants who are not SDA eligible, but still need
supported housing?
S2 (08:30):
So we address it by looking at the Or starting
with the participants, the people looking at the matching. One
of the one of the important things to to note
as part of the support independent living, the government has
deemed that on average, three people, uh, should live together
unless unless there's evidence otherwise. With that, uh, it brings
(08:52):
in one of the greatest challenges at the moment, I think,
within the sector. And that is how to families, uh,
match and find other participants that, uh, that, that they
can live with ongoing. So I guess the matching is,
is one of the greatest challenges and finding people that
are compatible. I think the the other thing with the 94%, well,
(09:14):
it's actually it's actually less because really 25,000 of the 40,000, uh,
will generally be eligible for SIL, but no housing solution.
S1 (09:23):
Right.
S2 (09:23):
And what we've looked at is really, I guess, an
economic and and social and participant focused solution. The economic
solution is looking at how you can take someone's existing
government contributions and, and look at a cost of the
house and look at an economic model where people can
be provided long term housing, uh, without necessarily having to contribute.
(09:48):
So that looks like for us, uh, the economic study generally, uh,
you know, a great area like in the East Croydon,
Ferntree Gully, uh, Lilydale, uh, where there's provided a four
bedroom house in a great community. We've been working for
a number of years on the the economics of that.
In actual fact, over the last few years, we've been
(10:10):
collaborating with the government on an economic solution, and what
we suggested was probably similar to SDA, where the government
subsidizes the House, um, as part of a 20 year contribution,
that they do the same for, for what's called the
non SDA. We recommended this because the contribution is relatively
modest and it would enable everyone to that was eligible
(10:33):
for SDA to have a long term housing solution. The agency,
given all the challenges over the last couple of years,
weren't ready to look at piloting our recommended solutions. So
what we've done is move forward and bring that to
the sector because the need is significant. The need is there.
So what we do is, is subsidize the gap at
(10:53):
the moment. And and it means that people are able
to enjoy a long term housing solution. Enjoy. Great certainty.
You know, once, once they've been matched and worked with
us on determining the the right location.
S1 (11:07):
Can we have a little bit of a look at
the onboard experience? So what's it what's it entail when
you have a new client and you're going through that process?
S2 (11:15):
Yeah. We take our time because we are looking at
a longer term solution. Really what we want to do
is really start to understand the participant, their needs, their goals,
and importantly as well, our ability to work closely with
the family as well, who are generally actively involved. We
like to meet and ideally start to provide maybe some
(11:38):
support into the participant as soon as possible, because then
the family and the participant can start to learn about
us and the way we work and and vice versa.
And I think that starts, um, the long term partnership
on a really great footing. And it enables everyone to
do their due diligence and learn together. You know, once
(12:00):
we understand the needs of the participant and learn about
the family situation, what we can then start to think
about the right match or matches for the participant, which
is a process that we invest in and we look
to introduce and connect the different families. This is both
an art and a science, but it's really important to
get that right, because that then supports the longevity of
(12:24):
of the housing setup, because essentially what we're trying to
create is their home and the right home setting. And
and we've had some questions which really highlight for us
how different this is from what a lot of people
have experienced. You know, we set up a home in
Lilydale relatively recently for three families, three participants and receiving
(12:48):
some of the questions like, can I visit my son
or daughter? You know, what's the procedure? And it's like.
S1 (12:53):
Well, isn't it?
S2 (12:54):
Yeah.
S1 (12:54):
It's scary to think that someone would think perhaps they
wouldn't have access to their loved one.
S2 (12:59):
That's right, that's right. It really raises red flags for me,
if any anyone ever put, you know, strong procedures around visiting.
So what we're trying to do is, you know, create
a home, a long term home for the participant.
S1 (13:12):
And accessibility is absolutely key for everyone. Can you tell
us a little bit more about your current Bendigo projects?
S2 (13:19):
So Bendigo is really, really exciting. There is a great need. Uh,
we piloted similar to what we did in metro Melbourne
over the last few years. We piloted a couple of
homes in in Bendigo and really learnt, as we did
in Melbourne, about some of the challenges and also some
of the opportunities, uh, in Bendigo. The great thing about
(13:40):
Bendigo is from an economics, um, you can have some
great impacts at a kind of half, the half the
capital cost to, uh, yeah, to Melbourne, but also the,
the collaborations. Our collaborations are strong in Bendigo And yeah,
so really, really excited about what what we can cause
in Bendigo and some of the impacts that we can
(14:01):
have now. The houses are working incredibly well and people
are living their best life in the Hearth Home solution.
S1 (14:08):
It is a really great place and there's so many
things nearby. You really don't need to travel all that far.
S2 (14:13):
And I think the great thing about the housing and
support independent living, it provides some obviously great if you
get it right, some great impacts for the participants where
they're able to to feel safe and secure. Also comforted
by the fact that they, you know, they have their
long term housing solution. But I think importantly as well,
from an employment perspective, it provides the support workers with
(14:36):
career pathways. And that's something that we've really focused on.
We've got a support worker mentorship program that we implemented
last year for our career support workers. You know, last
week we ran another module in in Bendigo and I
think provides some great long term certainty in employment in
the sector. And really we're looking to shine a light
(14:58):
on the career support workers, you know, professional support workers
who who then complement the uni students and others that
do the maybe 10 to 15 hours a week, provides
the career support workers with security and permanency of employment.
S1 (15:15):
I think you'd be living under a rather large rock
at the moment if you were not aware of all
the constant NDIS changes, uh, and in particular, of course,
for supported independent living. What key advice would you give
to families of participants at this time?
S2 (15:29):
The best time to get started is yesterday. Second best
time now. And I think one of the things that
we constantly reflect on is really how long it takes to, to,
to really establish, uh, you know, something that is set
up well and set up well for the, for the future.
So the advice, advice I give is, is to really to,
(15:49):
to get going as soon as you can. Make sure
you take your time for the the Seal or Support
Independent Living application, because you really want to make sure
that you have every chance of, of of success. And,
and ideally you want to avoid going to the Administrative
Review Tribunal. I think it's also about having a plan.
(16:09):
So the plan can can change if you have a
plan potentially for your loved one to, uh, to move out, say,
within five years, um, if circumstances change that can be
brought forward or pushed out. But at least you've got
a plan. It is a significant step for, um, for families.
The other thing is that increasingly, the NDIS is moving
(16:30):
to registered providers to support the sill in the home community.
Participation can still be provided by other, say, ABN support workers.
But in the sill home you need a registered provider.
So what I'd also suggest is if you if you're
not engaged with one to do your due diligence and
(16:52):
get to know the registered provider because they have great
responsibility for providing the support within a CIL home environment.
S1 (17:01):
What's next?
S2 (17:01):
We're really, really excited to be collaborating with some of
the leading academics at Deakin and Monash universities, and also
others leaders who have significant experience within the sector. And
what we're working with them on is how we can
strengthen our model and approach and build out a very
best solution over the next couple of years. A number
(17:25):
of areas that we're looking at one is supporting independent,
supported decision making, making sure that particularly people who don't
use words to communicate, for example, um, have their wishes
heard and that in fact, they are living in their
best location and they're living their best life. Um, so,
(17:45):
so working with leading, uh, the leading academics is really
important for us also to look at measuring outcomes. We
know that what we're doing based on the feedback of
our families is good, and we're having great outcomes, but
what we want to do is have that independently studied
and measured so that not only we think that's the case,
(18:06):
but objectively it is the case. So so we're really,
really excited with the collaboration. And we'll continue to to
look at, uh, you know, how we can strengthen our
model and approach.
S1 (18:18):
That's fantastic Justin I'm really impressed. I've I've had neighbors with, uh,
children that are nonverbal. I've got a three year old
nephew that's nonverbal. And you can really pick up when
someone's going to the lengths to make sure everyone's supported
and that they're getting their needs met. So, uh, big thanks.
On behalf of our listeners, uh, right now, uh, how
can they find out more about Hirth Australia?
S2 (18:38):
So if you go on to the hearth Australia. Com.au
website to learn more. And if you feel that the
Hearth Home solution is worth exploring, then, um, pick up
the phone or or send reach out on email and
the team will be in contact. This is, uh, not
not necessarily a simple solution. Support independent living within the NDIS.
(18:59):
But what we're trying to do is make the very
complex as simple as possible and really walk alongside the
families and participants to to to guide them and often, uh,
often helping them with um as well through the, through
the process. And what's important is to get started today
and start to build out a plan, because it's a
(19:21):
really important step for, uh, for people to, uh, to look,
to transition out of home and be supported 24 over seven, which,
which then gives families an opportunity to, uh, to produce
some of their personal goals as well, which might be
travel and uh, and other, other employment opportunities.
S1 (19:39):
So fantastic. Justin Scanlon, chairman and CEO of Hearth Australia,
thank you so much for joining us today.
S2 (19:45):
Thank you, Jason, for this opportunity.
Justin Scanlon, chairman and CEO of Hearth Australia. Welcome to
Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:18):
Thank you Jason and really pleased. Delighted to be here
this afternoon.
S1 (00:21):
So could you tell us your personal journey and what
inspired you to start hearth?
S2 (00:26):
So my son Tristan was born 18 years ago and
he has, uh, complex needs. And prior to that, I
had a 25 year career in corporate Australia. And it
was really Tristan's, uh, journey that impacted my, my career,
my ability to, to travel. Um, and I took the
opportunity then to, to stand back and look at, um,
(00:48):
what what's possible. I'd come from organizations where customer service
was Prime, Foster's, Cadbury's and Telstra. And as I started
to experience, uh, the disability sector pre NDIS, I was
really underwhelmed by the, the quality of customer service. And
it got together with a few people and thought about
what was possible to reimagine, uh, the sector. And, and
(01:11):
we got together in March 2017 for the weekend at
my place with a few people, a flip chart, and
we concluded that at the time pre NDIS that really
all aspects of the sector needed to be reimagined. You know,
equipment broke constantly, the support workers were sent in and
and not necessarily trained. There was no support worker matching.
(01:34):
So if you provided feedback to perhaps the person didn't
really connect with your son or the family, that was it.
There was no other no other opportunity. So, so really
all aspects of the sector, there was an opportunity to
to reimagine and that that was the mindset that we
took into into creating hearth. So March 2017, we decided
(01:54):
that we would give this a go. At the time,
I had different consulting engagements and also a corporate training business,
but I just determined that really, and decided that probably
for the first time, I would really need to focus
full time. So I actually gave up what I was
doing at the time, and between March and August worked
(02:15):
with a few very talented people to look at getting accredited,
which was exciting, but but also quite challenging because we
realize pretty early on that we didn't know a lot
and we had to learn a lot. I really only
had a case study of one, which was my son,
but we worked hard and learnt quickly. Back in 2017,
the the NDIS really welcomed new organisations, but I think
(02:39):
now it would be very, very hard to do what
we did back in 2017.
S1 (02:44):
Yeah, right. So Justin, can you walk us through those
early days? Um, elaborate a little bit more there of
the service itself, the challenges and how it grew into
a registered NDIS provider? Yeah.
S2 (02:54):
So we were registered from day 1st August 2017. That
was that was the the first challenge to build the
policies and procedures and organisation. Um, we realized pretty quickly
the diversity and complexity of the sector. Initially we were
focused on support work and providing really great sustainable supports.
(03:14):
Over the years, we identified a need for allied health
and really great allied health set that up in Covid,
which was probably one of the greatest challenges to when
the hospital demand for allied health was so great.
S1 (03:26):
Yeah, right.
S2 (03:27):
We have persisted and with some great leadership. Cassie Kenyon from, uh,
was formerly the head of Allied Health from Uralla. So
she has done a terrific job over the last couple
of years in building it out. And also, look, we've
had some passion projects over the years around, uh, supported employment,
open employment. We have supported, uh, a few people to
(03:50):
be employed a couple of hours a week, a couple
of times a week within a large, large employers like
Cadbury's Merchandising understood the goals and passions and connected people in.
And we're doing a lot more, uh, of projects like
that at the moment. But the major one is really
housing where 2019 we were approached when the state government
(04:12):
was tendering the group homes to out to the large providers,
and we were approached and at that time we decided
that we wouldn't we wouldn't go into the tender, but
we would rather look at creating a very different solution,
reimagining housing and in particular looking at the area of
(04:32):
housing called Nesta. So those people that might get support,
independent living to be supported 24 over seven away from
the families, but don't actually have a housing solution.
S1 (04:43):
Yeah, right. Okay. Could you explain how someone applies for
supported independent living funding under the NDIS, and what key
pitfalls to avoid?
S2 (04:51):
What's important initially is, is understanding that within the NDIS,
only about 40,000 people will be eligible for support independent living.
And of that, 15,000 of the 40,000 roughly will will
be able to be eligible for supported specialist disability accommodation,
I should say.
S1 (05:10):
So that's like a funding cap set by government.
S2 (05:12):
That's right. Or eligibility really.
S1 (05:14):
Okay.
S2 (05:14):
Right. So it's intended for people that need a fully
modified home. And it's actually too expensive to modify an
existing existing home. So it's 15,000 of 40,000. 25,000 will
be eligible for support independent living roughly but will have
no housing solution from the government. And there's lots of
complexities around that really for supporting independent living. You need
(05:39):
roughly to have eight plus hours of individualised support a day.
So that's the general level of capacity. And occupational therapists
play a key role in terms of determining the eligibility
or at least supporting the hope. What's called a home
and living application, which involves a functional capacity assessment into
the NDIS. So if someone was interested, they would request
(06:02):
a review of their situation. Work with an occupational therapist,
you'd submit a home and living application and then wait
for the process to to play out. I think some
of the things to pay attention to, it's important to
make sure the occupational therapists has the right level of experience.
Our experience is it's not common to have depth of
(06:23):
experience in home and living applications. And and I think
the implication of that is that if the NDIS reject
or decline the application or if they decline the requested
ratio of support, so on average, the NDIS deem that
people should live with at least two other people. So
three people living together with live in support. So generally
(06:46):
a four bedroom house. If the support, if the occupational
therapist deems that someone needs 1 to 1 or 1
to 2 support, it's very important to ensure the quality
of the application because if the NDIS decline the application,
you Then go to the Administrative Review Tribunal. And that's
(07:08):
your final port of call.
S1 (07:09):
Right. Okay.
S2 (07:10):
You know, if the evidence and the support is not
adequate and you rejected it, the art it's called, then
that's it. So there's a lot at stake. It is really, really.
S1 (07:19):
And it seems a little complicated. Like I feel like
I'm going to listen back to this a few times
before I finally get it. So I really value you
being here today and trying to take us through it. Yeah.
It's not something that people can pick up on very quickly,
especially when they're there's the anxiety and the emotion that's
involved in wanting the best for the person you're caring for.
S2 (07:36):
That's right, that's right. And look, the reality I wear
two hats. One is a founder of hearth. But but also, um,
the other one is a parent of someone with a
complex disability. So. So I get it. I get that,
you know, living in the world of disability, you know,
you're generally, um, you're generally time poor, you're very busy,
you're overloaded. So really another very important job to support
(08:00):
your loved one with their home and living application and
through the process, it's a really important process. But but
you know, it's really important to find people to walk
alongside you and support you. As I said, with, you know,
an occupational therapist that has those skills and experience and,
and really do your due diligence up front and a
(08:20):
support coordinator that can bring it all together.
S1 (08:23):
How does Herth housing address the needs of the 94%
of participants who are not SDA eligible, but still need
supported housing?
S2 (08:30):
So we address it by looking at the Or starting
with the participants, the people looking at the matching. One
of the one of the important things to to note
as part of the support independent living, the government has
deemed that on average, three people, uh, should live together
unless unless there's evidence otherwise. With that, uh, it brings
(08:52):
in one of the greatest challenges at the moment, I think,
within the sector. And that is how to families, uh,
match and find other participants that, uh, that, that they
can live with ongoing. So I guess the matching is,
is one of the greatest challenges and finding people that
are compatible. I think the the other thing with the 94%, well,
(09:14):
it's actually it's actually less because really 25,000 of the 40,000, uh,
will generally be eligible for SIL, but no housing solution.
S1 (09:23):
Right.
S2 (09:23):
And what we've looked at is really, I guess, an
economic and and social and participant focused solution. The economic
solution is looking at how you can take someone's existing
government contributions and, and look at a cost of the
house and look at an economic model where people can
be provided long term housing, uh, without necessarily having to contribute.
(09:48):
So that looks like for us, uh, the economic study generally, uh,
you know, a great area like in the East Croydon,
Ferntree Gully, uh, Lilydale, uh, where there's provided a four
bedroom house in a great community. We've been working for
a number of years on the the economics of that.
In actual fact, over the last few years, we've been
(10:10):
collaborating with the government on an economic solution, and what
we suggested was probably similar to SDA, where the government
subsidizes the House, um, as part of a 20 year contribution,
that they do the same for, for what's called the
non SDA. We recommended this because the contribution is relatively
modest and it would enable everyone to that was eligible
(10:33):
for SDA to have a long term housing solution. The agency,
given all the challenges over the last couple of years,
weren't ready to look at piloting our recommended solutions. So
what we've done is move forward and bring that to
the sector because the need is significant. The need is there.
So what we do is, is subsidize the gap at
(10:53):
the moment. And and it means that people are able
to enjoy a long term housing solution. Enjoy. Great certainty.
You know, once, once they've been matched and worked with
us on determining the the right location.
S1 (11:07):
Can we have a little bit of a look at
the onboard experience? So what's it what's it entail when
you have a new client and you're going through that process?
S2 (11:15):
Yeah. We take our time because we are looking at
a longer term solution. Really what we want to do
is really start to understand the participant, their needs, their goals,
and importantly as well, our ability to work closely with
the family as well, who are generally actively involved. We
like to meet and ideally start to provide maybe some
(11:38):
support into the participant as soon as possible, because then
the family and the participant can start to learn about
us and the way we work and and vice versa.
And I think that starts, um, the long term partnership
on a really great footing. And it enables everyone to
do their due diligence and learn together. You know, once
(12:00):
we understand the needs of the participant and learn about
the family situation, what we can then start to think
about the right match or matches for the participant, which
is a process that we invest in and we look
to introduce and connect the different families. This is both
an art and a science, but it's really important to
get that right, because that then supports the longevity of
(12:24):
of the housing setup, because essentially what we're trying to
create is their home and the right home setting. And
and we've had some questions which really highlight for us
how different this is from what a lot of people
have experienced. You know, we set up a home in
Lilydale relatively recently for three families, three participants and receiving
(12:48):
some of the questions like, can I visit my son
or daughter? You know, what's the procedure? And it's like.
S1 (12:53):
Well, isn't it?
S2 (12:54):
Yeah.
S1 (12:54):
It's scary to think that someone would think perhaps they
wouldn't have access to their loved one.
S2 (12:59):
That's right, that's right. It really raises red flags for me,
if any anyone ever put, you know, strong procedures around visiting.
So what we're trying to do is, you know, create
a home, a long term home for the participant.
S1 (13:12):
And accessibility is absolutely key for everyone. Can you tell
us a little bit more about your current Bendigo projects?
S2 (13:19):
So Bendigo is really, really exciting. There is a great need. Uh,
we piloted similar to what we did in metro Melbourne
over the last few years. We piloted a couple of
homes in in Bendigo and really learnt, as we did
in Melbourne, about some of the challenges and also some
of the opportunities, uh, in Bendigo. The great thing about
(13:40):
Bendigo is from an economics, um, you can have some
great impacts at a kind of half, the half the
capital cost to, uh, yeah, to Melbourne, but also the,
the collaborations. Our collaborations are strong in Bendigo And yeah,
so really, really excited about what what we can cause
in Bendigo and some of the impacts that we can
(14:01):
have now. The houses are working incredibly well and people
are living their best life in the Hearth Home solution.
S1 (14:08):
It is a really great place and there's so many
things nearby. You really don't need to travel all that far.
S2 (14:13):
And I think the great thing about the housing and
support independent living, it provides some obviously great if you
get it right, some great impacts for the participants where
they're able to to feel safe and secure. Also comforted
by the fact that they, you know, they have their
long term housing solution. But I think importantly as well,
from an employment perspective, it provides the support workers with
(14:36):
career pathways. And that's something that we've really focused on.
We've got a support worker mentorship program that we implemented
last year for our career support workers. You know, last
week we ran another module in in Bendigo and I
think provides some great long term certainty in employment in
the sector. And really we're looking to shine a light
(14:58):
on the career support workers, you know, professional support workers
who who then complement the uni students and others that
do the maybe 10 to 15 hours a week, provides
the career support workers with security and permanency of employment.
S1 (15:15):
I think you'd be living under a rather large rock
at the moment if you were not aware of all
the constant NDIS changes, uh, and in particular, of course,
for supported independent living. What key advice would you give
to families of participants at this time?
S2 (15:29):
The best time to get started is yesterday. Second best
time now. And I think one of the things that
we constantly reflect on is really how long it takes to, to,
to really establish, uh, you know, something that is set
up well and set up well for the, for the future.
So the advice, advice I give is, is to really to,
(15:49):
to get going as soon as you can. Make sure
you take your time for the the Seal or Support
Independent Living application, because you really want to make sure
that you have every chance of, of of success. And,
and ideally you want to avoid going to the Administrative
Review Tribunal. I think it's also about having a plan.
(16:09):
So the plan can can change if you have a
plan potentially for your loved one to, uh, to move out, say,
within five years, um, if circumstances change that can be
brought forward or pushed out. But at least you've got
a plan. It is a significant step for, um, for families.
The other thing is that increasingly, the NDIS is moving
(16:30):
to registered providers to support the sill in the home community.
Participation can still be provided by other, say, ABN support workers.
But in the sill home you need a registered provider.
So what I'd also suggest is if you if you're
not engaged with one to do your due diligence and
(16:52):
get to know the registered provider because they have great
responsibility for providing the support within a CIL home environment.
S1 (17:01):
What's next?
S2 (17:01):
We're really, really excited to be collaborating with some of
the leading academics at Deakin and Monash universities, and also
others leaders who have significant experience within the sector. And
what we're working with them on is how we can
strengthen our model and approach and build out a very
best solution over the next couple of years. A number
(17:25):
of areas that we're looking at one is supporting independent,
supported decision making, making sure that particularly people who don't
use words to communicate, for example, um, have their wishes
heard and that in fact, they are living in their
best location and they're living their best life. Um, so,
(17:45):
so working with leading, uh, the leading academics is really
important for us also to look at measuring outcomes. We
know that what we're doing based on the feedback of
our families is good, and we're having great outcomes, but
what we want to do is have that independently studied
and measured so that not only we think that's the case,
(18:06):
but objectively it is the case. So so we're really,
really excited with the collaboration. And we'll continue to to
look at, uh, you know, how we can strengthen our
model and approach.
S1 (18:18):
That's fantastic Justin I'm really impressed. I've I've had neighbors with, uh,
children that are nonverbal. I've got a three year old
nephew that's nonverbal. And you can really pick up when
someone's going to the lengths to make sure everyone's supported
and that they're getting their needs met. So, uh, big thanks.
On behalf of our listeners, uh, right now, uh, how
can they find out more about Hirth Australia?
S2 (18:38):
So if you go on to the hearth Australia. Com.au
website to learn more. And if you feel that the
Hearth Home solution is worth exploring, then, um, pick up
the phone or or send reach out on email and
the team will be in contact. This is, uh, not
not necessarily a simple solution. Support independent living within the NDIS.
(18:59):
But what we're trying to do is make the very
complex as simple as possible and really walk alongside the
families and participants to to to guide them and often, uh,
often helping them with um as well through the, through
the process. And what's important is to get started today
and start to build out a plan, because it's a
(19:21):
really important step for, uh, for people to, uh, to look,
to transition out of home and be supported 24 over seven, which,
which then gives families an opportunity to, uh, to produce
some of their personal goals as well, which might be
travel and uh, and other, other employment opportunities.
S1 (19:39):
So fantastic. Justin Scanlon, chairman and CEO of Hearth Australia,
thank you so much for joining us today.
S2 (19:45):
Thank you, Jason, for this opportunity.
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