The arrival of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to the Bega Valley on July 1 has allowed local people with disability to take more personal control over how they access support services. It also means service providers will be looking at fresh ways of marketing themselves.
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Tulgeen has been quick off the mark, launching a television advertising campaign as well as a new outreach centre in Merimbula in recent days.
The TV ad in particular has been positively received – with Tulgeen reporting numerous phone calls and an additional 600 visits to its website within three days.
Now the primarily Bega-based organisation is expanding south with INSYNC@Merimbula opening its doors each Friday in the Bega Valley Regional Learning Centre.
In opening INSYNC, Tulgeen chairman Grattan Smith said the NDIS has allowed the service provider to “think outside the square”.
“Instead of relying on a block funding structure, when we approach it from the clients’ side it’s more about when they have the choice, what would they like to see?”
Meanwhile, an NDIS information session is to be held in the Bega Library on Monday, July 18, from 11am-12.30pm.
It is free to attend, but participants are asked to register at bit.ly/NDISSessions or by calling 1800 819 775.
This particular forum is being hosted by Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, which is urging people to speak with them before speaking with the NDIS.
According to its media, SCIA “can help you understand how the NDIS applies to your situation and maximise the funding and supports you will receive, securing you a much brighter future”.
This brings us to our next point.
At the risk of sounding like a comic book, with greater freedoms come greater risks.
As people with disability take on the challenge of researching and sourcing their own preferred service providers, can they be assured of finding exactly what they need in the local area?
Casting no aspersions on those providers mentioned here, can clients be assured their chosen provider is correctly aligned with the NDIS?
Take note of the flash new marketing bound to hit the airwaves, but be sure to seek out exactly what you or your family member requires, rather than what you’re told you need.