Facing barriers with community and social services involved in her care, Jessie was referred to Hunter Primary Care’s NDIS Social Worker service.
Jessie was paired with Social Worker, Sophia, who works with participants to focus on maintaining and enhancing quality of life to facilitate empowerment. This includes assistance with navigation and linkage to services, supporting self-management and identifying strengths, as well as providing therapeutic and psychological interventions to improve mental health and wellbeing.
In their time working together, Sophia assisted Jessie to open lines of communication with these services and has supported her to advocate for herself. Jessie has now engaged new NDIS support services and is expressing interest in building capacity in other areas of her daily living. Jessie’s Support Coordinator says “it is wonderful to see Jessie’s voice being heard and the positive impact this has had on her”.
Whilst self-advocacy is something that many take for granted, being able to communicate your needs is not something that comes readily for everyone. This highlights the significance of the contribution made by our staff, like Sophia, who work with participants to assist with self-empowerment.
“Being able to witness the positive impact this has had on Jessie is just so gratifying”, says Sophia.
*Jessie's real name has been omitted from this story.