Capacity Building:
NDIS Social Work
Ark Support Coordination has an experienced team of Social Workers available to assist you through your NDIS funding. Our business was built by social workers, allowing us to put ecological systems and empowerment theory into practice across our range of services.
As Social Workers, we understand systemic barriers can prevent people with disabilities from reaching their potential and fully participating in the community. We work to resolve these challenges through solution-focused therapeutic interventions with a strengths-based, person-centred approach.
Our studies in intersectionality show us the nuances of people’s experiences.
Our team are particularly skilled in understanding the intersection between the lived experience of disability and other biopsychosocial factors which create structural disadvantage and poorer socio-economic outcomes.
Social work interventions can assist minority and marginalised groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culturally and linguistically diverse people including migrant and refugee groups, and LGBTIQA+ people who also live with a disability to break down these structural barriers. We are continually educating ourselves to follow best practise in understanding and mitigating challenges for marginalised groups.
A uniquely value-based profession.
Our AASW members are experienced in delivering the following services:
Crisis intervention
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Ecological social work
Individualised assessment, program design and planning
Family-focused therapeutic intervention
Parenting capacity building for people living with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities
FAQs
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Uniquely positioned as a value-based profession, social work promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. The profession and academic discipline is formed by theoretical understandings which explore people in relation to their surroundings, how social issues not only impact a person's life but shape how they see and interact with the world.
Social justice is a core value of social work practice remaining a central focus of social work's purpose since its inception. It is described as a social virtue because it acknowledges social institutions and structures as creating injustice and inequity relating to the distribution of wealth, resources and positions of power. Social workers aim to create change guided by theories that support the values of social justice, empathy and respect for all human beings.
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Ecological systems theory analyses the interactions between a person and their environment and the various social systems at play. This theory emphasises how social systems contribute to individual and community well-being, and believes behaviour is influenced by factors like family, friends, social settings, economic standing and home life, all working together as a system.
Empowerment theory recognises individuals as experts in their needs and situations. It also identifies an unequal division of power between people and their environment, which affects stigmatised or marginalised populations. Empowerment theory seeks to reclaim power and decision-making by building participation, collaboration and engagement with the people whose lives are being influenced to create change.
Social work is always adapting to new streams of thought, considering various ideas, beliefs, understandings and prioritising lived experience. Social work de-privileges the medical-based model of practice which neglects to effectively include social, cultural, political and economic impacts on people's wellbeing.
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Social Work is a Capacity Building support which can be claimed from the “Improved Daily Living” budget of your NDIS plan.
As of July 2022, the NDIA formally recognised the role of Social Work within the NDIS by creating a unique line item: Assessment Recommendation Therapy or Training - Social Worker 15_621_0128_1_3