CatholicCare CHOICES helps brothers to take control of their lives

CatholicCare CHOICES is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) arm of the agency and offers a range of services to NDIS Participants to assist individuals to have choice and control over the support they receive.

CHOICES supports individuals and their families in a range of ways, depending on how they chose to live their life, manage their funds and arrange their support. Since the launch of the NDIS in July 2014, CHOICES has supported individuals with direct services (utilising CatholicCare’s experienced and committed Personal Assistants), coordination of supports and in recruiting and managing a team of workers. For the Mowbray Family, CHOICES has assisted in all of these areas.

Trish and Glenn Mowbray live with their three sons with disability in the ACT. Their long-term vision, having completed a PATH life plan a few years ago, is for their three sons, who are now adults and working part-time, to be active in the community and, with support, live as independently as possible in the family home. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) invited the Mowbray family to be first to become Participants in the NDIS trial in the ACT. Having completed their Participant plans on 1 July 2014 and investigated services offered by a number of organisations in the ACT, the Mowbray family chose CatholicCare’s CHOICES service. CHOICES was up and running, and ready to provide a professional and flexible service to meet the variable needs of the three Mowbray men. They have been actively involved in recruiting Personal Assistants and determining their various activities in the community. Additionally, Trish and Glenn worked closely with the NDIA and CatholicCare to enable the family to self-manage their funding.

CatholicCare is committed to providing quality services to people with disability and is excited to be part of the trial of the NDIS in the ACT. The launch of CHOICES service, while providing a platform for the agency to continue to provide direct support to people in the community, has also allowed CatholicCare to expand the scope of its counselling, and branch into early intervention services.

For more information call 6163 7600.