Shared housing: changing providers

The three men with disability had been living in the group home in Melbourne’s east together for more than two years.

But the housemates, who all have Prader Will Syndrome (PWS), and their families had not previously had any input when it came to choosing the property’s disability support provider.

Shane Elson, the father of one of the housemates, Timothy, said the families got together at the start of 2024 to “dip their toe in for the first time” and see what else was out there.

“It was the first time we’d entered the marketplace as we didn’t have a choice when the handover occurred (to the previous provider).”

“One of the big upsides of the NDIS is that it’s now a marketplace. In the past the only place you had to go was the department.

“As a group we had to do our due diligence and in the end we went with the way we were approached and the openness at the time.”

InLife fitted the bill and worked closely with the families and other experts such as The Orange Hive with specialist knowledge of Prader-Willi syndrome during the transition.

A number of support workers who had previously worked with the men were also able to transition to InLife and continue on at the house.

Shane said they were looking for a provider that they "clicked with”.

“We have a lot of experience as Timothy’s been out of home since he was 15. We have met literally 100s of people involved in direct care, oversight and management of these sorts of things.”

“Fortunately we found a provider (InLife) that was flexible, willing to give things a go, transparent and willing to share information and stay in communication with us, particularly in complicated circumstances.”

“It really comes down to feeling comfortable - Timothy might be 42 but he's still my son.”

Shane said his advice to other family members or people with disability looking for a new support provider was to ask the same questions as many times as needed to get an answer, even if it's not the one you’re looking for.

“It’s got to be a partnership and if you see something that's not working you should be able to speak out about it.”

One of the positive changes to come about since switching to InLife has been a monthly house meeting where the men get together and talk about what is and isn't working.

“For Timothy, his ability to have some autonomy and being responded to is very important to him, as it is for the other guys,” Shane said.

“I think we have chosen well and InLife has certainly kept up the momentum.”

For InLife Senior Client Service Manager Eileen Dicker a key part of providing disability support in a group situation is about building trust.

“It’s great to see the open dialogue between the families and InLife,” she said.

“We also really try to ensure we are transparent and have open lines of communication.”

As for the house, it’s had a clean-up including a coat of new paint, new furniture and broken items replaced and there’s been some long-awaited room swaps.

“It’s a lovely property and now feels very homely,” Eileen said.