Rainey and Nestia

Rainey has psychosocial disability and lives with the consequences of a spinal injury. She receives NDIS funding for a range of services, which until recently included mental health support. This was provided by Nestia, a psychologist and positive behaviour support practitioner.

Nestia has worked with Rainey regularly for several years and said she is ‘a lovely young lady’ with a traumatic history that has left her with significant trust issues.

It took Nestia some 40 or 50 hours to establish a rapport with Rainey, but after that their relationship functioned well and Nestia felt Rainey made good progress towards her goal of greater independence.

But Nestia has concerns about the way some of Rainey’s support workers treat her.

‘They engage in behaviours that they are explicitly told not to. So they are told very clearly, “Do not do this, it will cause her to escalate,” and they’ve continued to do it.’

Nestia reported her observations to the service provider but they didn’t do anything. She said the provider ‘has been neglectful’.

Rainey’s NDIS plan is managed by an NDIA complex needs planner. The planner recently decided that Rainey could no longer choose which allied health professionals she worked with. The decision came after Rainey asked to switch service providers.

‘The NDIA’s view is that she should be forced to learn to get along with the provider and that she should be forced to work with them,’ Nestia said.

Rainey engages in ‘frequent and furious self-harm’. Despite this the planner has not included funding for a psychologist in her plan. This means Nestia’s role is no longer funded.

‘So the planner made this decision … The planner had never had any communications whatsoever with [Rainey],’ Nestia said.

Nestia has provided ‘so much documentation’ about Rainey to help the NDIA understand her needs, but the planner has ignored it. 

‘The planner has basically rejected everything that I’ve said as the clinician. So apparently she, as a non-mental health trained professional, knows more than I do as a trained mental health professional who has worked with this person for over two years.’

The planner’s changes to Rainey’s plan had immediate effect. There was no thought given to transitioning Rainey or organising a proper handover. To protect Rainey from the impacts of this, Nestia has been visiting her weekly without getting paid.

She has also complained to the NDIA’s Quality and Safeguarding Commission and asked for intervention to ensure Rainey has an adequate plan, including mental health support.

‘They have done nothing. Very literally nothing. They don’t even reply to emails.’

Nestia is very concerned for Rainey’s wellbeing.

‘I’ve got a very vulnerable young lady who has been failed throughout her life. She’s now being failed by the NDIA. She’s being failed by the Quality and Safeguarding Commission and she’s being failed by the NDIS supports around her. And no-one will do anything to help her, even though they have the information available to them.’

She believes the NDIA and the Quality and Safeguarding Commission just want people like her to stop asking questions.

‘They don’t want to have to do this work. They don’t want to have to answer questions that they don’t know how to answer. There’s a real lack of training, of quality of education within those who work within the commission and those who work within the NDIA.