The Indie Tree

26/04/2026

A little name tweak ... same bat page 🦇, same bat channel 🦇, same - well, not bats, people ☺️. TLDR: Easier name, same people, check out our new website and read about what is next for The Tree: www.theindietree.au . Read on for more info!

You may have noticed we have not posted for a good long while. Work has been ticking along behind the scenes, while our tired leader had a rest and worked out what to do given the plans for the 'new NDIS'. We are now ready to once more invite others in.

The IndividualiTree is now The Indie Tree. To kick things off, we are looking for other SC to join us - not as staff, or standard contractors - but in a collaboration between small businesses. We have been a stand alone Support Coordination provider since 2024 and this is our 10th year as a registered provider!

While it might seem like this post is about providers, it is really about participants.

As family members of NDIS participants we know that high quality, professional Support Coordination is what participants deserve. We know that well supported practitioners do better work - and we want that for you. We also want to ensure that your known and trusted smaller providers can be retained while the NDIS undergoes *waves hand around* all this change.

The Indie Tree is hoping to build a community of small Support Coordination businesses - giving them a backstop and a sounding board for future. Businesses that are thoroughly checked, trained and supervised so participants can rest easy that their Coordinator is legit. Businesses that are nurtured and encouraged so Coordinators can keep their spark and enjoy their work. This model gives them a chance to grow their businesses by being able to offer service to more participants.

We expect that this will be of most interest to people who have their SC budgets agency managed. It might also be useful for people with other management types who are looking for a new Coordinator and would like to check them out before working with their businesses directly. It might also be helpful if you are managing sticky situations.

Participants will have the back up of a registered NDIS provider, who is required to properly manage the work done for you. We know being registered does not guarantee the best work - but for us it helps us ensure we are properly safeguarding the people we work for. We are confident in helping you manage the difficult and uncomfortable things. We wish nobody HAD to manage those kinds of things, but we can help.

Sadly our books are still closed as our current coordinators are at capacity. We very much hope to build an SC Community and open our books asap. Please keep an eye on our socials - we will let you know as soon as capacity opens up!

Established in 2016, we are an experienced and dedicated Support Coordination only service. We have always been a registered provider and only ever delivered intermediary services to avoid conflicts of interest. Ethics and a professional, respectful approach is important to us.

21/03/2023

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!! 🥳

Lisa Tiernan is one of our fantastic Pathways to Independence facilitators. She also works for the Northern Territory government.

For our World Down Syndrome Day countdown, Lisa wants to let everyone know "My job is important because it's fun, I get paid and I get treated the same as other people."

We are in Canberra today at Parliament House to let our decision makers know that people with Down syndrome have the right to be treated the same as everyone else!

08/03/2023

Today is International Women’s Day. Let’s celebrate the achievements of women and raise awareness of gender inequality against women and girls.

Each of us can actively support and promote gender equality in everyday life and digital spaces by speaking to our friends and family about:
• the importance of having more women in leadership
• supporting financial empowerment, and
• encouraging full participation in all areas of life.

Improving access to opportunities and pathways for all is key for a more equal future.
Learn more at: unwomen.org.au

13/02/2023

Everyday for Everyone

The council for Intellectual Disability are calling for our Governments to do more to make our nation more accessible for people with Intellectual Disability.

You can help support them by signing the petition linked below.

"We are asking the NSW Government to fix this problem by 2025:

-Provide Easy Read versions of all documents relevant to the lives of people with intellectual disability. Make them easy to find on government websites.
-Develop its own Easy Read Style Guide with input from people with intellectual disability.
-Make sure that people with intellectual disability can get government services in a way that works for them, whether that is an easy-to-use website, talking to someone on the phone, or seeing them face to face.
-Make a toll-free phone line available for people who need spoken information."

Help Ella Darling Make Disability Inclusion Happen

05/01/2023

The Family Rural Resilience Program are holding a community event next week in Armidale.

It’s an amazing race style event- where participants will have to solve puzzles/games at different checkpoints over Armidale. The aim of the event is to increase community connections and knowledge around available services in Armidale.

Registration for this event will close on Monday the 9th of January.

04/01/2023

All of us at The Individualitree would like to wish all of you a very happy new year and all the best for 2023! We hope that this year brings joy and happiness to all.

22/12/2022

All of us at TheIndividualitree would like to wish everyone a joyful holiday period and a happy new year!

14/12/2022

Core Budget is flexible right?
Yes, except when it’s not. Here’s four quick things you need to know about flexible core budgets that some LACs and Planners might get wrong (ask them, in writing, for written confirmation if they don’t agree):
1. If you get transport money paid straight into your bank account, then the rest of your core can’t be used for transport (except when it’s for disability related stuff – so OK to claim for support worker mileage when going to the physio, but not when you’re going to visit Grandma). If your transport gets claimed from your Plan Manager or is Agency Managed, then all your core is flexible and you can use more than your “allowance” for transport stuff (but you must still stay within the Corr budget as a whole, of course).
2. Short Term Accommodation does not have to be stated in your plan in order for you to use/prioritise your core funds for STA/Respite. But remember, ALL NDIS Plan claims MUST be disability related. If the short break is to give you and an unpaid carer a break from each other, it’s not disability related to get on a plane and travel interstate. So that part shouldn’t be claimed. It’s also almost never Short Term Accommodation if you go with a family member. That’s almost always a family holiday (in that situation you would likely claim for the support worker and their costs, but not your own, except where parts of the expense are greater *because of your disability*)
3. Home and living funds (the help you need at home), like SIL, are actually meant to be flexible. So if you want to leave a SIL and be supported in a more innovative or a way that suits you better within the current budget, you can ask for those SIL funds to be made plan or self managed, and not Stated (NDIA don’t have to do this, but need to have a good reason if they don’t). Newer plans should nearly always have SIL funds already set up in this flexible way.
4. Anything that says “Stated Support” is not flexible, and those funds can only be used for that particular thing. This is a decision that you can ask to be reviewed though, and you can always ask for the reason why they’ve done that, in writing.
There is plenty more to flexibility, and remember, any and all spending must be in line with your plan and meet the “Can I Buy It?” checklist, but hopefully this will give you a few starters!

Pic desc: an almost impossibly flexible person bent backwards bizarrely so that her feet and her hands are using the same laptop.