Yooralla partners with Monash University to develop My Allied Health Space

Yooralla worked with Monash University to support the development of the My Allied Health Space – a new tool for people with disability with complex support needs and allied health services providers in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The free website provides guidance for NDIS participants on how to choose allied health professionals to meet their NDIS goals, and a range of online tools and training resources for allied health services providers.

Kim Vien, Yooralla’s Senior Clinician Occupational Therapist, was invited by Monash University’s School of Primary and Allied Health Care to be part of a consortium, led by Associate Professor Libby Callaway, to develop My Allied Health Space.

Kim said that working with the broader sector to improve disability services in Australia was one of Yooralla’s key focus areas.

“We saw this as an opportunity to imbody the NDIS principles of quality therapy services within the sector.

“My Allied Health Space is another step forward in assisting people with disability find the allied health services they need, while also providing resources to upskill allied health professionals,” said Kim.

Funded by the Victorian Government as part of the $26 million Keeping our sector strong: Victoria’s workforce plan for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), My Allied Health Space will assist implementation of the new Allied health capability framework: disability and complex support needs.

Thirty-two Yooralla allied health professionals including, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Speech Therapists, provided feedback on the early drafts of the resources and website content.

Yooralla customer Chris, who lived in a nursing home prior to moving to Yooralla’s smart-technology enabled unit in Frankston, also took part in the project, representing NDIS participants with lived experience.

Chris said that through the NDIS, he had greater access to funding for allied health support, which meant he needed to decide what allied health services he needed to achieve his NDIS goals.

“The resources on My Allied Health Space have a focus on putting people and their families at the centre of decision making,” said Chris.

“It places them as experts, working alongside professionals to give them more control over their life and the services they receive.

“Using the tools available on My Allied Health Space, people can truly take part in decision making and form partnerships with their service providers,” he said.

Associate Professor Callaway said that achieving best outcomes, choice and control for people with disability was the overarching goal of this work.

“The tools and training resources provided on the My Allied Health Space website are aimed at assisting both those people using allied health services, and the allied health professionals who provide them,” she said.