South West Autism Network - Busselton

Free support with NDIS, seeking diagnosis, mainstream and disability supports available to meet your / your child’s needs and much more.

SWAN receive Information, Linkages and Capacity building (ILC) funding from the federal government. We are a Disabled Persons and Families Organisation (DPFO), providing peer support to autistic people and their families throughout the south west of Western Australia and beyond. We also provide support to people with any disability type.

Support is available via phone, email, social media, SMS, Zoom, Microsoft Teams or in-person.

We can assist people with disability and families with FREE information and support about:

Seeking autism diagnosis

• The requirements for autism diagnosis for each age group.
• How to access diagnosis, including the public vs private pathways, and associated costs.
• Finding diagnosticians.

What to do after diagnosis

• Financial support available from Centrelink, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
• Assistance to apply for NDIS Access.
• Supports available through mainstream and disability services, and how to access them.
• Supports available at public / private schools, TAFE, University and with employment.

Information on what disability and mainstream supports are available to meet your needs, and support to access them

• National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) – our team are extremely experienced and knowledgeable in all things NDIS related
• Education – information about supports available in public or private schools, TAFE and University, and how to engage with these education services to improve flexibility and inclusion.
• Employment – information and support to connect with employment supports, including Disability Employment Services (DES), Microenterprise, Customised Employment and School Leavers Employment Supports (SLES).
• Community Services – information and support to connect with community services in your local area to meet your individual needs.
• Mental Health – we provide Youth Mental Health First Aid training in addition to information and support to connect with public (free) and private (at cost) mental health support services.
• Recreation and social connection – information and support to connect with community activities that match your / your child’s interests and needs.
• Advocacy – empowering you to self-advocate, connecting to advocacy services, and SWAN can also provide some advocacy support to people as needed.  SWAN are not funded for advocacy, however we are able to provide advocacy support in some circumstances thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, Greg and Kathy Walsh.
• And more – our team have a wide range of knowledge and experience, and are more than happy to assist.  If we don’t know the answer to your question, we’ll research and get back to you.

Accessing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

• We can assist with filling out the forms to apply for NDIS Access, gathering supporting evidence, and all things NDIS related – completely free.

Preparing for your / your child’s NDIS Plan

• How NDIS works.
• What supports are available.
• Intensive pre-planning sessions to help you prepare for your / your child’s NDIS planning meeting, so that you can be confident in knowing your rights, what to ask for to meet your / your child’s individual needs, what to expect and more.
• Our aim to empower you with knowledge at every stage of your NDIS journey.

Understanding the NDIS, and how to use your / your child’s NDIS Plan

• NDIS processes and how to navigate them.
• Reasonable and Necessary – what this means for you / your child.
• What supports are the responsibility of NDIS / Education / Health / Mental Health and other mainstream services.
• Understanding your / your child’s NDIS Plan.
• How to use the NDIS Plan flexibly to meet your / your child’s disability-related needs.
• Finding and connecting to supports.

Self-Managing NDIS Funding

• All of our team are currently Self-Managing NDIS funding (between 1 and 3 NDIS plans each).
• We can advise you on how to Self-Manage NDIS funding, navigate the NDIS Portal, employing your own supports, managing providers and more.

Seeking a Review or preparing for your NDIS Review

• Support to prepare for your / your child’s End of Plan Review.
• What to do if you don’t have enough funding to meet your needs.
• Understanding the different types of NDIS Reviews / Variations, and information to help you decide how to proceed.
• Gathering evidence for appealing your funding (Plan Review or Plan Variation).
• Support with seeking an Internal Review of Decision.
• Support with seeking a Change of Circumstances Review.

SWAN also provide two peer support groups on Facebook, and a public page where we share information daily:

• SWAN public Facebook page
• SWAN Peer Support Group for autistic people and family members
• Disability Peer Support WA for people with disability and family members

All supports above are available entirely FREE to all people with disability and their families, regardless of disability type. Please contact us.

Please contact us by emailing [email protected] or phone / SMS 0499 819 038. Please note that we are unable to answer the phone when we are meeting with clients, so please send an SMS or leave a voicemail if you are unable to get through.

Other supports provided by SWAN:
(click on the links below for more information and to see costs)

• YES Program for teens and young adults
• AutStars for primary school aged kids
• Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training