Goal series – how to achieve your employment goals

Goals are a big part of NDIS plans, but they can be a bit tricky. Working out what you want to achieve and how you’ll get there is hard for most of us. But once you get used to it, it’s not as hard as you might think!

To help you, each month we’ll take a look at a different goal and how two participants – Milly and Bob – used their NDIS funding to smash that goal!

Remember, your goals are very personal and based on what is important to YOU. But looking at how other people achieved their goals can help you too.

We kick off our new series by taking a look at work related goals. If this is something you’re thinking about, have a read!

Jobs we are currently offering

Meet Milly – at the beginning of her plan

HI, I’m Milly and I’m 19. I’m studying at TAFE part time doing a business certificate 2 days a week. I haven’t worked before so I’d like to try it. I love animals the most in the whole world and it would be so cool to work in that area one day once I’ve got more experience.

Milly’s goal was: “I’d like to try work so I can get some experience while I’m doing my study, and so I can earn some money.”

These are the steps Milly took to achieve her goal:

• Milly talked with her support coordinator about the types of things she could do for work. Milly was already studying two days a week at TAFE and didn’t want to do more study than that. She wanted to get some real life experience as well.

What you could use from your plan:
Support category > Coordination of supports, Support item > Coordination of supports

• After going through various options together – open employment, volunteering or Supported Employment – Milly decided she’d like to try Supported Employment with Endeavour Foundation Industries, in their mail house. She felt more confident with having people there to help if she needed it, and she was happy because her friend Alisha from school worked there too.

What you could use from your plan:
Support category > Assistance with social and community participation
Support item > Supports in Employment

• Milly’s support coordinator called and arranged for Milly to visit the mail house so she could get a feel for it and to meet some of the other people she’d be working with. Milly went on the train with her support worker for her visit.

What you could use from your plan:
Support Category > Assistance with social and community participation
Support Item > Supports in Employment

• Milly spent a few hours at the mail house where she was shown around, met most of the people there and was able to see the types of jobs everyone was doing. Milly decided she’d like to work there for the three days a week she wasn’t at TAFE. She arranged all the paperwork with Endeavour Foundation, and they set a start date. Milly was so excited!!!
• Milly was able to receive some extra support to help her settle into working life. This helped her learn what to do on the job and what new skills she’d need (like handling money), what the rules were and where to go at what time.
• Milly was placed with her friend Alisha and they worked together quite a bit, mainly in the collating area. Milly loved it!!
• Three months later Milly was still enjoying the work, but she was finding her TAFE course getting more and more demanding and it was difficult for her to juggle it all. She was getting quite stressed out. She talked to her supervisor about the challenges she was facing and decided the best thing to do was to cut back her work days, so she could focus on doing a good job with her TAFE studies.
• Milly also spoke to her Mum, to Alisha and to her support coordinator to decide what it was best to do. In the end Milly decided the best combination was two days a week at TAFE, one day a week at Endeavour Foundation Industries in the mail house and the other two days at a Learning and Lifestyle hub, where she could learn some new skills like cooking and increasing independence.

What you could use from your plan:

• For the Day Centre

Support category > Assistance with community participation

Support item > Group Activities – Weekday Daytime

• For the support coordination

Support category > Coordination of supports

Support item > Coordination of supports

• Milly felt relieved that she’d lightened her load a bit, so she could spend more time and energy on her TAFE studies. Milly had really enjoyed working at the mail house though, so she planned to make the most of the time she was doing TAFE and gain as many skills and experience as she could at the Learning and Lifestyle hub. Her new goal was to work four or five days a week at Endeavour Industries when her TAFE course was over – and for Alisha to keep her seat for her!

Meet Bob – at the beginning of his plan

Hello, I’m Bob. I work at Endeavour Foundation Industries and I’m 45. I’ve worked here for 15 years, so a long time. I like my job and my friends. Some of my workmates are a bit annoying and I get angry and the bosses don’t like it. I’d like to try and learn something new.

Goal: “I want to stay in my job but learn new things and get on better with my workmates.”

These are the steps Bob took to achieve his goal:

• Bob really liked his packing job at Endeavour Foundation, but he was also keen to try something different. He spoke with his support coordinator about what his options were.

What you could use from your plan:

Coordinator of supports

• After talking through the options, Bob decided that because he loved his job and didn’t like a lot of change it was best to stay where he was and learn to do some new tasks at work. His support coordinator spoke to his supervisor about Bob’s goal to increase the variety in his role.
• Bob and his supervisor John sat down and talked about the sorts of things that Bob might be able to learn or do differently. Bob had always fancied driving the forklift but had always been a bit nervous about it in the past as it seemed like too big a challenge. John encouraged him to give it a go.

What you could use from your plan:
Support category > Assistance with social and community participation
Support Item > Supports in Employment

• Bob’s support coordinator organised for an occupational therapist to carry out an assessment to make sure that learning to drive the forklift would be ok for Bob.

What you could use from your plan:
Support Category > Improved Daily Living Skills
Support Item > Individual Assessment, Therapy And/Or Training (Includes Assistive Technology)

• Bob also needed some help with dealing with his emotions when his workmates got on his nerves or sometimes told a joke that he didn’t like. John also arranged some behaviour support to help him to learn and choose better ways to deal with his frustrations.
• Bob met with his behaviour support person and they talked about the times where Bob got angry at work and the types of things he could do when it started to happen. They made a plan together.

What you could use from your plan:
Support Category > Improved Relationships
Support Item > Specialist Behaviour Intervention Support

• Bob also found it tricky to make new friends both at work and outside of work and was able to get some help with this and to think carefully about what makes a good friend.

What you could use from your plan:
Support Category > Improved Relationships
Support Item > Individual Social Skills Development

• Bob got the go ahead to do the forklift training, based on the occupational therapist’s assessment. Hurrah!
• Fast forward six months and Bob is much happier at work. He has some made some new friends which he is really pleased about. He is able to manage his anger better with the help of the behaviour support and his outbursts have been less and less.
• Most importantly, Bob is now able to work on the forklift a couple of days a week as well as do the packing job on the other three days. Bob is really enjoying the variety and having learning new things. He feels very proud of himself to have his forklift licence now, and his Mum and Dad are really proud of him too!

When it comes to getting and keeping a job there are lots of different options and lots of different ways to do it.

Need help with the NDIS? Call us on 1800 112 112 and help you work out how to use your plan to achieve your goals – both now and in the future

Or give us a call with any NDIS questions you’ve got – we’re happy to help!