What is the purpose of Community Support Teams?
- To provide access to the necessary supports such as case management, behaviour intervention, therapy and skill development to maintain children with a developmental delay and adults with an intellectual disability in their families and communities
- To work cooperatively with other service providers to increase capacity to meet the identified needs of our clients
- To provide access to therapeutic interventions aimed at developing and maintaining the skills and functions of people with an intellectual disability who have high and complex needs
What is a Community Support Team (CST)?
A CST is a multi disciplinary team generally comprised of professionals who provide a range of support services to clients, families and carers. Support services include both direct intervention and the planning and coordination of services provided to a client and his/her family or carer. Services include assessment, case planning and management, counselling, referral, therapy, family support, early intervention and behaviour management.
The teams are structured to provide services on either a geographical (all ages within a defined geographic; area eg LGA) or client age (Early Intervention, School Aged and Adult) basis. Geographically based teams are usually rural and age based teams are usually metropolitan.
A policy manual for Community Support Teams is currently being developed. When completed, these service descriptions are to be read in conjunction with the policy manual.
Who is eligible?
The target group is:
- People with an intellectual disability with moderate to high support needs
- People must have a needs assessment to guide service prioritisation
- Our primary clients are those people over the age of 6 who have an intellectual disability or multiple disabilities where an intellectual disability is also present. We define intellectual disability using the international definition as:
- an IQ of two standard deviations below the mean
- with significant deficits in adaptive behaviour skills
- as manifest in the developmental period prior to 18 years.
- For our clients under the age of 6 years, we determine their eligibility on the basis of their developmental delay. To continue as a clients accessing DADHC Disability Services past their sixth birthday we require a reassessment to determine if the child has an intellectual disability.
Priority of access is given to:
- People with complex multiple needs
- People with assessed complex challenging behaviour
- People with forensic issues
- People who are at risk of entering a more restrictive option and/or whose carer is likely to be at risk unless entry into the service is facilitated
- People who are homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless
- People whose carer requires assistance to develop skills and interventions to assist the person with a disability to remain in their home
Description of activity of Community Support Teams
CST services are provided through three main activities; intake, case management and direct intervention.
Intake involves providing information and advice, referral to other services and also assessment for eligibility for Disability Services Division services.
Case management is defined as a collaborative and individualised approach to service delivery which is based on systematic assessment, planning, coordination of services and the Individual Plan, monitoring and evaluation of services ensuring that a quality service is provided which is timely, responsive and cost effective. The Individual Plan may include a range of agreed, documented specific intervention plans.
Direct intervention is the provision of identified services that arise out of the case management process and are part of the person’s Individual Plan. Intervention can occur with the client, their family or carer to achieve the outcomes.
What services do CST staff provide
CSTs provide the following services in the activity areas:
Intake
- Information/Advice
- Referral
- Eligibility Assessment
Case Management
Based on the outcomes of the Intake process, the following services are delivered as part of case management activity. Not every client who receives a case management service will receive every service listed below.
Planning
- Needs Assessment
- Development of Individual Plan
- Monitoring and Review of IP
Intervention
- Referral (may be to another service provider or a Disability Services Division provider on the CST. A list of the services provided as part of the Direct Intervention activity are listed below)
- Service Coordination
Community Development
- Enhancing generic agencies’ abilities to provide services to the clients
- Liaison with other service providers
Exit
The following services may also occur as part of case management in the current funding environment:
- Managing Funding Applications
- Costing and Brokering Service Packages
Direct Intervention
This group of services are interventions for individual clients and are delivered in accordance with the agreed Individual Plan. Interventions are time limited, data based and regularly reviewed.
- Diagnostic assessment
- Behaviour intervention and Support
- Counselling & family support
- Skills development
- Movement and mobility
- Seating and positioning
- Dysphagia
- Communication
- Self care
- Learning and applying knowledge
- Community and Social Participation
- Money and budgeting
- Interpersonal skills
Services CSTs do not provide
Although CST staff can assist clients to access the following services, they do not provide them directly:
What are the outcomes for clients
- Client has intervention need identified
- Client receives the intervention to meet the need
What is a unit of service?
For the Intake and Case Management activities the unit of service is one hour of service.
For all services listed in the Direct Intervention activity units of service are defined as:
Intervention (Short Term)
This involves providing direct services to a client. An intervention would usually include a comprehensive assessment, intervention plan, direct intervention and regular monitoring. Where clients are seen in a group, intervention should be recorded against each client.
Duration: Up to six months
Intervention (Long Term)
This involves providing direct services to a client. An intervention would usually include a comprehensive assessment, intervention/treatment plan, direct intervention and regular monitoring. Where clients are seen in a group, direct intervention should be recorded against each client.
Duration: Greater than six months.
Consultation (Secondary)
This involves discussion between a specialist and other staff, family members or carer to develop strategies to meet a specific client's needs. It may include limited direct contact with the client.
Consultation (Brief)
A Secondary Consultation of a short duration.
Duration: Up to 3 hours over 4-6 weeks.
Tertiary Consultation
This involves providing advice or information to a service provider with the aim of improving outcomes for clients who come in to contact with that provider. Focus is on the system for the delivery of services rather than an individual client. The consultation is specific to the particular environment. This may include involvement in service review, agency/regional planning workshops etc.
Education and Training
This involves providing advice or information to a broad audience with the aim of improving outcomes for client. It may be to families, staff from a range of agencies etc and is not environment specific.
Transfer of Diagnosis and Assessment Services from DADHC to NSW Health