If you’re an NDIS participant,
we can help you succeed at work.
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT FOR NDIS PARTICIPANTS
Impressability offers supports to NDIS participants under both Capacity Building and Core Supports funding, with a focus on providing assistance, guidance and coaching to those who need higher intensity support with regards to attaining and maintaining work and community participation. We are also able to connect with workplaces and advocate for client needs, supporting the workplace to better understand how they can assist their staff member to thrive at work.
Our Careers Practitioner, Zoë, is both neurodiverse and lives with early onset osteoarthritis, spinal disc degenerative disease, and sciatica, in addition to having been a long-term carer for her spouse who lived with severe, pervasive mental health conditions that affected his ability to work. This lived experience ensures that she is empathetic, compassionate and gentle in her approach, while ensuring all services are flexible to meet the unique needs of the participant. In fact, this is something Zoë is extremely dedicated to.
Talk to us about your specific needs and if we can accommodate them, we absolutely will.
We have lived experience with disability.
GROUP SUPPORT
Zoë is a fully qualified Careers Educator and Career Development Practitioner. This means that she is highly skilled and experienced in putting together and delivering group-based careers education and support programs. For NDIS Participants, working with small groups in a variety of tailored careers programs has resulted in building participant confidence, capacity, self-empowerment and resilience to not just survive, but thrive in the workplace. At the Impressability Wodonga office, there is a small training room that can accommodate up to five participants for small group training.
Group Sessions held have included:
EDUCATION &
TRAINING PLANNING
CAREER
BUILDING
JOB APPLICATION
SUBMISSION & STRATEGY
CAREER DOCUMENT
DEVELOPMENT
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
WHAT IS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY?
Assistive Technology (AT) is defined by the World Health Organisation as an “umbrella term for assistive products and their related systems and services”. It can range from physical products to digital solutions, with many people who use AT using more than one product integrated together.
The NDIS states that AT is “equipment or devices that help you do things you can’t do beacuse of your disability”. They can help you do something more easily or safely and will reduce your need for other supports over time.
The products Impressability offer have been curated specifically to:
help individuals manage emotional distress and/or anxiety that interferes with their daily work activities;
regulate sensory processing to allow the individual’s brain to focus on work tasks that require a specific level of focus;
be tailored to meet the needs of the individual where possible; and
allow individuals greater independence at work by being able to manage tasks unsupervised due to improved sensory regulation and/or improved executive function.
IMPRESSABILITY PRODUCTS & MEETING THE NDIS THRESHOLD
Many of the products that Impressability have curated are designed to help you manage challenges you are facing in the workplace, that may stem from behaviours of concern.
Some of these products include:
Spikey Doodads - harm minimisation device that allows for varied pressure personalised to the participant’s needs that spark the “hurt senses” without causing physical harm.
Stress Squishies - the slow release foam reduces sensory overload and fosters a calmer state conducive to engagement in daily activities. They also enhance dexterity and coordination in support of improving hand strength and finger mobility.
Fidgets including Desk Pets, Rings, Linked Loops, Button Clickers, etc - the tactile input and movement-based regulation these offer promote self-regulation by redirecting restless energy in structure environments. They also offer improvements to dexterity and coordination regarding hand strength, finger mobility and fine motor skills.
Silent Whistle - discreet and portable breath control device that works as a self-directed behavioural tool, reinforcing effective coping mechanisms while supporting autonomy in managing stress responses. It provides a structured mechanism for de-escalation, promoting self-soothing strategies in situations where heightened stress may impact emotional regulation (like at work), thus supporting participants to maintain independence in emotional regualtion and reducing reliance on external intervention.
Ear Buds - discreet and self-directed coping support that filters environmental noise and helps regulate input, reducing exposure to distressing auditory stimuli while maintaining awareness of important environmental cues. They assist the participant by managing sensory overload, preventing distress responses such as anxiety, agitation, or shutdowns in high stimulation environments, while reducing participants’ barriers to participating in their (work) environment and enhancing their ability to navigate their daily tasks more easily and safely.
Silicone Worry Stones - discreet, portable, non-intrusive sensory and behavioural tool that offers a structured mechanism for managing distress, promoting grounding strategies that enhance focus and reduce emotional escalation. Their smooth and contoured surfaces provides consistent tactile feedback, supporting self-soothing techniques through repetitive touch and gentle pressure, and this sensory engagement fosters mindful awareness that helps individuals regulate physiological responses to anxiety and sensory overload that can lead to behaviours of concern in the workplace. Subsequently, use of these silicone stones promotes autonomy and emotional resilience.
Textured Stickers - much like the Silicone Worry Stones, these textured stickers are discreet, non-intrusive and adhesive sensory and behavioural tools that can be stuck to a laptop palm pad (the bit below the keyboard where you rest the palms of your hands while typing!), the back of a mobile phone, or even a hard hat! The surface is slightly rough and the patterns are unobtrusive, ensuring that they are as subtle as they are effective in supporting self-soothing techniques.
BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT
Behaviour support is a means of meeting your individual needs, including strategies and supports to look at the reasons why you may have behaviours of concern.
The NDIS states that Behaviour Support aims to:
increase your quality of life;
understand the reasons for your behaviour;
find ways to meet your needs; and
reduce and manage behaviours of concern over time.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
Do you have Assistive Technology in your NDIS plan?
If not, check out this link to see how you can get assistive technology included in your plan. Talk to your Support Coordinator about this, too!
Will your AT choice relate to your disability?
Think about how your AT choice would help you with activities that you struggle with because of your disability.
Is your AT choice right for you?
You need to link your AT choice with the goals in your NDIS plan, and ensure it is safe to use and will work how you need it to.
Does your AT choice represent value for money?
This is when your AT choice is compared with other assistive technology or supports that would achieve the same outcome. We ensure our pricing is suitably placed in the market to help you achieve this requirement.
Is your AT choice funded/provided by a program other than the NDIS?
If you are a DES client, you might want to try asking them to help with funding for these products before approaching the NDIS. However, if you aren’t, we don’t believe there is another program available to provide funding for these supports. If you know of one, please let us know!
For a support to be considered “reasonable and necessary”, the NDIS states that it:
must be related to a participant’s disability;
must not include day-to-day living costs not related to your disability support needs;
should be represent value for money;
must be likely to be effective and work for the participant; and
should take into account support given to you by other government services, your family, carers, networks and the community.