Supporting participants to transition from a custodial setting back to community

Considerations for NDIS providers

Supporting a NDIS participant with their transition from a custodial setting like prison back into the community has its challenges, so it’s important to have the help of an experienced team to manage this.

At Hope Circle, we support numerous clients who have been involved in the justice system – and have supported participants to make this transition many times. Oftentimes, we work with support coordinators and other providers who have experience with this complexity to ensure a smooth transition for the person living with disability and their circle of supports.

There are a number of considerations for NDIS providers supporting transition from a custodial setting which we will explore further here.

Hope Circle CEO Andrew Ellis says, “when supporting clients with forensic supports, we approach our role from a human rights perspective – recognizing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. We work together with stakeholders to reduce the risk of re-offending and minimise interactions with the justice system while focusing over time on the reduction and elimination of regulated restrictive practices.”

From our experience, a successful transition and integration back to community requires several key elements:

  1. An individualized support plan
  2. Consideration of mental health supports
  3. Collaboration with stakeholders
  4. Staff and the circle of supports understanding the lawful orders
  5. Responsive and appropriate behaviour support planning

Individualised Support Plan

No two clients are the same. And no two clients’ forensic histories and support needs are the same.

Because of this, we work through an individualized planning process to understand and consider the participant’s particular support needs such as:

  • Housing, and any restrictions around it (e.g. distance from schools)
  • The NDIS-funded support needs
  • Health and mental health considerations
  • The role of family/guardian and other stakeholders
  • Legal orders in place

Ideally, our involvement with this planning commences before the participant is due to be released, so we can work to have plans in place ready for the transition and integration back to community. Where possible and where we supported the client prior to incarceration, we will engage the same staff to provide continuity of the staff relationships.

Our Compliance Officer and Service Coordinator work together to build the profile of the participant; and compile relevant information while preparing a care plan and risk management documentation. Whilst plans and documentation from before their incarceration can be helpful, a participant’s support needs have often changed, meaning that support plans need to be re-established.

This also includes making introductions to key stakeholders and establishing those working relationships to support the participant.

Mental health considerations

Supporting the participant’s mental health is important in the transition back to community, especially given many participants are not initially funded for 24/7 support and will often spend time alone.

We have written more about this in other blogs where there is a role for the SIL provider in supporting mental health as well as a role for other NDIS Providers in Supporting Mental Health.

Collaboration with stakeholders

In supporting a smooth transition to community, we work in partnership with the key stakeholders including:

  • support coordinator
  • family/guardian
  • medical/health professionals
  • allied health providers
  • mental health and forensic mental health professionals
  • correctional services
  • the participant’s lawyer
  • behaviour support practitioner
  • Public Trustee
  • Drug or alcohol support or rehabilitation agencies
  • and other stakeholders providing tailored supports to participants.

Understanding lawful orders

In delivering forensic services, there are some key differences in the provider’s role for normal vs forensic support under the NDIS.

A participant might experience difficulty in understanding their legal conditions, so a good service provider will support their education and understanding of these conditions. That might include – for example – restrictions on where they can go, who they are around or their obligations with an ankle monitor.

At Hope Circle, we are experienced working with clients who have more significant restrictions in the community and can assist – for example – to take the client to attend bail hearings and support them to access passes when they need to go somewhere.

Hope Circle COO Heath Nash says, “through the training and experience that our staff bring, we work with our participants to help them understand the lawful orders, providing prompts and reminders around how they need to act to remain in compliance.”

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has a good report that describes this: The Justice System and Lawful Orders: A guide for supporting people with disability [Version 1.0 (November 2025)].

Responsive and appropriate Behaviour Support Plans

Disability support workers and the NDIS provider need to understand how legal orders interact with the behaviour support plan and the activities which are reportable restrictive practices versus what is part of the legal orders.

As part of transition process, our initial focus is on ensuring the right behaviour support plan is in place to support the participant. In this regard, we work with the behaviour support practitioner to put the behaviour support plan into practice.

We also support the practitioner by documenting evidence with case notes and incident reports; and implementing any regulated restrictive practices.

Over time, our team will look at what restrictive practices are used less frequently or not at all, and work with the stakeholders to consider fading them out – with an ultimate goal of reducing and eliminating restrictive practices.

Conclusion

At Hope Circle, it’s part of our core identity that we work to help our clients live the life they want to lead. We work to provide them with dignity of risk, hope for the future and increase the control they have over decisions.

Hope Circle is a registered NDIS provider specialising in providing SIL and in-home & community support to individuals with complex disabilities.

Our team has extensive experience working with NDIS participants who have corrections or forensic histories, mental health and physical disabilities.

For more information regarding our services in Adelaide or Perth, please contact us here.