Your Guide to Supported Independent Living Services

What services are provided as part of SIL?

This article is written for anyone asking the question: what is SIL or supported independent living under the NDIS?

Supported Independent Living or SIL supports are related to an individual’s disability and NDIS plan, and include assistance with daily living, community participation, transport, employment & education, health and wellbeing.

Under SIL, a registered NDIS disability services organization will provide disability support workers to assist with daily tasks and to help you build skills to live as independently as possible. The SIL provider also supports you with a range of other indirect supports, including liaising with your family/guardian and other key stakeholders like the NDIS, health/medical specialists and therapy providers.

Your provider may also provide support with SIL housing, whether or not that includes specialist disability accommodation. Dependent on the need assessed by the NDIS, SIL may be provided in a participant’s own home or a shared living arrangement.

Daily Living

Daily living supports are highly individualized and are very much dependent on your abilities and any other health or medical diagnoses that affect your daily life.

SIL services as part of Daily Living can include supports with:

  • personal care: such as help with showering, toileting and getting dressed.
  • meal preparation: supporting you with meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, assistance with eating or PEG/enteral tube feeding and cleaning up after.
  • household tasks: such as cleaning, laundry, ironing and paying the bills.
  • support with medication: for example, to purchase medication, reminders or providing it.

Daily living also includes overnight supports, whether passive (the support worker sleeps but can assist if needed) or active (support worker remains awake to support client needs).

Community participation

Community participation supports may be provided by the SIL provider or can sometimes be done by another organization or even independent disability support workers.

Community participation can include:

  • going out with friends and family
  • going shopping
  • social activities like attending sport or going to the beach
  • engaging in community such as men’s shed groups, art/craft or dance groups, and other group activities.

Community participation is about deciding what you want to do, and then the SIL provider supporting you to access those outlets.

Transport

A NDIS participant’s transport needs are often highly individualized. Where some participants will need support to get to and from work, others might need more assistance with attending health or justice appointments. Some may be able to travel in a normal vehicle, whereas other participants might need an accessible van.

SIL services can support your transport needs by:

  • supporting you to take public transport, building your personal capacity
  • helping you get to appointments
  • taking you to or from supported or open employment
  • enabling your community access to other activities.

Employment and education

Each NDIS participant’s capacity and needs are quite different when it comes to employment and education. A good SIL provider will work with the participant and family/guardian to find suitable employment or education in line with the NDIS goals.

SIL services as part of employment and education can include support for individuals:

  • to attend educational training courses or schooling
  • with job training to prepare for employment
  • to attend supported employment
  • to assist in open employment.

Health and Wellbeing

It’s important that your SIL provider and their disability support workers have experience with supporting clients similar to you in terms of your health and wellbeing needs.

Health and wellbeing support under SIL can include:

  • supporting access to healthcare services like a GP or dentist
  • assistance with therapy such as attending an aquatic therapy class
  • medication management and administration
  • other medical needs like monitoring from a diabetes educator.

How to choose a SIL provider?

You will have your own individual needs for SIL supports, so it is important to find a provider that listens and is able to deliver what you need.

A good SIL provider will support you to maintain your hobbies or interests or explore new experiences.

When looking for a SIL provider, look out for:

  1. A provider registered for SIL and an implementing regulated restrictive practices
  2. Good location close to shops, services and your community
  3. Support in finding and meeting a suitable-house mate
  4. Experience providing supports and services you need
  5. Transparent communication with you, your family/guardian and other stakeholders.

Disability services providers tend to specialize in different types of clients, ages, disabilities and complexities. At Hope Circle, our team has extensive experience working with NDIS participants who have justice and forensic histories, mental health challenges, and physical disabilities.

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. Through our SIL services, we work to provide our clients 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.

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