Support Network Philosophy

This is one of the few beginning blogs that we are creating at Support network. The blogs are designed to give you more information that is relevant to assisting you choose between self managed care and other forms of care. It also is designed to help you be across relevant industry changes and also understand what best practice self manage. Care looks like.

This blog is an important first out to you understanding the philosophy and beliefs of support network. Which is a place where clients and disability support workers meet and interact.

This blog is also very important to understanding how support network is going to continuously improve the quality of care you receive over your lifetime with Support network.  Indeed Support network is designed to assist you at each stage of your care requirements. Support network is a continuously improving organisation. It does that by Con continually focusing on the clients and their feedback and then providing training and support to disability support workers.

Support network is seen as a marketplace for Home Care and a marketplace is a platform that connects all users of the website in a way that’s easy flexible and transparent. Marketplace have become very popular in the recent years with Uber being the most famous marketplace. And Support network has put a lot of thought into what a marketplace within the Home Care industry looks like . In any marketplace there’s multiple users that meet in the marketplace and interact and transact. And often give feedback and writings on each other. With Uber the driver also gives a rating of the passenger which is the client.

There’s other characteristics of marketplace that have been relevant in support network philosophy being formed. Marketplaces need to grow equally on both sides the demand side and the supply side if there’s a big imbalance or a shortage of one or the other the marketplace isn’t functioning properly. And that can be a function of the marketplace not having adequate traction in a particular location rather than they’re being a real shortfall of demand or supply in a particular location so it’s important for a marketplace to have proper attraction in each location. It’s being offered in order to achieve a objective of providing a stable marketplace for the users of that particular location in terms of Home Care the marketplace is ultimately the participant or the Care recipient and the support worker or nurse . In simple terms we think of these as clients and workers on either side of the marketplace the demand being from the client and the supply being from the worker. The worker is also known as a disability support worker if they provide services to a person with a disability. And a support worker is another term that is used for people with a disability or within Aged Care . The clients are often funded by the government however a lot of privately funded as well. The government funded clients can include age care which is known as Home Care packages, NDIS which is the national disability insurance scheme and there’s a few other Funding streams as well. However, not all government funding streams allow for their clients to self manage which prohibits them from being on the Support network platform however all aged care (home care package) clients and NDIS clients can use the platform. And anyone who is privately Funding can also use the platform.

So the interesting thing about a platform is that whilst there’s the demand site and the supply side and you always need to have a balance ultimately there is one more important user of the platform and that is the client. And my mind goes to the various philosophy of who is more important the client or the worker. There’s some sayings that say the client is always number one. And there’s other philosophy that say that the team is number one and without the team you  can’t  properly service a client. Another word as a platform or as a company if you put the team first then ultimately you get a better client outcome. However, after months consideration of about both these theories Support network beliefs firmly that the client is number one and the Care model puts the Client at the centre of the Care.

As a support network marketplace grows, we are developing new ways of putting the Client first. Some of the things we are developing include listening to clients more. Giving clients more choice and control. Allowing clients to have a true voice and giving clients a voice on a bigger scale And often advocating for clients.

So developing this client first approach more thoroughly support network is considering a podcast for any Care recipient in Australia to come on the podcast and be interviewed with our team until their story uncut. We believe that the client is the most important opinion in the Home Care industry. We believe the client opinions are more valuable than the opinions of advocate and regulators we believe ultimately the Home Care industry will improve by listening to clients opinions and being able to discuss their opinions in a uncut and an informal manner. We really think that having a podcast that focuses on clients and their thoughts and their experiences can be valuable for all people in the Home Care industry in Australia And we put a lot of thought into the podcast in terms of who should be on the podcast. Should we include advocate? Should we include providers? Should we include support workers? Should we include nurses having thought through all these questions?

Should we include disability support workers?

Thinking out loud. Maybe we should do the podcast only interviewing clients. “The only opinions that matter”. No opinions from experts etc. so it’s aimed at talking out all the noise and all the noise with “experts”.  So its a bit contentious. Gives people a voice. And then as the government starts wanting more feedback from participants, the podcast will get more traction because we’ve already got all the feedback on the podcast. I’m not going just do it for support network clients I’m going do it for all clients no matter who the provider is. And invite people to come on the podcast until their story! Uncut with swearing if they want. What ever no rules :)

 We think that the podcast should be purely focused on the Care recipient or the recipients family members. Having said that we think that 80% of the interviews will be with clients and perhaps 20% will be with Support Coordinator’s. The reason we think Support Coordinator‘s are relevant is because they are often in a position of experiencing what Care looks like from the recipients point of view and they are in the field every day talking to participants And hearing the feedback directly which is very valuable for the listeners of the podcast and indeed the marketplace and putting all this together Support network wants to be a platform within the industry that not only takes on all the feedback from clients across Australia but actually improves. And Support can improve by a number of ways of introducing different solutions for people that want to self manage. We believe technology will become a key component within the self managed space Will include technology as a separate discussion item and a separate blog in the future of how technology will be implemented within the Home Care industry over the next 2 to 3 years. Move We of course want to hear from clients how they want technology being used as well within the industry.

Support network is a great platform to bring together each person within the Home Care industry. Support network is not only a platform which is often enabled by a website or software. It is and designed to be a network of support for a person with a disability. It is our belief that it takes a network to achieve best outcomes in Home Care and having an entire support team that is curated for you. The person with a disability is quite powerful. The key component of a support network is obviously the support worker, which is also known as a disability work worker. The origins of the name support network stem from the belief that having the right support around someone really makes a difference to their quality of life. For most people their immediate family is their closest support network. And we had Support try to create that family philosophy with our values. We want our clients to feel like their family most obviously no one can replace family. You can care for someone as if they are family and you can embed that to the best of your ability within your company values and you can train support workers and disability workers to also believe in the philosophy of Caring as if it’s family.  Whilst it’s important to have boundaries between clients and disability support workers, we acknowledge that and adhere to those practices. It is great to see the bond between clients and support workers in a professional manner grow as time goes. And I’m looking forward to hearing more about these great stories from clients and their opinions on how to best manage support workers within the home setting. And his managing support workers the right term From the Client point of view is the Support Worker someone there that they manage or is it someone there that supports them that is more of a co-partnership model. There are so many great topics that we’re gonna be discussing with clients and getting their feedback in the upcoming podcast and blogs and it’s refreshing to support network to hear all the debates directly from clients because often we believe there’s a lot of noise within the Home Care industry from experts who often aren’t as close to the Care as the care recipient themselves.

Support network is passionate about giving people a voice. Passionate about hearing people‘s feedback on support workers and disability support workers and we’re passionate about trying to improve the quality of care that’s provided by support workers and disability support workers to clients.

We will also want to hear more about how clients put together a care team so that they get continuity of care. Because often you can’t just rely on one Support Worker and they not always available when you want so it would be great to hear directly from clients some good success stories of how they managed to care both on low packages and very high packages. And how they get the most out of that package. 

The support network blogs are designed to give you a lot of information about the platform and the industry and the philosophy of self managed Care. Whilst the podcast will provide additional information for people who would like to deep dive and hear directly from clients.

Support network has done research on what other platforms and marketplace is gather feedback from clients and how they do it. Support has also looked at what podcast are currently available suit people in the industry. We found that all the podcast currently have a mixture of experts clients And other people with opinions on the Home Care industry. And we think support network podcasts are very valuable. Support network approach is slightly different and it wants to be both fun informative and it wants to hear the good stories, the bad stories and suggestions on how to make self manage Care better.  Ultimately it will also cover other forms of care and people can tell their stories and successes with their home care provider. The podcast will consider ensuring that no Home Care provider is named in a bad manner. We don’t want it to be a name and shame exercise however people are free to give compliments to a name the providers that they have received good experiences from. We believe the support network is just a place where people‘s opinions are gathered so it’s not just a podcast. That’s just one form of how we connect with clients. They are welcome to leave feedback on the website and email us their stories as well.

Support network wants to hear from clients on the importance of cultural matching from the perspective of the client. What does cultural matching mean and how does it benefit both the client and the disability support worker? And what degree of cultural matching can be done across the Care team?

You’ll see some upcoming changes to the Support network website as well. This week we’re introducing our Phone Number on the homepage of the website so that you can call and speak to the team directly with any questions you have and any feedback you have usually the website is very simple and easy to use for all users. However having the phone support is part of the Support network philosophy we’re here to support you.

Another important change the website is the ability for you to register very easily your interest in being supported by support network without providing a huge amount of information. We’re here to talk to you and we are here to talk to you without you going through the burden of filling out a lot of forms. We want to guide you to the best process and the best care for you. If you’re not interested in self managed Care will connect you with an  approved provider.

We really are interested in your best interest interests.

So at Support network we don’t want to really be labelled as a Do It Yourself platform. That is not what Support network is about. Support network is about providing you support.

Once you’ve registered with the Support network platform, the team will call you and go through the next steps with you guiding you on the website and helping you to connect with your disability support workers and Adelaide health professionals. The website you’ll find is very easy to use and the next steps of the registration enables information gathering of your care requirements that will help matching you to the best possible disability support worker.

You’ll be guided to auxiliary services as well that you might find useful for your Care requirements. The idea is that you find and connect with the best available support for your care and ultimately we want to include healthcare professionals and doctors who specialise in your particular care requirements and enable you to find these experts in an easy way For us at all about connecting you to the best possible people.

Support network is continually on the lookout for the best possible support workers to join the platform. There’s a number of benefits for disability support workers to join support network and support network needs to keep improving the benefits to disability support workers who joined the platform. We want disability support workers to be respected. To enjoy a good quality of life and earn the income that they deserve.

This week the support network team is also reaching out to Support Coordinator to take part in interviews on how to manage disability support workers. We encourage support co-ordinators to contact us to take part in the interview so that we can give a better experience of support network platform to clients. We believe self managed Care is evolving and understanding what best practice looks like is very important.

The Support network website is also aimed at age care clients not just disability clients. So we continually improving the User experience of the website to take this into account.

Support network is also gathering and collating the top five questions we get from clients when they call and will be including this on the website as a Q&A for people to better understand the support network.

We are also gathering and collating the top five questions that disability support workers have when they register on the platform and will be publishing these as a Q&A on the website as well within the how it works section.

Support network strongly believes in transparency and publishing the feedback and experiences of all users of the website. And the steps that Support has learnt or is undertaking to improve.

And this blog is designed to assist you in understanding the philosophy and the growth of Support network.

Support network is also considering allowing approved providers to list on the platform to enable users of the website to choose approved providers in the event I don’t want to be self managed. At the moment we do this manually and through recommendations.

Support network is also considering how compliance offices within the industry should be represented on the Support network platform. Should compliance officers be a use of the platform and connect with providers who need assistance preparing for audits?

Support network also wants to encourage support workers who want to operate under a company structure as a sole operator. This may have some benefits to support workers that we want to explore. We don’t provide tax advice and we encourage support workers to seek independent tax advice on the best structure for themselves.

As we gather all this additional feedback from clients and disability support workers we will update the website with new improved features that improve the platform. Currently, we’re working through how disability support workers should be profiles and the languages they speak and the cultural background so that we can match more appropriately.

Support network believes that every little detail matters and that the more information you have on a disability support worker the better.

The Team and Support Worker are going to be very focused on gathering the ratings and reviews of disability support workers from clients. At the moment we are not getting a lot of ratings from clients and we will come up with a prompt for clients to enable them to easily provide the feedback and rating. We think this is important next step for support network. Whilst we already do have the rating system on the website it’s not being fully adopted by the clients at this point in time we have not prompted clients to leave ratings. We want to have a careful balance between gathering ratings and not being a burden on clients. Ultimately it’s the clients choice as to whether they write and review their support workers or not.

Welcome and thank you again, for reading one of our first few blogs. We are looking forward to a great 2025.

Thank you to all our clients and thank you to all the disability support workers!