Social work and advocacy services delivered by our Social Worker, Rory Ritchie, provides expert assistance in navigating systems and relationships where a person may experience exploitation, disadvantage, or disempowerment, such as:

• Government systems (such as NDIS, Centrelink, the mental health system, legal – SACAT, housing trust, or other government systems)
• Private systems (such as service providers, or financial systems such as banks, or telecommunications and utilities companies)
• Working with families and support networks

Social Work services can be accessed privately or through NDIS funding.

How can NDIS funded Social Work be useful?

Our approach to Social Work for NDIS recipients acknowledges that people living with disability often experience discrimination and power imbalances when navigating societal structures, systems, and markets. We can be alongside you in working to rebalance your access to power in these contexts. NDIS social work services may include:

• Therapy – acknowledging that psycho-social disability often relates to our meaningful and understandable responses to experiences, environments and relationships, participants are deeply respected to exercise autonomy in defining what they believe is a good life and how they may move towards their goals. 
• Assessment and recommendation – help to find people, places, and services where your human rights, autonomy, and intelligence as a human being are respected. This may include spending time together hearing what you define as valuable in your own life, as well as creating written assessments, reports, or support letters advocating for your right to access the resources you need to live a good life.
• Training – tailored for you, your family and support team, informed by the approaches of the Humane Clinic Psychotherapy Collective.

What is ‘Radical Social Work’?

“Inequality and poverty have a devastating effect on service users. Radical social work acknowledges this, and acts to achieve social change.

Social workers cannot and should not ignore the overwhelming body of evidence that shows inequality and poverty as the root cause and underlying factor affecting the lives of most service users… These techniques give primacy to the material circumstances affecting people’s lives as well as the psychological effects of oppression.”  (Vasilios Ioakimidis, 2016)