Forensic Disability Support Melbourne
Forensic Disability Support Melbourne
Forensic disability support is for people with disability whose lives also involve the justice system, and it has to hold two things at once. The participant has support needs like anyone else, and they also have conditions, orders or supervision requirements that shape how those supports can be delivered.
Personalised Support Services delivers forensic disability support Melbourne wide, from offices across the city. We work with people preparing to leave custody, people living in the community under an order, and people whose support arrangements have broken down and need rebuilding.
What is forensic disability support?
The supports themselves are the same ones any participant might use. What changes is the context. There are conditions that have to be met, other organisations with a formal interest in how things go, and timing that is decided by courts and boards rather than by the participant or their provider.
That makes reliability and coordination matter more than usual. Many participants in this group have also had services withdrawn or been told they are too complex, so rebuilding trust is often the first piece of work before anything on the plan gets touched.
Core Support
Receive tailored care for your day-to-day activities from our friendly, supportive and experienced team.
Support Coordination
Your interest first and the best for you, no bias. Maximise your NDIS plan and coordinate the support you need.
Group Activities
Have fun, stay connected and making new relationships with like-minded people in your local community.
Accommodation
Secluded homes specially designed for your relaxation and respite, supported by discreet staff and simply enjoyed.
Hospital Discharge
PSS will develop a personalised plan to ensure a smooth transition once you leave hospital and that supports.
Home Care Packages
Our Home Care Packages are designed to empower senior Australians to live safely and independently in their own homes.
Who we support
We work with participants who are:
- Preparing to transition out of a custodial setting
- Living in the community on parole, a community corrections order or a supervised treatment order
- Subject to a forensic order or other court-directed conditions
- In custody or on remand, where planning for release can begin well before the date
- At risk of contact with the justice system, where the right supports early can change the outcome
- Returning to community after a period of hospital or secure treatment
What we provide
The supports we deliver include personal care and daily living, household tasks, development of life skills, Community Support and community participation, travel and transport, community nursing care and therapeutic supports. We are also registered for life stage transition supports, which is the part of the NDIS built for exactly this kind of change.
Where a participant has a behaviour support plan, our support workers deliver supports in line with it.
Accommodation and housing after custody
Housing is usually the hardest part of a transition out of custody, and it can shape the transition itself. Where release is subject to a parole decision, proposed accommodation forms part of what the parole board considers, and an application can be deferred where suitable accommodation is not confirmed.
Short term and medium term accommodation are disability supports with their own eligibility rules rather than transitional housing, so the useful work is early: establishing what a participant is likely to be eligible for and what is actually available. Where a participant is eligible, we offer short term accommodation, medium term accommodation and supported independent living. See our accommodation options for what each type covers.
Coordinating across corrections, health and NDIS
Participants involved with the justice system usually have more moving parts than most: corrections, health, housing, legal and NDIS, all with different requirements and none of them talking to each other by default. Someone has to hold that together, and it is rarely the participant.
That is the part we take on. Supervision of court-directed conditions sits with corrections, not with us. Our job is making the disability supports work around those conditions and being a reliable point of contact for everyone involved. More on how support coordination works.
Referral pathways
We accept referrals from:
- NDIS Justice Liaison Officers
- Support coordinators and specialist support coordinators
- Community corrections officers and parole officers
- Justice Health and forensic mental health services
- Legal representatives, Legal Aid and advocacy services
- Hospital and secure treatment discharge planners
- Plan managers and Local Area Coordinators
- Participants, families and nominees directly
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What we need to get started: the participant’s NDIS plan or plan details, a summary of the conditions or orders in place, any existing behaviour support plan, and a contact for the person coordinating the transition.
Call 1300 687 777 or use the enquiry form below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can you support someone on a community corrections order, parole or a supervised treatment order?
Yes. Tell us what the conditions are at referral so the support arrangement is built around them rather than adjusted afterwards.
Do you take referrals for someone who is still in custody?
Yes, and the earlier the better. Planning that starts well ahead of a decision produces a very different outcome to planning that starts after it.
What parts of Melbourne do you cover?
We provide forensic disability support Melbourne wide, working from offices across the city.
How quickly can forensic disability support start?
It depends on the supports needed and whether accommodation is part of the picture. Tell us the date you are working towards and we will give you a straight answer rather than an optimistic one.