Mark Boyce has been with CPSN for the past seven years. He loves his job, how inclusive the organisation is and is passionate about supporting and collaborating with many of our clients who need help with their support plans, that may involve service providers, specific care teams, and the NDIA.
His role can often be done in a virtual environment, but mostly he enjoys meeting the clients face to face, particularly during their home visits. In this blog he shares a little more about his approach to supporting clients, an important message about advocacy and what motivates him inside and outside of work.
Change as a constant in the NDIS world
Over time, his role has helped increase his knowledge base, particularly as each client caseload he oversees can often be very unique, and he notes it is important to be ready to face changes as they arise.
Over time, his role has helped increase his knowledge base, particularly as each client caseload he oversees can often be very unique, and he notes it is important to be ready to face changes as they arise.
The changes in policies and procedures have always been evident in the NDIS space, so you just learn to adapt and navigate those changes.
Maintaining and retaining connections with disability service providers is also something he looks forward to doing online and at various disability expos in and around Melbourne. The former travel industry employee enjoys being around people.
The Importance of Advocacy – seeing past the concept “Incapable”
Mark strongly believes in demonstrating Self- Advocacy and confidence while effectively communicating and supporting the specific wants, needs and abilities of his clients, which is his daily motivator. However, he still sees that there’s still a trend for clients to be misunderstood within the sector and not being given a proper ‘voice’ to be heard.
Please treat everyone as an individual and put them first. There’s a misconception that just because someone is non-verbal and complex, that they are incapable of not being aware of their surroundings.
Outside of work, what keeps you busy? What are you interested in?
“I volunteer my time outside of work, so I do really enjoy giving back to the community. I live close to the river, so I enjoy taking in nature and stretching my legs a bit. I’m currently learning Italian [Via social connections, Duolingo and a trusty dictionary] and although challenging at times, I really enjoy it."
Mark also enjoys cooking, particularly baking, and makes a mean Apricot cake (a favourite request of a client he volunteered for).
Mark makes time to go out and enjoy nature
What are your top three tips you can share that you’ve learnt from being in your role?
It’s always okay to ask if you don’t understand something. Clarifying things helps us to understand and provides us with knowledge, perspective and context.
We are all doing our best, sometimes we have personal challenges, respect ourselves enough to apply self-care and respect others for where they are at.
We are all learning and changing every single day. We know more than we did yesterday but tomorrow is another opportunity to learn more.
Can you share a story of how you and the CPSN team have positively helped a client overcome a challenge or meet their support goals that you’re particularly proud of?
“Some months ago, the client’s mum, myself, Amy Seeary (CPSN’s Clinical Co-ordinator) and Sharon Marendaz (Customer Liaison Co-ordinator) held a meeting to discuss the specific support needs and requirements when recruiting a support worker. The challenges are (sic) finding a support worker who not only has the right competencies but we are looking for someone to consistently be part of the care team.”
That approach is extremely important to Mark and all of his work outcomes and demonstrates how closely CPSN works so cohesively and easily with each other and their roles. It also shows the client a broader context of understanding about what CPSN does.
The client success stories are wonderful and what particularly stands out for me is the advocacy that sits alongside the rights of people living with a disability who wish to live their best lives. In my role, I get to engage with clients and their families who want to be seen and to be treated fairly. Their tenacity, knowledge and creativity is what helps them to gain favourable outcomes and I'm proud to be a small part of their journey.
If you have read anything here that sparks your interest regarding Support Co-ordination please feel free to get in touch with us on (03) 9478 1001 or email cpsn@cpsn.org.au
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