Coming into 2024 we’ve been reflecting on our 30 years in service and for me personally thinking about what we should focus on to help people live with CP. We’ve ridden the waves of the ever-changing disability support landscape including the introduction of NDIS. We’ve heard from you, reflected on our journey, and taken time to really distil how we can best serve people living with disabilities and their families. In this article we step through our evolution and where we’re going.
So, allow us to (re) introduce ourselves.
We are a non-for profit organisation offering the NDIS services you need - such as individual supports, nursing services and supported independent living options and package it up with complementary services that are designed to improve areas of your life important to you, such as social skills, community connection and confidence. We are committed to fostering community and connection while sharing critical information and practical support to ensure individuals with cerebral palsy and their families have the same opportunities as everyone else.
Founded by parents
CPSN was created in 1995, when six parents of children with cerebral palsy formed a parent support group. They wanted to share information and connect with others who understood the issues and challenges they faced. It didn’t take long to discover they were not alone, and within a few years, the group had grown to over 50 individuals with cerebral palsy and their families.
Fast forward to 2015, we became a part of the NDIS rollout in the Barwon region and in 2017, we began offering additional NDIS services to our community. Today, CPSN supports no more than 100 clients for a reason - to ensure our clients get the utmost dedicated care and attention.
Guided and delivered by lived experience
Something you might notice is a number of staff live with CP so we get it, the disability sector, the NDIS system and we get you. We get the nuances and challenges better than anyone else, and that insight guides the support we offer. From our customer service team, management, general staffing and Board we have people with lived experience with CP because they know the world and the cerebral palsy community best and we will never change this.
"My twins have cerebral palsy and so I can use my lived experience with my boys to support other families and help navigate those early years of allied health intervention, schooling, day care, childcare."
Amy, Clinical Coordinator (RN)
“When you've lived through it yourself, you just get it. When I became a parent, I noticed a gap in services for parents with disabilities and now I run the monthly parent support group. We understand the nuances and challenges better than anyone else, and that insight can make a world of difference.”
Emily, Member Services
Tailored support to help you live your best life
As experienced specialists, we pride ourselves on being able to help participants maximise their NDIS funding and most importantly, ensure they are in control to choose what services they need to fit individual needs. We have refined our service offering to the following:
Free plan review
As a first step, we help people figure out what they need - whether they’re preparing for an NDIS application for funding or want a review of existing plan, our team take the time to listen and walk through a free plan review.
Individual Core Supports
CPSN support workers are recruited based on shared values and highly trained to provide the best possible support. We provide the option to BYO (bring-your-own) support worker or we can find support workers to fit your needs.
Nursing Services and Supported Independent Living
We have recently expanded our services to include comprehensive nursing service aims to provide a wide range of tailored, personalised nursing services to people with cerebral palsy as well as high quality independent living solutions carefully co -created with clients and their families. All our clients are paired with a dedicated Client Liaison Officer to guide them through every step of the way. Discover our services and how to get in contact on our website
“We like to be able to have the freedom to choose ourselves who comes into our home and that we have regular carers and these are not decisions made on our behalf that those decisions were left with us to make.”
– Cheryl, CPSN clients’ family
For people, not profit
As a registered non-profit, our profits go directly back into providing services to the cerebral palsy community - not into investors or owners pockets. So in addition to our NDIS services above, we continue to offer free member services, regardless of whether you have an NDIS plan or not; including events, workshops, support groups, phone support (5 days a week) and personal development programs.
Change is hard but necessary
To ensure we remain equipped to provide services to the CP community in an increasingly complex environment, we’ve recently restructured the organisation which we hope will provide streamlined processes and better outcomes for our clients. It’s important to us that we remain transparent and available with our supporters. You can view our updated organisational chart here; in the meantime, please always feel free to send any feedback to our team at cpsn@cpsn.org.au
Yours faithfully,
Scott Sheppard
CEO