A whole new world for Ben

Our Housing customer Ben is discovering a new world beyond his bedroom, thanks to the right funding, supports and a dedicated Northcott team around him.

Ben lives in a Northcott disability home in south-west Sydney. He uses a mix of vocalisations, gestures, Key Word Sign and single words to communicate. Until recently, Ben was very withdrawn. He didn’t participate in many activities and rarely left his bedroom. He displayed complex, sometimes aggressive behaviours which made interacting with others challenging. When Northcott Service Coordinator, Donna Murphy, started managing Ben’s house in 2022, she saw an opportunity to improve the situation for Ben and his four housemates.

“Initially Ben was segregated from his housemates because of his behaviours of concern. He didn’t have suitable funding, which meant it was difficult to provide adequate staffing to support him to go into the community safely. Overall, there wasn’t a lot of quality to his life,” Donna says.

The right support

Northcott worked hard to get Ben the funding he needed for more behaviour support and therapy services as well as one-to-one support to allow him to enjoy an improved quality of life.

“It took us quite a while to get the correct funding for Ben, but now he has what he needs. This means he can access more behaviour support, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Ben also now has two-to-one support four days a week and one-to-one support three days a week.”

Donna and Ben’s support staff have been working with Northcott Behaviour Support Practitioners, Kerry Kubecka and Suzie[KK1] [KK2] Purcell, to build trust with Ben and introduce strategies to give him the confidence to be around others.

“Since February 2024, Ben has been coming out of his room. He now has more choice and control including different choices of activities. He likes colouring in and painting, and being taken out on a three-wheeler motorbike,” Donna says.

“Ben is a lot happier and appears more approachable and calmer around others. More than anything, I feel his quality of life has improved.”
– Donna Murphy, Northcott Service Coordinator

Ben enjoys outings on a three-wheeler motorbike with Jess, his Northcott Support Worker.

Working together

Behaviour Support Practitioner Kerry is proud of how all the staff in Ben’s house have worked together.

“All the customers now have sufficient funding to allow Suzie and I to continue to support them. Behaviour Support Plans and strategies are in place for all customers.

“We’ve worked with Donna and her team to build skills and knowledge in understanding the function behind Ben’s behaviours of concern. Strategies have been developed to help Ben be able to make choices about what he wants to do,” Kerry explains.

“Staff now understand Ben’s personality and can see the person behind the behaviours. With the use of visuals, Ben now has a communication platform where he can request items and activities, and he is able to understand his predictable routine. This is reducing his levels of anxiety, distress and frustration – and ultimately, his behaviours of concern.”

Kerry describes Ben as one the most complex yet rewarding customers she and Suzie have worked with.

“It’s been incredibly rewarding to see Ben find a way to communicate other than through his behaviours. Our work with Ben is evolving but it’s a very good example of how a customer benefits from having a multidisciplinary team working together towards shared goals.

“There have been many tricky days but we’re definitely on the way to giving Ben a voice, choices and improved quality of life. Ben’s therapeutic supports are focused on stabilising him and building staff knowledge to support him, so he can continue to experience meaningful engagement.”