An interview with United Disability Care’s CEO Sylvia Capps. Pictured with Dan from Coffs and Bill from Ocean Shores.

Operating in four Australian states, United Disability Care (UDC) is truly an Australian business success story that concentrates its attention on adult support with teams specialising in disabilities and mental health services.

The business has 42 Supported Independent Living homes and provides in-home care services. CEO Sylvia Capps says, “To witness people getting help for the first time through the NDIS and being empowered to take control of their lives and how they live is truly fantastic.” 

The scheme also has its frustrations. “I am constantly reminding people, the NDIS is an insurance scheme and like a comprehensive car insurance policy, making claims requires evidence, quotes, facts and proof. Opinions and stories have no place in the process.”

For UDC, becoming an NDIS service provider involved a rapid-fire evolution of its systems and processes two years ago. In nine short months, the organisation overhauled concurrently its rostering, payroll, financial, HR/recruitment and staff intranet systems. “We realised quickly manual processes would not provide sufficient and efficient evidence to operate within the framework of the NDIS,” Capps recalls. “It took a huge financial investment, large amounts of manpower, countless late nights of trial and error and a large amount of change management for our teams to make the business compliant.”

UDC also established a dedicated IT team including three programmers and two IT support officers to aid and abet the transitions. The investment in technology also enabled UDC to track and assist its workforce more effectively, utilise daily rather than monthly cash flow reporting and have almost 100% predictability of its financial position. Capps sums up: “The NDIS really supported the evolution in our way of thinking as an organisation.”

A track record for evolutionary thinking 

In truth, UDC had a strong reputation for evolutionary ideas well before the launch of the NDIS. In 1991, the organisation’s founder Debbie Stewart started supporting people with disabilities in the Byron Shire in northern NSW. 

Within a short time, the astute Stewart realised many people with disabilities were living in a semi-institutionalised setting, and that improvements were needed. In response, Stewart quickly opened a group home in the Byron Shire and Accommodation Network was born, later to be known as ACCNet21. “The first house is still under our care, as is our first resident Bill Parker,” says Capps.

Rebrand to United Disability Care

By 2018, ACCNet21 had evolved and was ready for a name change to United Disability Care. “We were no longer the small disability support provider operating in the Byron Shire,” Capps explains. The organisation was operating in Queensland, NSW and South Australia. It employed a staff of approximately 350 carers and administered 30 supported living homes. “We offered every specialist support you could need to live a life you truly loved.” 

UDC used the theory of community life as a model for its delivery of care. “We believe that it takes a whole community and the support of each other to provide services to people of the highest standard,” Capps says. “We refer to our village or community if you like as our ‘extended family’ and with this came the name change to United Disability Care. 

“Our model is about uniting families, support workers, stakeholders, informal and formal supports, community and governing bodies to help our people to love their lives and live their dreams.”

The care model employed at UDC is working very well. Today, the organisation employs 600 staff who support 500 people with disabilities in four states after Western Australia was added to the business’s rapidly expanding disability care footprint this year. 

The UDC point of difference

Apart from being one of the first providers to put its group homes into lockdown and close its day centres during the coronavirus pandemic, UDC is a leading advocate for ‘client-led’ rather than ‘client-centred’ support. “The theory of client-centred support focuses on wrapping care around the client,” Capps explains. “While well-intended, having a disability does not require you to smother a person with supports. They should still be able to play the lead role in their lives.”

In contrast, UDC uses a client-led approach. “While we are always there to support and assist our people, we encourage them to decide their path and show us when it is our time to help rather than us always offering to help and in turn hinder their independence,” says Capps.

The embrace of a client-led approach is a significant paradigm shift for the disability services industry, says Capps. “For years, we have been encouraged to operate in a way that while it was supportive, it was also directive. 

“In an industry that now understands and honours choice and control for our people, it is so important that we all encourage them to have goals and dreams: small ones, bigger ones and the somewhat crazy ones.”

Speaking of encouraging crazy goals and dreams, as part of International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) celebrations, UDC sponsored iFLY in November 2019. This initiative gave 45 members of UDC’s Gold Coast community an indoor skydiving experience. The flyers had a fantastic experience, according to Capps, the driving force behind the initiative, which aimed to “get people living with disability out of their comfort zone”.

Capps adds, “While I consider it a privilege to do what I do, I love that I am in a position that I can take a moment to give back in some way and inspire people to do something that makes them love life.”

Offering mental health services

Mental health services are another point of difference for UDC. Recently, the organisation recruited a team tasked with moving people with mental health challenges out of hospitals and into the community. “There is simply not enough support, understanding or education in this area,” contends Capps, who at the time of writing has been working for 12 weeks on getting two clients with disabilities out of hospital. “It is far too common that individuals are left in hospital-type settings and forgotten about. They end up there by default. So, we made a commitment to make a difference in this space.”

Providing mental health services is a very difficult assignment for carers too, which UDC recognised before launching into this area. The organisation offers free mental health first aid to all its staff and offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) service. “We recommend our staff have regular de-briefs often,” says Capps. “This industry is not for the faint-hearted, it is emotionally, socially and physically exhausting and self-care is so important. We must always remind ourselves and our peers to be kind to ourselves.”

United Disability Care’s core NDIS services 

1. Residential support in Supported Independent Living homes and in-home care
2. Community access and social support, either one-on-one or in group settings 
3. Day centres located at Coffs Harbour and Ocean Shores in northern NSW
4. Plan management
5. Supports coordination – including specialist supports coordination
6. Capacity building in the form of behaviour support, counselling, training in specialist behaviours and therapeutic supports by registered nurses