Formal supporter and informal/family carers alike are all facing new challenges at the moment with the pandemic. If you’re anything like me you’ve been scrambling to get in front of the situation, make sure basic needs are being met, and take care of yourself at the time. It’s a hectic time! Here’s a few resources I’ve created or come across which may help speed up your capacity to adapt, predict, and head off potential issues and risks.

Pandemic Plans

If you’re a support coordinator or social worker you may need a formal written safety plan for your most at risk clients/participants. Larger organisations are using overall plans, which is fine, but if you can doing personalised plans for at least the high risk folks – ideally in consultation with them – is good practice. It tailors the plans to the person and is an invaluable handover tool if you become unwell and need to shift your caseload to someone else.

Informal family and friend carers, a written plan may seem like overkill, but being able to share it with others does have value – assuming anyone else in your formal or informal networks has the same perceptions of risk and ideas about safety as you and the person with the disability (PWD) is a common point where things start to unravel. Fewer assumptions, more communication!

There are a few examples being kindly shared by people, so if you don’t have a public health background you don’t have to start from scratch. This is mine and you’re welcome to borrow, use, modify any aspect of it provided you don’t on-sell it. 🙂 Pandemic Safety Plan.

Karina and Co have generously made their Pandemic Safety Plan public too.

The Growing Space have also been agile responders to the crisis and have provided some invaluable free resources such as this fabulous Pandemic Checklist.

Free webinars

The Growing Space have also teamed up with Disability Services Consulting (DSC) and are offering a free webinar about responding to the challenges of COVID-19 for participants, families and PWD.

They are also running a free webinar for Support Coordinators.

DSC are offering this training on preventing infection.

Resources

DSC have their own fabulous list of COVID-19 resources for people with a disability including general and NDIS specific information.

I hope that’s helpful. Take care out there everyone. If you need some more specific advice or help reach out to me or the folks I’ve linked here, I expect the webinars in particular will be excellent.