As a Support Coordinator, your role is demanding, complex, and deeply impactful. You are the vital bridge between a participant’s NDIS plan and the real-world services that bring that plan to life. Every day, you are tasked with finding providers who are not just available, but who are genuinely capable, reliable, and equipped to handle complex needs. When it comes to psychosocial support, the stakes are particularly high. Finding a provider who truly understands mental health, trauma, and behavioural nuances can be the difference between a participant thriving or simply surviving.
At Lanara, we understand the unique pressures Support Coordinators face. We know that when you make a referral, you are putting your professional reputation on the line. You need to know that the provider will communicate clearly, act professionally, and, most importantly, deliver exceptional, person-centred care. This is why we have built our entire service model around a psychology-led approach. We are not a generic support service; we are a specialised team dedicated to psychosocial and personal care in Sydney.
In this comprehensive guide, we will explore exactly why Support Coordinators consistently choose to partner with Lanara, how our unique psychology-led model benefits your participants, and how we make the referral and ongoing support process as seamless as possible for you.
The Challenge of Finding Quality Psychosocial Support
Support Coordinators frequently tell us about the difficulties they face when sourcing psychosocial support. The sector is broad, and while there are many well-meaning providers, there is often a gap in specialised knowledge. Participants with psychosocial disabilities require support workers who understand the fluctuating nature of mental health, the impact of trauma, and the subtle signs of distress or disengagement.
When support workers lack this foundational understanding, the results can be detrimental. Misunderstandings can lead to ruptured trust, disengagement from services, and ultimately, a failure to achieve plan goals. For a Support Coordinator, this means constantly managing crises, mediating conflicts, and searching for replacement providers – a cycle that drains your time and energy, and disrupts the participant’s progress.
Lanara was founded specifically to address this gap. We recognised that genuine psychosocial support requires more than just a willingness to help; it requires formal education, clinical insight, and a trauma-informed framework.
The Lanara Difference: A Psychology-Led Approach
The cornerstone of Lanara’s service is our psychology-led approach. Unlike many support providers, our team holds relevant university degrees in psychology or related disciplines. This is not merely a marketing point; it is the fundamental basis of how we operate and interact with participants.
What “Psychology-Led” Means in Practice
When a Lanara support worker engages with a participant, they bring a depth of understanding that transforms the support experience. They are trained to look beyond the immediate behaviour and understand the underlying psychological drivers.
For example, if a participant is exhibiting avoidance or reluctance to engage in a planned community activity, a standard approach might be to simply encourage them or, conversely, to reschedule and try again another day. A Lanara support worker, however, uses their psychological training to gently explore the root cause of the hesitation. Is it social anxiety? Is it sensory overload? Is it a trauma trigger? By understanding the ‘why’, our team can adapt their approach in real-time, providing the specific type of reassurance or modification needed to help the participant succeed.
Trauma-Informed Care as a Standard
Trauma-informed care is a buzzword often used in the sector, but at Lanara, it is embedded in our daily practice. Because our team has formal academic backgrounds in psychology, they understand the neurobiology of trauma and how it manifests in everyday life. They know how to create environments of physical and emotional safety, how to build trust gradually, and how to avoid re-traumatisation.
For Support Coordinators, this means you can confidently refer participants with complex trauma histories, knowing they will be supported by professionals who understand their vulnerabilities and are equipped to foster genuine healing and independence.
How We Make Your Job Easier
We know that a Support Coordinator’s time is precious. You need providers who are proactive, communicative, and reliable. When you partner with Lanara, we view it as a collaborative relationship aimed at achieving the best possible outcomes for the participant.
Clear, Consistent Communication
One of the most common frustrations for Support Coordinators is a lack of communication from providers. You cannot effectively monitor a participant’s progress if you are kept in the dark. At Lanara, we prioritise transparent, timely communication.
From the moment a referral is received, we keep you informed. On request, we provide regular, detailed progress reports that align with the participant’s NDIS goals. If there is a challenge, a change in circumstances, or a significant achievement, you will hear from us promptly. We believe that open lines of communication between the participant, the Support Coordinator, and the support worker are essential for a cohesive support network.
Thorough Discovery and Briefing Process
We do not believe in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. When you refer a participant to Lanara, we engage in a comprehensive discovery process. We take the time to thoroughly understand the participant’s history, their current needs, their preferences, and their specific NDIS goals.
Crucially, our support workers are comprehensively briefed before they ever meet the participant. They arrive prepared, informed, and ready to provide tailored support from day one. This thorough preparation minimises the anxiety often associated with meeting a new support worker and sets the foundation for a strong, trusting relationship.
Reliability and Professionalism
As a family-owned and operated business, we take immense pride in the quality of our service. We are deeply invested in the outcomes of the people we support. This translates to a high level of reliability and professionalism. Our team shows up on time, follows through on commitments, and treats every participant with the utmost dignity and respect.
We understand that consistency is vital for individuals with psychosocial disabilities. High staff turnover can be incredibly disruptive. By employing qualified professionals and fostering a supportive, rewarding work environment, we maintain a stable team, ensuring that participants can build long-term, meaningful connections with their support workers.
We have extensive experience working alongside Plan Managers to ensure invoicing is seamless, compliant, and transparent. Our administrative processes are designed to be straightforward, removing any unnecessary friction so that the focus remains entirely on the participant’s care and progress.
The Scope of Our Services
While our psychology-led approach is our defining feature, it is applied across a comprehensive range of services designed to build independence and confidence.
Psychosocial Support
Our core offering involves working alongside participants to build emotional resilience, manage daily stressors, and develop coping strategies. This might involve support with emotional regulation, building self-esteem, or navigating complex social dynamics.
Social Participation
Isolation is a significant challenge for many individuals with psychosocial disabilities. Our team actively supports participants to engage with their community on their own terms. Whether it is attending a local event, joining a club, or simply feeling comfortable in a café, we provide the gentle, informed encouragement needed to build social confidence.
Personal Care and Daily Living Assistance
We recognise that mental health and physical wellbeing are deeply connected. Our team provides dignified personal care and practical daily living assistance – from grooming and hygiene to meal preparation and household organisation. Because these services are delivered by our trained staff, they are always approached with sensitivity, respecting the participant’s autonomy and dignity at all times.
Navigating Complex Presentations: What Lanara Can Support
One of the most common questions we receive from Support Coordinators is: “What kinds of presentations do you work with?” The honest answer is that our psychology-led model is particularly well-suited to participants with complex and often co-occurring needs.
We welcome all referrals. We regularly support individuals living with conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We also support participants with dual diagnoses, where a psychosocial disability intersects with an intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, or acquired brain injury.
For Support Coordinators, this breadth of experience means you have a single, trusted provider you can turn to for a wide range of complex referrals, rather than managing multiple specialist providers for different aspects of a participant’s needs.
We are also experienced in working with participants who have had difficult or disrupted histories with previous providers. We understand that trust, once broken, takes time to rebuild. Our team approaches these situations with patience, consistency, and genuine compassion, allowing the participant to set the pace of the relationship.
Supporting Participants Across the NDIS Journey
Participants’ needs evolve over time, and a good support provider should be able to adapt alongside them. At Lanara, we are committed to supporting participants at every stage of their NDIS journey, from those who are newly accessing support for the first time to those who have been in the scheme for years and are ready to take on new goals.
For participants who are new to support, the transition can feel overwhelming. They may have significant anxiety about having a stranger in their home, or about what it means to accept help. Our team is experienced in navigating these early stages with sensitivity, building rapport gradually and allowing the participant to feel in control of the process.
For participants who are further along in their journey, our focus shifts towards capacity building and increasing independence. Our psychology-trained workers are skilled at identifying and nurturing strengths, helping participants develop the skills and confidence to take on more of their daily living independently over time. This aligns directly with the NDIS’s overarching goal of fostering greater independence and community participation.
For Support Coordinators, this means that Lanara is not a short-term solution but a long-term partner in your participants’ progress.
What to Expect When You Refer to Lanara
We want the referral process to be as straightforward and reassuring as possible. Here is what you can expect when you refer a participant to us:
Upon receiving your referral, our team will reach out within one business day to acknowledge receipt and begin the intake process. We will arrange an initial, no-obligation conversation with the participant and, where appropriate, their family or carer, to understand their needs and determine whether Lanara is the right fit.
Once we have completed our thorough discovery process, we will match the participant with the most suitable support worker from our team, taking into account the participant’s personality, preferences, and specific needs. We will brief that support worker comprehensively before the first visit, ensuring they arrive prepared and informed.
Throughout the support relationship, we will maintain regular communication with you as the Support Coordinator, providing progress updates and flagging any concerns promptly. We are always available to discuss a participant’s progress or to adjust the support arrangement as their needs evolve.
Frequently Asked Questions from Support Coordinators
Q: What areas of Sydney do you service? Lanara is based in Marrickville and provides services across the greater Sydney metropolitan area. Please contact us to discuss whether we can service a specific location, and we will do our best to accommodate your participant’s needs.
Q: How quickly can you begin supporting a new participant? We aim to have support in place as quickly as possible following a referral. The timeline depends on the complexity of the participant’s needs and the availability of the most suitable support worker. We will always give you a realistic timeframe upfront and keep you informed throughout the onboarding process.
Q: What happens if a participant’s needs change significantly? We are committed to adapting our support as participants’ needs evolve. If a participant’s circumstances change, we will work closely with you and the participant to reassess the support arrangement and make any necessary adjustments. Open communication is central to how we operate.
Q: How do you handle situations where a participant is in crisis? Our psychology-trained team is equipped to recognise the early signs of distress and to respond appropriately. In the event of a crisis, we follow established safety protocols, communicate promptly with the Support Coordinator, and, where necessary, connect the participant with appropriate emergency or clinical services. We do not replace clinical care, but our training means we are better equipped than most support providers to respond calmly and effectively in difficult situations.
Q: Can I visit Lanara or speak with the team before making a referral? Absolutely. We welcome the opportunity to speak with Support Coordinators and Allied Health Professionals before a referral is made. We believe that a strong working relationship between the provider and the Support Coordinator is fundamental to good participant outcomes. Please reach out via our website, email, or phone to arrange a conversation.
A Partnership Built on Trust
Ultimately, Support Coordinators choose Lanara because they trust us. They trust our qualifications, they trust our family-owned ethos, and they trust our commitment to person-centred care. They know that when they refer a participant to us, that individual will be treated not as a number, but as a whole person with unique strengths, challenges, and aspirations.
We invite you to experience the Lanara difference. If you are a Support Coordinator looking for a reliable, psychology-led provider for your participants in Sydney, we would love to hear from you.
Together, we can build a support network that truly empowers participants to live life to the fullest. Contact us today to discuss how we can support your participants to achieve their goals.