WDN Community Catch Ups

WDN is kicking off 2024 with an invitation to meet with you in your community.

Over March and April, we will be running catch up sessions in different locations across the municipality, giving more people a chance to connect with WDN members from their local area and share information in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

WDN catch ups are free sessions open to people with disability and carers. Light refreshments will be provided. Details of session locations and times are below.

Thomastown Catch Up

Date: Thursday 21 March
Time: 10.30am - 12pm
Venue: Barry Road Community Centre, 36 Barry Road, Thomastown

South Morang Catch Up

Date: Thursday 28 March
Time: 11.00am - 12.30pm
Venue: Civic Centre, 25 Ferres Boulevard, South Morang

Doreen Catch Up

Date: Tuesday 9 April
Time: 11:00am - 12.30pm
Venue: Laurimar Community Centre, 110 Hazel Glen Drive, Doreen

Whittlesea Township Catch Up

Date: Wednesday 17 April
Time: 9.30 - 11am
Venue: Whittlesea Community Centre, 57 - 61 Laurel Street, Whittlesea

To register for one of our four scheduled catch ups, please visit

Website: https://www.trybooking.com/eventlist/wdn or Email: access@whittlesea.vic.gov.au

If you belong to a community group for people with disability or carers, you can also arrange to have a WDN catch up at one of your regular meetings. Contact us via:
Email: access@whittlesea.vic.gov.au
Phone: 9217 2170 and ask for the Disability Planner in the Social Planning Team

Significant Change Recommended for the NDIS

After two years, 10,000 witnesses, 4,000 submissions and 2,000 recorded hours of personal stories, the Federal Government’s review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has finally wrapped up.

The findings from the Review are significant, with the Final Report acknowledging many of the problems raised by participants, families and carers over the past ten years.

Below, the Brotherhood of St Laurence explains how some of the changes will affect eligibility and management of supports for people with disability, including NDIS participants and those who are not eligible for the Scheme.

Community Connections Service

Community connections is a service that can help people with disability find the supports and services they need to be more independent and do more of the things they enjoy in their local community. This service has been funded through the NDIS since it began in 2013 and used to be called ‘linking you to information and support in your community.

Community Connections is available through the NDIS and is open to people with disability aged 9 to 64, and their families but you don’t have to be eligible to receive this support. Both people with disability and NDIS participants can access this service through the Brotherhood of St Laurence NDIS local area coordinators for the Whittlesea region.

To learn more about Brotherhood of St Laurence, please go to: https://ndis.bsl.org.au

Community connections can include things like help to access information, talking about how to access mainstream and community supports, or help to apply to the NDIS.

Local area coordinators can also help people with disability apply for the NDIS and start their plan. See more information under ‘Applying for the NDIS’ below.

If your child is younger than 9, read Our Guideline – Early connections for information on the support available. Go to https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/families-and-carers/early-childhood-approach-children-younger-9

If you are aged 65 or older, we will provide you information on your local aged care services.

When we say ‘you’, we mean a person aged 9 to 64 with disability.

When we say ‘we’, we mean the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

When we say ‘participant’, we mean a person with disability who has met the NDIS eligibility requirements and has a NDIS plan and budget.

For more information about Community Connections, go to: https://ourguidelines.ndis.gov.au/home/community-connections

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Applying for the NDIS

The National Disability Insurance Agency have been working on how they can improve the way they deliver the NDIS. They’ve spent time talking to participants, their staff, NDIS partners including the Brotherhood of St Laurence, providers and the disability community to work out the ways they can improve the experience people have with the Scheme.

For more information, please go to: https://improvements.ndis.gov.au/how-we-can-help/apply-ndis#am-I-eligible-to-apply-to-the-ndis

If you think you are eligible for the NDIS you will be supported to apply by one of our local area coordination or early childhood partners including the Brotherhood of St Laurence who is the local area and early childhood coordinators for Whittlesea region.

For more information, please go to: https://ndis.gov.au/about-us/policies/service-charter/participant-service-guarantee#getting-started-with-the-ndis

The NDIS is just one service system for Australians with disability, developmental delay or developmental concerns.  

The disability supports provided through the NDIS compliment, but do not replace, mainstream or community services for people with disability, such as education, health, mental health services and community groups.  

The Brotherhood of St Laurence can help people and families learn about and access the supports available in their community and supports available through the NDIS. Please note: The Access Request Form is no longer being used to apply for the NDIS.

If you require more information, please visit us at our office at 16/797 Plenty Road, South Morang or contact us on phone: 1300 275 634 or email: BSL@ndis.gov.au.

Translating and interpreting
For a free-of-charge translator or interpreter phone 131 450

National relay service
Website: https://www.accesshub.gov.au/about-the-nrs

Phone: 1800 555 727 then ask for 1300 275 634

my NDIS participant portal

To help deliver a new computer system, the NDIA have built a new portal called the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal. The NDIA have also updated the ‘my NDIS’ app.

The ‘my NDIS participant’ portal is for participants with NDIS plans developed in the new computer system.

If you do not have a plan in the new computer system, you should continue to use the current ‘myplace participant’ portal.

The ‘my NDIS participant’ portal is a more accessible and user-friendly way to:

view your budget
see your plan information and personal details
make and manage claims (for self-managing participants)
see all claims against your budget
see messages and correspondence from the NDIA.

Participants with a plan built in the new computer system can access the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal through myGov.

If you already have a myGov account for other government services such as Medicare, the Australian Taxation Office or Centrelink, you can use the same myGov account to access the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal.

You will need to link the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal to your myGov account.
Please go to: https://login.my.gov.au/las/mygov-login?execution=e1s1

When you link the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal to your MyGov account for the first time, you will need to enter a NDIS activation code.

To get your activation code, please contact us by:

Phone: 1800 800 110
Website: https://www.ndis.gov.au/contact

Once you have linked the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal to your myGov account, you can sign in to the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal through the myGov platform.
Please go to: https://my.gov.au

If you do not have a myGov account, you will need to create one. You will then need to link your ‘my NDIS participant’ portal to your myGov account.
Please go to: https://my.gov.au/en/about/help/mygov-website/create-mygov-account

If you need help, ask your NDIS contact to help you register and start using the ‘my NDIS participant’ portal.

What's on around the Community?

Hearing Australia Bus
Where: Whittlesea Community Activity Centre, 61 Laurel Street, Whittlesea
When: Wednesday 20 March
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Appointments can be made at the Whittlesea Library on the day.

Hearing Australia
Visiting the Big Blokes Brunch in Whittlesea on Tuesday 26 March at 11:30am and the Women's Lunch in Whittlesea on Thursday 28 March.
Where: Whittlesea Community Activity Centre, 61 Laurel Street, Whittlesea
To book: Contact Whittlesea Community House on 9716 3361

Living with Autism
Are you a parent or carer of a child who has a diagnosis of autism? A six-week program commencing in August is an opportunity to ask questions about the autism spectrum and will assist you to consider different approaches/strategies to help with parenting.
Where: Whittlesea Community Activity Centre, 61 Laurel Street, Whittlesea
When: Thursday 1 August - Thursday 5 September
Email: parentzone.northern@anglicarevic.org.au
Phone: 8641 8900

Helping Hands Expo
Come along and meet our experts! Find out more about My Aged Care and NDIS so you can live your best life.
Where: Whittlesea Community Activity Centre, 61 Laurel Street, Whittlesea
When: Thursday 30 May
Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm
Phone: 9716 3361 or email karen@whittleseach.com.au

Eucalypt Identification Walk (Accessible)

Did you know there are 18 species of Eucalypts that are indigenous to the City of Whittlesea? Join Rob and Emma from Naturally You to explore with you some basic ID skills for identifying Eucalypts. The walk itself is highly accessible and designed to cater for people of all mobilities. The walk is not a long one and the pace of the walk will be slow. This walk explores our native bushland in Riverside Reserve looking at the Eucalypts, learning about the trees and the bushland around them.

Date: Saturday 23 March
Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Riverside Community Centre, 8 Doreen Rogen Way, South Morang
Register your attendance at: https://events.humanitix.com/eucalypt-identification-walk-accessible-conservation-walk-and-talk-series

International Women's Day - Save the Date

Women with Disabilities Victoria are hosting a hybrid event to celebrate International Women’s Day, women’s economic empowerment and lived experience advocacy.

Date: Wednesday 6 March 2024
Time: 9:30am – 12:30pm

Please note, this is a workforce development event and tickets will be on sale shortly.

Registrations will be opening soon, so keep an eye out by visiting the website www.wdv.org.au

Greenbrook Community House

Greenbrook Community House in Epping is an inclusive, accessible and welcoming space. Greenbrook provides a number of all abilities creative programs that encourage personal development, self-esteem and artistic expression for all ages.

Programs available include mosaic classes, painting and drawing, music, all abilities dance, singing, crafts, gardening and much more. To view the current program and schedule of classes, https://www.whittlesea.vic.gov.au/media/oe0fe3lt/greenbrook-schedule-aw-nov-2023.pdf

Location: 40 McFarlane Street, Epping
Email: greenbrookch@whittlesea.vic.gov.au

For further information: phone the House Coordinator on 9401 6261.

FREE INCLUSIVE TENNIS

Epping Tennis Club offer a free weekly tennis program for people with disabilities and/or special needs or if you're just struggling to access mainstream sports programs.

When: Thursday evenings, 5:00pm
Where: 51 Park Street, Epping. Please note: Park Street west will be closed at High Street from 13 February until early March. You can access the tennis court from the east end of Park Street.

Try Before You Ride

Join Travellers Aid and Melbourne’s public transport operators at this free event, centralised at Southern Cross Station. Attendees will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with stationary vehicles and the station with assistance from our team, plus opportunities to learn about safe travel on the PT network and much more!

When: Thursday 9 May
Time: 10:30am - 2:00pm
Where: Southern Cross Station

New Dementia Wellbeing Centres

Australian Multicultural Services is opening 3 new Dementia Wellbeing Centres to offer support to carers and their loved ones with Dementia.

The Dementia Wellbeing Centres provide free, comprehensive support and care to individuals living with dementia and their carers concurrently through five, free, day respite sessions.

The new centres are located in the City of Hume, City of Casey and in Geelong.

Participants must meet the edibility criteria and there is an assessment process to be conducted.

For further information: www.amcservices.org.au/staying-at-home/
Email: sah@amcservices.org.au
Phone: 9689 9170

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

We recognise the rich Aboriginal heritage of this country and acknowledge the Wurundjeri Willum Clan and Taungurung People as the Traditional Owners of lands within the City of Whittlesea.