What should happen at your first meeting with a disability support provider?

If you have never arranged support before, the first meeting can feel like an assessment you might fail. It is not. It is a conversation about how you live and what would make it easier — and a good provider runs it that way.

Who should be there

You, anyone you want with you, and someone from the provider who has the authority to actually agree things. If the person in your living room has to check everything with an office, the meeting will take three times as long and you will learn half as much.

At Gold Coast Devoted Care our Founder & Director attends this meeting personally. It is not a formality — it is how the worker match gets made properly.

What a good provider will ask about

• Your routine. What time you get up, what order things happen in, what you like to have done first.
• Your preferences. How much conversation you want, whether you would rather have music on, what you would rather do yourself.
• Your communication. How you prefer to be spoken to, and how you would tell someone if something was not right.
• The practical things. Access, parking, pets, who else is usually home, any equipment.
• Your goals. Not just the ones written in your plan — the ones that actually matter to you.
• What has not worked before. This is often the most useful question of the lot.

What you should ask them

Do not feel you are being difficult. You are choosing who comes into your home.

• Who will be supporting me, and how did you choose them?
• What will they know about me before they arrive?
• What happens if they are sick?
• What will I get in writing?
• What are the costs, and are there any charges I would not expect?
• How do I raise something if I am unhappy?

What should happen afterwards

Within a few days you should have a written support plan or service agreement that reflects the conversation you actually had — not a template with your name in it. Read it. If something in it does not match what you discussed, say so before you sign.

You should also know who your worker will be, what they are qualified in, and that their screening is current, before their first shift rather than when they knock.

It is reasonable to say no

A first meeting is not a commitment. If it does not feel right, you can thank them and speak to someone else. A provider who makes that difficult has told you something important.