Our Residential Services deliver individually tailored support in a homelike setting for people with additional support needs. MASP has two residential programs: Residential Care and Supported Independent Living.
Residential Care is a program funded by the Department of Families Fairness and Housing (DFFH) that aims to provide accommodation, individualised care, stability and safety for vulnerable children and young people who are unable to live with their families or in home-based care. The young people who are supported in Residential Care are typically aged between 12 and 17 years of age, and from varying backgrounds and cultures. Due to the vulnerabilities of young people in Residential Care, they often present with complex needs and require a specially trained team of caregivers who can support their needs and development.
MASP operates three residential care homes in Mildura. Each home is designed to ensure that young people always have access to a caregiver and a safe place, no matter the time of day or night. MASP delivers Residential Care in accordance with DFFH’s Program Requirements for Residential Care in Victoria, along with other key practices and frameworks including Looking After Children (LAC); the Best Interest Framework; Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Systems and the Framework to Reduce Criminalisation of Young People in Residential Care.
Residential Care aims to provide a safe and stable place where vulnerable children and young people can live and grow up. MASP provides individualised support and planning for each young person, and goals will vary according to individual circumstances and needs. Length of stay varies from a few weeks to several months or longer depending on the best fit for the young person. MASP also provides a transition into independent living for young people who are getting ready to leave residential care.
MASP is committed to working collaboratively with young people and other services in the person’s best interests. Each young person has a care team to ensure that everyone is working together and that their goals and developmental needs are being achieved to the best of their ability.
Entry to the Residential Care program is solely through DFFH referral. Placement into Residential Care is based on an assessment of needs and includes consideration of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles. Where possible, the priority is always for children and young people to reside with family and in their own communities.
For further information about MASP’s Residential Care program, the referral process or becoming a Residential Care staff member, please contact Dani Edwards, Manager of Residential Services by emailing dedwards@masp.or.au.
Supported Independent Living (SIL) programs are funded by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). SILs are tailored living arrangements for people living with a disability.
The MASP SIL program provides staffed, centrally located, homelike, supported accommodation for up to six participants who present with mild physical, intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. Each participant has a private bedroom and access to shared common areas including kitchen, lounge room, activity room, snooker room and outdoor entertaining area. Trained staff are available to participants seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.
MASP is a registered NDIS provider and is committed to upholding the rights of people living with disabilities. MASP’s SIL program draws on several practice approaches and frameworks, including the MASP CARES Therapeutic Model of Care; NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators, the National Disability Services (NDS) Zero Tolerance Framework; person-centred practice principles and strengths-based approaches to practice.
MASP’s SIL program provides people living with a disability a safe, welcoming, homelike environment from which they can live, socialise, and participate in the community as fully and independently as possible.
Staff work closely with participants to ensure that each person’s needs and goals are met in ways that suit them. Support can include, but is not limited to, assisting with household tasks, meal preparation, budgeting and finance, shopping, accessing health and wellbeing services, personal care, advocacy, social connections, and emotional support and wellbeing.
There is a strong focus on developing opportunities for meaningful social connection both within the house and in community through participation in social support programs, employment, friends, and family networks.
MASP is committed to supporting participants to achieve their goals and reach their full potential. To do this, MASP works collaboratively with the participants of the SIL program and their preferred formal supports such as support co-ordinators, health services, and NDIS services.
MASP acknowledges the vital role that friends and loved ones can have in many people’s lives and makes every effort to include them in the day-to-day planning and lives of participants living in the SIL program.
To access MASP SIL program, a person must be registered with the NDIS and complete an assessment determining their eligibility to access SIL funding through the NDIS. A person’s NDIS support co-ordinator will usually make referrals. Acceptance into MASP SIL program is dependent on vacancies and suitability, as it is important that participants can comfortably live together. For further information or to discuss a potential referral, please contact Dani Edwards, Manager of Residential Services by emailing dedwards@masp.or.au.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we work and live right across the beautiful region we are privileged to call home. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and the ancient connection they have with their country.