This report outlines an important project that aims to improve the makeup of NDIS plans for people with psychosocial disability. The Optimising Psychosocial Support Project brings together service level data from community based mental health programs to present a picture of how people with psychosocial disability were supported in ‘pre-NDIS’ programs.

This literature review forms part of the evidence base to a ‘provider driven’ project to optimise the supports to people with a psychosocial disability within the NDIS.

This report finds that while only around 10% of Victorians living with severe mental illness are expected to be eligible for the NDIS, critical community mental health services, supporting all Victorians living with severe mental illness, are being decommissioned to fund the scheme.

The gaps and solutions raised in this report should not be seen as a fundamental criticism of the NDIS or the NDIA, which is an important step forward in disability reform in Australia. Instead, they should be viewed as a way of adding national psychosocial disability expertise to the ongoing development of the scheme and...

The NDIS eligibility criteria for people with mental illness is a central concern for all stakeholders. This report found that whilst the current eligibility criteria could be improved to provide greater clarity, the apparent reliance on diagnosis, rather than functional needs, is likely to result in inconsistent eligibility outcomes for applicants.