BrainLink was established in 2006. We were previously known as the Brain Foundation of Victoria and demerged from this national organisation to pursue service delivery to the Victorian community, instead of focusing purely on fundraising for scientific research.
BrainLink is a non profit charitable organisation committed to reducing the impact of acquired brain impairments. These may be caused by trauma, hypoxia, infection, tumour, substance abuse, degenerative neurological diseases (such as MS, Motor Neurone disease and Parkinson’s disease) or stroke. We are dedicated to improving the quality of life of people affected by conditions of the brain and providing support to families in Victoria. We currently service 800 families in Victoria a year as and when they require assistance.
Our core services include Carer Education and Support programs and Respite Programs. We are unique in our service provision which provides full respite care (i.e. professional care for the person with the acquired brain injury (ABI) so that the carer can attend information, education and respite programs) in order for our services to be affectively delivered. BrainLink also provides education to health professionals in different areas of Victoria.
BrainLink has sought to connect people to the places, activities and people that matter to them. We back this up with a professional team and we are a learning organisation. This means we seek to learn from the experiences of the people we support to improve the lives of people with an acquired brain impairment and their families and carers.
Having a BrainLink support coordinator means that people have a coordinator who specialises in working with people with an acquired brain impairment, and who knows about building community. We build relationships and work in partnership and seeking to earn your trust and respect, based on your experiences of our work.
How reliable is BrainLink?
BrainLink commits to customer service standards to ensure the people we support receive the highest levels of support and attention. After we receive the referral from the NDIS, we will contact the participant within two (2) business days. During this call we will confirm that we are the right organisation to work with you, or else we will refer you on to another coordination service if we aren’t best placed to work with you (for example, if the referral is for a person with a developmental disability). During this call we will introduce ourselves and learn about what you expect from us. To ensure we meet your needs we will develop a Service Action Plan. This Service Action Plan is a means to outline the actions we will take together and we will review this on a regular basis. This is an ongoing agreement about our work together and a record of how reliable and helpful we are.
What if I have a problem with my services?
Part of the Support Coordination role is to work with people and help them set up a service agreement for each of the supports that they receive. BrainLink support coordinators check in regularly with the people we support and if there are any concerns, we will work with them to identify the reason for the concern, and seek to address it with the provider. If it can’t be addressed to the participant’s satisfaction, then we will work with the participant to locate another provider that will meet the participant’s requirements.
What if I have a problem with BrainLink?
Just like any other provider in the NDIS, BrainLink is required to set up a Service Agreement with every person we work with. Our service agreement outlines how we work with people, our responsibilities, and the specifics of the supports we provide, tailored to each individual. Within the service agreement we also list who to call if a participant wants to register a complaint, as well as the contact details of external oversight bodies.