In order to receive services as an NDIS client, you will need to be assessed by a clinician before beginning your treatment. In this assessment, your clinician will discuss your situation, your medical history as well as any other information that may be relevant, and may refer to or discuss your NDIS Plan when developing your physiotherapy plan. The purpose of this assessment is to create a comprehensive picture of you and your situation as it is when you first begin engaging with treatment. This lets your physiotherapist consider how physiotherapy can support you to achieve your goals, if there is any additional input you need like a different service, equipment, reporting or review, and it lets you talk about what is important to you and how you want to achieve that.

Every person who is seen by a physiotherapist is assessed in a similar manner. As a client of the NDIS, however, this assessment is more thorough because your physiotherapist's findings will be used to develop the treatment that you receive. This treatment will balance things like exercises, reports, and equipment purchases against the funding you have in your plan. It's important that this is discussed and agreed on, because too much of any one therapy or service may exhaust the funds in your plan, and too little therapy or therapy that is ineffective may not be enough to make meaningful progress towards your goals. 

For this reason, as an NDIS client, your assessment may be conducted over more than one session and may take more time before a treatment plan is developed. This is to account for the fact that every person's context is different, and clients with profound, unique, or complicated disabilities require more consideration and review to ensure that they are receiving services that are appropriate and sustainable for them. This also applies for clients who have unique social contexts, like those living in supported accommodation or in inconsistent housing situations. 

Regardless of your context, your initial assessment is your opportunity to let your clinician know exactly what you want to do, what you're finding difficult, and what you want to achieve. This gives your clinician the tools to figure out a plan between what you can do now and what you want to do in the future, and to address the physical, situational, and personal difficulties that need to be overcome in order for you to achieve your goals successfully and comfortably. Your clinician will listen to you and write down the things you want to do, and will make sure to do this in a thorough and comprehensive manner so that it forms a strong basis for treatment. 

Good treatment starts with a comprehensive assessment, which includes lots of talking, asking questions, and moving around. This is so your clinician can get the clearest picture of you as an individual: what you like, what you want to do, what your difficulties are and how physiotherapy can help you. It is the first step on a journey of hard work and effort, and is your opportunity to advocate for and discuss the things you want to achieve, and let us know how we can help you live the life you want.