Work Assist

Work Assist is a program offered by the Australian Government that provides support to job seekers with disabilities, illness, injury or other barriers to employment. The program is designed to help job seekers maintain employment by providing a range of support services and assistance. 

Some of the types of support available to employees through Work Assist include: 

• Advice about redesigning your job so you can keep working.
• Workplace assessments to identify any necessary modifications or adjustments to the job or workplace.
• Mental health support to help you with issues such as depression, anxiety or stress-related conditions. 
• Access to allied health Interventions such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pain management or psychological counseling.
• Ongoing support and mentoring to help employees succeed in their roles. 

This support is provided at no cost to you or your employer.

• having difficulty at work or at risk of losing your job due to a diagnosed disability, injury or health condition.  
• currently employed, working at least 8 hours a week for the last 13 consecutive weeks.
• an Australian resident or temporary protection visa holder.
• not studying full-time.
• between 14 and 67 years of age.

In 2018 Manoli reached out to the team at MS Queensland because the workplaces he was contracting to offered little to no assistance for his Multiple Sclerosis (MS) symptoms. For Manoli these include mobility impairments, muscular spasticity, sensory deficits, and Uthoff’s phenomenon (heat sensitivity negatively affects MSA symptoms).

Support from MS Queensland

At the start of his journey MS Queensland’s allied health knowledge enabled them to fund remedial massage to help manage Manoli’s muscular spasticity, and their local connections allowed them to source the amazing specialists at Results Physiotherapy and Move Osteopathy who ultimately helped him.

Since then, MS Queensland’s employment support service the team has also:

• helped Manoli access NDIS (the National Disability Insurance Scheme) to assist with funding for physio, occupational therapy and other therapy services
• facilitated workplace assessments and continued education through weekly debriefing phone calls
• and coordinated his application for around $9,000 worth of Job Access funding for disability specific equipment. This has helped to maintain Manoli’s self-employment status and cover the costs of:
  • air conditioning in his home office
  • a Samsung Galaxy tablet and pen
  • a desk fan
  • 2 x Ben-Q monitors
  • an Alogic dual display docking station
  • a desk monitor riser
  • dual monitor arms
  • a Jabra Evolve 65 headset
  • a high back desk chair
  • a PowerVital cooling vest and collar
  • an Ergorest arm rest desk attachment
  • a Microsoft Surface Go 3 tablet, surface pen, keyboard and pen charger
  • and Dragon professional voice recognition software.

Read the full story here