Acquired brain injury support,
built around the day
After an ABI, the difficulty is rarely one big thing — it's the ordering of a morning, the fatigue that arrives at 2pm, the appointment that gets forgotten. We build support around those specifics, alongside your rehabilitation team.
Morning promptsSame order, same worker
OT strategies carried throughTask sequencing practice
Planned rest before fatigueNot after it
Community accessQuiet hours, familiar route
No two brain injuries
present the same way
An acquired brain injury can follow a stroke, a fall, a vehicle accident, a tumour, an infection or oxygen deprivation. What it leaves behind is different every time — memory, attention, speech, mobility, impulse control and fatigue can each be affected, often in ways nobody can see from the outside.
That's why we don't start with a service list. We start with your week: where it breaks down, what already works, and what your neuropsychologist, OT and speech pathologist are working towards. The roster is then built to reinforce that, shift by shift.
The change, and the
practical response to it
Families tell us the hardest part is explaining an invisible injury. So here is the plain version — what an ABI commonly changes, and exactly what a worker does about it on shift.
Appointments, medication and conversations slip. The same question gets asked repeatedly.
Written and visual prompts kept in one agreed place, verbal cues rather than corrections, and a handover note so the next shift knows what was already covered.
Energy runs out without warning, often mid-afternoon, and a full day can cost two days of recovery.
Rest is scheduled before the crash, not after. Heavy tasks are placed in your strongest hours and the day is capped rather than pushed.
Finding words takes longer, or fast conversation becomes impossible to follow.
Workers slow the pace, ask one question at a time, and use the strategies your speech pathologist has set — including any communication aids or boards.
Starting a task, or working out its steps, becomes the barrier — not the task itself.
Tasks are broken into sequenced steps and started together, with prompting reduced deliberately over time so independence grows rather than stalls.
Irritability, impulsivity or flat mood appear — and are often mistaken for personality rather than injury.
We follow your Positive Behaviour Support Plan, remove known triggers early, de-escalate calmly, and log incidents for your behaviour support practitioner.
Balance, coordination or one-sided weakness makes the home and the street feel unsafe.
Transfers and equipment are used exactly as your OT or physio prescribed, with the same familiar routes and hazard checks each shift.
Not sure which of these applies? Call 1800 844 995 — we'll talk it through before any paperwork.
Six supports, funded
through your NDIS plan
Each one is delivered by workers trained specifically in brain injury care, and documented so your plan manager and therapy team can see progress.
Cognitive support
Memory prompts, visual schedules and task sequencing that carry your OT and neuropsychology strategies into the actual day.
Personal care
Showering, dressing, grooming and medication prompts, paced around neuro-fatigue and delivered with dignity and privacy.
Community access
Transport to therapy, graded return to social settings, and support with study or work re-entry at a pace that holds.
Complex & 24/7 care
Sleepovers, active nights and around-the-clock rosters for participants with high or complex support needs.
Household assistance
Cleaning, laundry and meal preparation that keeps the home low-stimulus, organised and safe to move through.
Support coordination
Connecting funding to the right ABI specialists, managing service agreements, and keeping the whole plan pointing the same way.
Four steps from first call
to first shift
Most participants start support within two weeks. Hospital discharges are prioritised and can be arranged faster.
Talk it through
Tell us about the injury, the plan you have, and what's not working right now. No obligation, no sales script.
Same dayAssessment at home
We map cognitive load, fatigue patterns, mobility and communication with you, your family and your allied health team.
Within 5 daysMatched worker team
You meet the workers before they start. Matching is on ABI training, personality fit and the ability to hold a consistent roster.
Before first shiftReview and adjust
Progress is documented against your goals and reviewed regularly, so supports change as recovery does.
Ongoing
Four things that make
the difference on shift
Training specific to brain injury
Cognitive prompting, fatigue management, positive behaviour support and ABI communication — not generic disability induction.
The same faces, every week
Small dedicated teams and stable rosters, so you're never re-explaining your injury to someone new.
Notes your therapy team can use
Shift documentation written against your goals, shared with your OT, neuropsychologist and support coordinator.
Workers who live nearby
Local staff mean reliable arrival times, real knowledge of your area, and no unnecessary travel charged to your plan.
Where ABI support sits
in your plan
Most ABI participants draw on all three of the budgets below. If you're unsure what your plan already covers, send it to us and we'll map it for you.
| Budget | What it funds | How we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Core Supports Assistance with Daily Life | Personal care, household tasks and the day-to-day help that keeps the home safe and manageable. | Morning and evening routines, meal preparation, and a low-stimulus home set up so recovery isn't competing with clutter. |
| Core Supports Assistance with Social & Community Participation | Support to get out of the house — appointments, activities, social contact and transport. | Graded community access on familiar routes and quiet hours, plus transport to therapy and specialist reviews. |
| Capacity Building Improved Daily Living | Building skills and independence, including therapy and the support that reinforces it. | Carrying OT, speech and neuropsychology strategies into everyday tasks, with prompting reduced deliberately over time. |
| Capacity Building Support Coordination | Help connecting the plan to the right providers and keeping it working together. | Linking ABI specialists with your daily supports, managing agreements, and preparing evidence for plan reviews. |
Self-managed, plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants are all welcome. Not sure which you are? Call 1800 844 995.
ABI support across
Melbourne's south-east and west
Our teams are based in the suburbs they serve, which is what makes consistent rostering possible in the first place.
Local workers, local knowledge
Accessible routes, nearby clinics and quiet times of day — the details that make a community outing work.
Book an at-home assessment
Call 1800 844 995 and we'll come to you to build the plan in the place it has to work.
Answered within 24 hours
Every enquiry gets a response inside a business day, because gaps in support undo progress quickly.
Hospital-to-home transitions
We coordinate with discharge planners so the roster is filled for the day you come home, not the week after.
South-East Melbourne
Western Melbourne
Suburb not listed? Call 1800 844 995 — we regularly extend coverage for participants who need ongoing ABI support.
Two years after the stroke we were still explaining Dad's memory to a new face every fortnight. Caring Hearts sent the same three workers, and by the third month he was making his own lunch again.
Answers before
you commit to anything
If your question isn't here, ask it directly — we'd rather answer it now than after paperwork has started.
Ask us directlyIs an acquired brain injury covered by the NDIS?
What's the difference between an ABI and a TBI?
How do support workers actually help with memory and concentration?
Can you support challenging behaviour linked to the injury?
How quickly can support start after hospital discharge?
Can a worker come to therapy appointments?
What if the current arrangement isn't working?
Tell us about the week
that isn't working
One call, no obligation. We'll talk through the injury, the plan you have, and what support would need to look like to actually help — then put it in writing before anything starts.