Your Disability Psychology is a niche practice created by Psychologist Tulsi Achia, that focuses on psychological assessment and in particular, disability assessment.

This is a mobile service, whereby clients are seen in their homes because of the range of disabilities that the practice caters to. Telehealth options (phone + videoconferencing) are available to ensure ease of access and flexibility where needed.

A WORD FROM YOUR PSYCHOLOGIST - TULSI ACHIA

I bring close to 20 years of experience in community, hospital, social research, and policy settings. Together with my lived experience of an invisible disability (chronic neuropathic pain of the spine), the practice was designed to cater to the unique needs of the disability community in a manner that is prompt, flexible, clinically rigorous and equitable. I continue to evolve my practice to meet the changing demands of the disability sector. Read more about my background here.

TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS

-Functional capacity assessments for psychiatric conditions.

-Cognitive assessments.

-Mental health diagnostic assessments.

-Mental health risk assessments.

-Diagnosis-specific support training for NDIS carers to be able to therapeutically support participants (for e.g. providing daily cognitive assistance for someone with bipolar disorder)

Your Disability Psychology was created in 2021, after I recognised a wide gap in the needs of the NDIS/disability community and standard psychological practice. Being a psychologist and living with a disability myself (read here) my conversations with NDIS specialists and service providers was revealing. It was clear that the disability community needed a certain type of input from psychology that had the following elements:

-Brief and purpose-built. Whilst many people with psychosocial disabilities need ongoing intensive clinical care to manage their symptoms, many others with severe mental illness need clinical input to inform daily supports and daily adaptive strategies that helps them manage their mental health, changing risk levels, and helps them maintain a certain level of functioning.

-Flexible and accessible. A practice that caters to the disability community, needs to account for wide ranging disability needs such as sensory needs of clients, cognitive needs, mobility needs, geographical reach, etc.

-Aligns with the unique requirements of the NDIS system, because the NDIS has its own language and legislation, criteria for funding, and has a mammoth system of operators required to speak the same language.

-Adding value. Adding value to not just the lives of participants with a psychosocial disability, but also adding value to the system providing disability care, such as support coordinators, other allied health professionals, recovery coaches, and support workers.

So I went about designing a service that accounted for those gaps, by creating an assessment, clinical support planning, and training based practice.

-I primarily work with adults (18+ years), except in the case of autism diagnostic assessments (6+ years).

-Adults with psychosocial disabilities (under the NDIS)

-NDIS participants with other types of disabilities that have a strong psychosocial/cognitive component (e.g. strokes, acquired brain injury, etc.).

-I also work with adults looking to access the NDIS, Services Australia (disability support pension), and university-based disability supports.

-Neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and intellectual disabilities

-Trauma and dissociative disorders.

-Depressive, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorders.

-Cognitive impairment and behavioural disturbances associated with neurocognitive disorders such as dementia, parkinson’s disease and acquired brain Injury.

-Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

-Substance use disorders co-occurring with above mentioned diagnoses

SEE FULL LIST OF ASSESSMENTS

The practice’s niche focus on disability assessment means that you can expect high-quality and detailed reports that are compliant with the requirements of the NDIS, Services Australia (for Disability Support Pension), and other funding bodies.

NDIS REPORTS

-Therapy and support recommendations for the plan year based on diagnosis and functional capacity.

-Plan variations and re-assessments including adding other diagnoses to the access profile. Also, advocating for the participant where evidenced and relevant.

-Reporting on disability housing and living arrangements (e.g. SIL).

-Decision-making capacity reports.

-Diagnostic reports.

NON-NDIS DISABILITY REPORTS

-Applying to access the NDIS.

-Applying to Services Australia for Disability Support Pension (DSP).

-Applying for disability-based exceptions and supports at university

Mobile service

The practice is home-visit based in order to ensure that the assessment process is accessible across disabilities, comfortable, and based on observations of you in your everyday environment.

Short wait-lists

As an assessment-only practice, it has quicker turn-around times compared to standard treatment-based psychology practices. As a result, there is fresh capacity for new referrals every 2-3 weeks.

Expertise in disability assessment and reporting

Because the practice specialises in psychosocial disability assessments, it is my my job to have in-depth knowledge of the language, legislation, and requirements of the NDIS and indeed other funding bodies relevant to formal mental health supports.

High quality reports

The practice also takes care to liaise with other health professionals involved in the care of clients. I use assessment data from the past, get a comprehensive history, and contextualise it to the present. That way, the report you have in hand, is useful to you not only in the present but also in the future.

I see people at their homes in the following locations:

Brisbane

Ipswich

Gold Coast

Logan

Redland

Moreton Bay regions

For remote service or tele-health options see here.