By Jem Anshaw
Eight years ago Bec Wright became a NDIS Plan Manager, driven by a desire to support people around her to achieve all they can in life.
This passion and genuine compassion has resulted in Your Needs Supported being named as the Global Enablement Awards Most Outstanding NDIS Plan Management Team for 2024.
“I received an email from Disability Update saying I’ve been nominated for the Disability Enablement Awards in the Plan Management section, and I thought it was a scam to start with, and I rang them, I was in a panic, but they said I’d been nominated,” she shared, adding that she still doesn’t know who nominated her for the national award.
“After the National Enablement Awards, David and Anne (from Disability Update) had emailed me and asked if I’d like to be nominated for the global awards, and I said okay, why not?
“It was a very nervous wait, it came down to two again, the awards were held in London and we knew prior that I had received a global award for Plan Management.”
Getting to London was a bit of a logistical challenge, true to form one of her biggest considerations was attending her granddaughter’s school presentation day, so it ended up working out that a participant Bec works with has a cousin who lives in London and was able to accept the award on her behalf.
“It’s cool, but it’s so humbling to have the peers in this industry think so highly of me, that makes it so special that I am thought of like that, and not just an average everyday run of the mill player manager,” Bec told The Hunter River Times.
It is her own lived experience of assisting her grandparents and other family and friends that has led Bec down the personal support path, when the NDIS was introduced she and a friends son were part of a pilot program to assess its viability.
This friend became the first participant on her books which now includes over 150 individuals and their support people she works with.
Most are here in the Upper Hunter but there are some she works with remotely to help get the services and items they need while navigating the NDIS and finding their place in the community.
Bec said it is a rewarding job, but it doesn’t come without its challenges that can be anything from understanding changes to government requirements, to identifying service providers to meet participant needs.
“You could throw the towel in and walk away, but that’s not going to help all these people, if I could make a little difference to the lives of the 154 I have, that’s something, that’s an achievement,” Bec concluded.
