Business Tips and Resources

Difficult professional conversations: tips to help control emotions

23 August 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Many Speech Language Pathologists in private practice are people pleasers, overworked and under-resourced.

Disagreements about priorities, caseloads, workloads and feedback are inevitable. They can feel threatening and stressful.

When threatened, many of us switch to “fight or flight” mode, making it hard to think rationally and professionally.

We can implement strategies to interrupt this physical response to keep our cool during difficult conversations:

Breathe: Focus on the sensation of air coming in and out of your lungs, or your nostrils. Breath in slowly through your nose for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8 through slightly pursed lips, at least three times.
Anchor: Notice the feeling of your feet on the ground.
Move: If possible, get up and walk around. If this is not possible, do small physical acts like crossing two fingers or slowly touching each finger with your thumb.
Use a mantra: Repeat a phrase to yourself to remind yourself to stay calm, e.g. “Go to neutral”.
Label: Name your emotions and examine them, recognising you are not your thoughts. Put space between your (temporary) emotion and your identity.
Take a break: excuse yourself for a moment to get some water, coffee, or to go to the bathroom. (This can also help give your conversation partner a chance to cool off and reset.)

Source: Gallo, A. (2017). How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation. Harvard Business Review, Digital Edition.

For more on supervision of speech pathologists, check out our book “How to supervise speech pathologists properly in private practice“.

This article also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists and speech pathology students.

Change to short notice cancellations under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2022-23

7 July 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

The National Disability Insurance Agency (“NDIA”) has published pricing arrangements for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”) in its NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2022-23 (“Pricing Arrangements”), which took effect on 1 July 2022.

Amongst other things, the NDIA has modified the definition of short notice cancellation in the Pricing Arrangements.

(1) Short Notice Cancellation

A short notice cancellation is defined in the Pricing Arrangements as when a NDIS participant:

doesn’t show up for a scheduled support within a reasonable time (e.g. in the event the NDIS participant should be attending a clinic where the NDIS provider is located); or
is not present at the agreed place within a reasonable time when the NDIS provider is travelling to deliver the support (e.g. in the event the NDIS provider provides the support at the NDIS participant’s home or a third party location),

and

has given less than seven clear days’ notice for a support.

This means an NDIS participant should give an NDIS provider at least seven clear days’ notice of the cancellation of a support.

The definition has been simplified from a two-tier system (two or five clear business days) notice, depending on the duration and cost of the support under the 2021-22 arrangements, to a single definition based on the number of days (rather than business days).

(2) Claiming for a Short Notice Cancellation

In the event of a short notice cancellation, an NDIS provider is able to claim 100% of the agreed fee associated with the support from the NDIS participant’s plan, provided that all of the following conditions are met:

the Pricing Arrangements set out that NDIS providers can claim for short notice cancellations in relation to the relevant support item; and
the proposed charges for the activities comply with the Pricing Arrangements; and
the service agreement between the NDIS provider and NDIS participant specifies that short notice cancellations can be claimed; and
the NDIS provider was not able to find alternative billable work for the relevant worker and was required to pay the worker for the time that would have been spent providing the support.

Takeaways

In order to claim for a short notice cancellation, NDIS providers should:

check that short notice cancellations can be claimed in relation to the relevant support item under the Pricing Arrangements;
ensure that their charges comply with the Pricing Arrangements;
check that the service agreement between them and an NDIS participant specifies that short notice cancellations can be claimed (and, if required, amend the service agreement with a variation signed by the NDIS participant and NDIS provider); and
be able to show that they could not find alternative billable work for the relevant worker and was required to pay the worker for the time that would have been spent providing the support.

The definition of short cancellation notice includes the concept of “within a reasonable time”. NDIS providers should consider what, in the circumstances of the provision of a particular support, is a reasonable time to wait when a NDIS participant does not show up for a support prior to making a claim for a short notice cancellation under the NDIS participant’s NDIS plan.

As good practice, NDIS providers should remind NDIS participants of the need to provide 7 clear days notice of a cancellation of a support (so as to not be impacted by short notice cancellations).

Our NDIS Service Agreement and NDIS Provider and Health Provider Booking and Cancellation Policy templates have been updated to respond to the changes to the Pricing Arrangements with respect to short notice cancellations.

NDIS and Health Provider Booking and Cancellation Policy Template

Disclaimer: we have done our best to ensure that this article is correct as at the date of publication (7 July 2022). It may not reflect any changes to the Pricing Arrangements or other NDIS rules or guidelines after the date of publication. The article is intended to provide general information and is not legal advice. Formal legal and/or accounting advice should be sought for particular circumstances and transactions, or for matters arising from this article.

Alert for Speech Pathologists in Private Practice in Australia: do you know about the new rules for casual employees?

6 May 2021 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

In Australia, new rules about casual employees came into effect on 27 March 2021.*

The new rules aim to:

make things clearer for employees and employers when figuring out if someone is a casual employee; and
give casual employees the right to convert to part-time or full-time employment in some circumstances.

We welcome more certainty about when someone is – or isn’t – a casual employee. But employers need to consider the new rules carefully when:

hiring new employees; and
implementing systems to make offers of conversion to casual employees when required.

There are also some tricky transition rules to consider for the 6 month period from 27 March 2021.

For a great summary of the rules, and what they mean for employers, check out this article by Jack de Flamigh, a partner at law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has also published some useful information about the new rules. You can access these here.

Note: As always, this alert is informational only. Nothing in this alert constitutes or is to be taken as legal advice. Speech pathologists and other employers should seek legal advice before doing anything in response to the new rules.

*See the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021, which amended the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Speech pathologists in private practice: How to sleep better

14 February 2021 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Between 12-15% of Australians meet the criteria for insomnia.

Insomnia is linked to an increased risk of mental health issues and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Risk factors include having existing health conditions, older age, and being a woman.

Long-lasting stress is another contributor – something often experienced in private practice.

Having a task-oriented mind-set and perfectionistic tendencies – both common traits for speech pathologists – also increase the risk.

Potential solutions include:

prescription sleep medications, but they have side effects and often don’t get at root causes;
herbal remedies like valerian and melatonin, which might slightly improve sleep time and quality (although the evidence to date is not compelling);
consistent bed and wake times, dark, quiet and cool environments;
avoiding screens, alcohol, and caffeine too close to bed;
undertaking cognitive behaviour therapies for insomnia (CBT-I) to reassociate bed with rest, relaxation and sleep, challenge beliefs that you are a “bad sleeper”, learn to be realistic about sleep, and adopt better sleep behaviours to match time in bed with time sleeping; and
using FREE online resources like the “This Way Up” insomnia course, developed by St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of New South Wales.

Speech pathologists in private practice How to sleep better

Principal source: Tufvesson, A. (2021). Losing sleep. LSJ, 74, 52-53.

Key resources:

Child Safe Organisations: Why you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy

7 October 2020 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

If you work with children as an NDIS provider or a health provider, you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy that is consistent with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations published by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the National Principles).

It is also important that your Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy:

forms part of your Risk Management System; and
is consistent with your:

Why you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy

All NDIS providers and health providers who engage with children (face-to-face, online or both) should adopt the National Principles. Part of this process includes having a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy. By way of context:

following the 2013 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Australian Human Rights Commission recommended national action, including the development of National Principles for Child Safe Organisations; and
in 2018, the National Principles were endorsed by all Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to provide a consistent approach to embedding child safe cultures within organisations that engage with children.

You can read the National Principles here.

Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy Template

Our 16-page Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy template is designed to help NDIS providers and health providers to respond to, and implement, the National Principles, as a step toward becoming a child safe organisation. The Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy is drafted to:

form part of your Risk Management System; and
to sit with with your:

Child safety is the most important obligation of NDIS and health providers who work with children. It’s also a key risk area that warrants attention at every level in the organisation. We wrote the template to help NDIS and health providers start the process of being Child Safe Organisations.

You can access lots of material, including the National Principles, free training modules, and other resources developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission here.

GO TO THE CHILD SAFETY CODE OF CONDUCT AND POLICY