Coach for people with special needs

Ife addresses people with a PVB (person-following budget – for adults) or a PAB (personal assistance budget – for minors). These are granted by the Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities (VAPH) to pay for care, support and assistance. “Today, the money for care goes to the persons themselves and no longer to the care providers. Thanks to this ‘personalised financing’, people in need of care receive a budget with which they can buy care and support from various providers. Within that budget, they can choose whether to stay at home (and use providers of cleaning services, family care, home assistance…) or to go to a facility. Switching to care (and the administrative maze that goes with it) naturally requires extra energy from people who, due to their mental or motor disability, are already confronted with many inconveniences and stumbling blocks. Ife wants to guide them as an intermediary: negotiating contracts, mediating in conflicts, supporting with the administration…

Personal contact

Even during her career in human resources, personal contact was the job aspect that Ife found most satisfying. “Any excuse was good to leave my desk and go to the work floor: ask the shift manager how the planning was going, ask the starter how the first days went… Gradually I realised that I wanted to fill my job with more personal contacts like that. When I got the chance to work as a ‘coach’ in an assistance organisation, it turned out to be a job that was made for me. I find it a great privilege to search for tailor-made care together with budget holders, either with VAPH-licensed care providers or with services offering care at home,” she says. She decided to become self-employed. She found that transition nerve-wracking – would it work out? – but it turned out to be the right one: through positive word-of-mouth advertising, the number of people she counsels rose from 5 to 95 in one year, about the maximum achievable for one counsellor. Consequently, she is very busy today – so to keep up with the work, she recently decided to set up a company and also involve her husband in the business.

CRM solution

Not only does she look for organisations that can answer the specific questions of her budget holders, she also analyses their spending patterns and tries to optimally tailor the PAB or PVB to those needs. For its administration and organisation, disabled people can turn to her. “Often it is a very long wait for a budget, which sometimes leads to distressing situations. I come on the scene only when the budget is allocated, so when that period is over.” To fill the budgets of her budget holders, she works with home care and healthcare providers in the region. Collaboration with the budget holder’s network is also crucial. “Family members often provide direct care, but in a budget holder’s network there are also neighbours, administrators, lawyers… It is very important for me to map out that network precisely – including the changes in it – so that I immediately know who I can turn to, or can immediately assess the situation when I am called. So I used part of the Start Loan from PMV to have a CRM package developed so that I can work efficiently, which is a necessity.

Grateful

Unlike a lot of organisations, Ife does not work with hourly rates. She developed a system of package prices tailored to her clients’ support needs. Some of them do not need intensive support but just need some help with administration. Others need assistance not only with paperwork but also with the organisation and planning of care: monthly follow-up is then needed. Ife can also help clients with complex care needs who cannot turn to obvious care providers. In those cases, she offers intensive assistance with weekly consultations. Besides her drive, what stands out is the special way Ife deals with her clients. “I don’t have any difficult clients. I greatly admire the way my budget holders cope with life and deal with the many obstacles on their course. I watch this with great interest, and am extremely grateful that I can support them in their search for the right care. They can sense that.”