Introduction to NDIS Program

Trevena Glen’s NDIS Farm Program is an innovative service that delivers a fully customisable experience to help NDIS participants meet their goals in a fun, caring environment.

"... He’s usually anxious and extremely socially awkward so he’s learning about how to read the body language of the animals and horses in particular and is being more aware of his own body cues."

Parent

NDIS Registered Customer

Registered Supplier

As a registered NDIS provider (4050048468) we have met the NDIS’s stringent quality and safeguards requirements including regular independent audits against NDIS Practice Standards. Our aim is to assist NDIS participants with self-determination skills and development of independence. We work with clients to achieve their specific goals and outcomes. Progress reports and funding review reports are available.

Our experienced staff deliver special needs education. We tailor each participant’s visit to help them develop life skills through caring for animals. Specifically, examples include communication and practical hands-on skills like feeding animals and simple task responsibilities in a friendly, affirming, educational based environment.

Sessions - What to Expect

The two-hour sessions are available six days a week (not Sundays) and the standard charge includes carers. Provided the client registration form is completed with a valid NDIS number, a GST-free invoice is sent out on the day of the service for payment within 7 days.

Participants will be moving around on the farm, so come prepared with hats, sunscreen, closed in shoes, long pants if doing horse riding and enough drinking water (as this is not provided). The farm is wheelchair accessible, with ramped toilet access and mostly flat walking areas. Some areas have minor slopes, but our staff are always available to assist.

NDIS Program - Next Steps

To learn more or book a session, please contact our NDIS Program Administrator at 32894257 (select option #2) or email ndis@trevenaglen.com.au. Complete the NDIS Client Registration form before your first booking. A comprehensive Service Agreement will be provided to you as part of the process.

Registered Provider 4050048468

Background of NDIS Program

How long has the NDIS Program been running at Trevena Glen?

After a change of ownership in late 2014, business operations at the farm were restarted, focusing initially on riding instruction, school and kindy excursions and open farm events which were held monthly for the general public. Four years later we saw an opportunity to use the expanding facilities to provide a service for disabled participants with a one-on-one NDIS program. Feedback from initial sessions was very positive and so we decided to build and invest in developing a high quality program with associated business support systems to deliver effective outcomes for our clients at affordable prices.

Trevena Glen was officially registered as a NDIS provider at the start of 2019 and has continued to improve systems and maintain registration since then. Since the program started, we have helped many hundreds of clients in the Brisbane area to make significant progress in meeting their NDIS goals, developing meaningful relationships between client and facilitator.

How is the NDIS Program Beneficial?

Trevena Glen’s NDIS Program is unique in its one-to-one structure and individually tailored approach, providing participants with a setting that promotes choice, originality and independent thinking. We create customised sessions that consider the goals and challenges of each participant, ensuring that our clients can engage in activities in a way that is uniquely beneficial to them.

With our broad range of animals and farm activities, the NDIS program makes room for participants to creatively and effectively work towards their goals, with a strong focus on social and community participation, and capacity building. For many of our clients, farm visits are the highlight of their week, and a safe place to regulate, learn and engage. The program effectually supports maintenance and development of relationship and social skills, communication, independence, emotional regulation, awareness (self and others), muscle strength, range of motion, fine and gross motor skills, balance and mobility, coordination, sensory integration and practical skills.

A recent evaluation led by Drs Anita Hamilton, Suzi Jordan and Prue Millear from the University of the Sunshine Coast, provides quantitative and qualitative evidence to support the immense benefit of Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL). The findings show an overwhelming increase in participants’ general wellbeing post-EAL program, highlighting the instrumental role these programs can play in clients’ daily life. Whilst our EAL and NDIS programs differ from each other in some ways, there are several key overlaps in concept and technique, that would suggest our NDIS sessions can provide very similar benefits to those identified in this article.

Download the full article here, or visit the Hoofbeats Sanctuary website, where it was originally published.

What implications do the 2024 NDIS Regulation Changes have on the Program?

NDIS regulation changes during 2024 introduced new definitions for funded and non-funded supports. We have reviewed these changes to ensure our program remains compliant.

One of the main changes was the definitions of supports that would NOT be funded by NDIS and supports that WOULD. We have gone through these lists and selected those most relevant to our program with comments in brackets:

Non-funded supports (2024)

Tickets to theme parks, tourism and entertainment operators. [Tickets to theme parks, tourism, and entertainment operators are no longer funded by NDIS. Clients may still book tours privately, but these cannot be claimed through NDIS]
Animal therapy. For example, puppy therapy, goat therapy. [See section below on animal therapy]
Education and tuition fees including fees for school, vocational education and training and higher education. [This has never been relevant to what we offer]

Funded supports (2024)

Assistance for a participant to transition to employment. [Relevant to some clients as we can provide opportunities to learn how to carry out a sequence of practical tasks on the farm which can assist in transition to employment]
Engage in social activities. [Our program provides opportunities to develop social skills which can improve awareness (self and others) communication and self-confidence]
Improve relationship and social skills. [As above – our program provides opportunities to develop social skills, emotional regulation, communication and relationship skills in the context of interaction with animals and the facilitator]
Supports that assist a participant to take part in community, social, cultural and civic activities. [As for the above two items]
Maintenance of muscle strength, range of motion, balance and mobility. [Our program can include a horse-riding component which is ideal for development of muscle strength, control, range of motion, fine and gross motor skills (such as accurate steering), balance, and mobility. Supervised walking on different surfaces is an additional component that can assist in meeting certain goals in this area.]

Does the Program include Animal Therapy?

Whilst interactions with animals can have definite therapeutic value, using the term “animal therapy” or “animal-assisted therapy” has been categorised as a non-funded support. What is the difference then, between “animal therapy” and what we do in our NDIS Program?

Here at Trevena Glen we do NOT currently employ any allied health professionals that would qualify clients to access NDIS funding in “therapy” categories and therefore we do not use any of the “high value” therapy line items on our invoices.
For animal-assisted therapy common household pets such as dogs and cats (or a variety of other domestic animals) can be trained to act as therapy animals. The emphasis is on the animal being specifically trained to provide the “therapy”. We don’t train our animals in this way and instead focus on the relationship between client, facilitator, carer, and others. Potentially one or two other family members or friends may also join the session (at no extra charge) provided they are contributing positively to the specific client goals. In this context, animals provide just one component of a holistic and practical learning and development process.

Are the supports Reasonable and Necessary?

The NDIA has published a document which describes reasonable and necessary supports that they will fund or provide in the plan to support the client disability support needs. All the following criteria must be met. Our comments in brackets:

The support is for the impairments you meet the disability or early intervention requirements for, or both. There must be a direct link between your disability support needs and the supports funded by NDIS. [This seems to be the criteria that would rule out provision of a general service that would be accessible to anyone such as an animal tour. Our program is specifically tailored to meet the needs and goals of the individual client. We have systems in place to record these goals and make specific plans for activities that contribute directly to the goals.]
The support will help you to pursue your goals in your plan. [As above – results from each session are recorded by the facilitator and reviewed by the program manager with consideration given to meeting the specified goals]
The support will help you to undertake activities, to facilitate your social and economic participation. This means the support will help you join in social outings, recreation, work and study by reducing the disability-related barriers that prevent you from participating. [Conducting the program in a different environment can help develop confidence, resilience, social, and practical skills which will facilitate overcoming disability-induced barriers that may have been a barrier to social and economic participation.]
The support represents value for money. This means we need to consider the costs and benefits of the support, as well as the costs and benefits of alternative supports. [The program is provided at a cost which is indexed to market rates for employee costs and the NDIS Pricing Arrangements. Feedback from clients, clients paying privately without funding, together with many regular client bookings, support our claim of value for money.]
The support will be, or is likely to be, effective and beneficial for you, having regard to current good practice. This means we consider if there is evidence the support works for someone with similar disability support needs. We won’t need an expert report for every support, as we can often rely on other information or evidence. For example, we may have information already about whether the support is widely accepted to suit someone with your disability support needs. We also consider your lived experience. [Refer to previous answer. We have provided reports for many of our clients to support a funding review and built a credible base of evidence of the effectiveness and beneficial nature of our program over five years]
The funding of the support takes account of what it is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide. This means we need to consider what support is reasonable for your family, friends and community to provide. [See answer to point #4. In addition, our program can be tailored to what is deemed reasonable. Some clients come on a weekly basis and others at much less frequent intervals.]
The support is an NDIS support for you. [Refer to previous section on what are funded NDIS supports.]

What line items do we charge under?

Although our registration only covers one line item (09_008_0116_6_3 Capacity Building – Increased Social and Community Participation: Innovative Community Participation), we are able to specify a limited number of other line items on request. In order to support the detailed NDIS invoicing requirements while keeping overhead administrative costs to a minimum, we have developed a custom IT system that manages client details and drives automated invoicing. This includes the capability to split costs between support services and activity costs as well as many other items specific to each participant.

What Training and Qualifications do our staff have?

Ensuring that we have well-trained staff is foundational to maintaining high quality outcomes from our NDIS Animal Program. All our staff meet the criteria required by regulation to work with disabled people as well as our requirements for anyone facilitating interaction with our animals:

Records of qualification and ID required for 100-point check are provided at commencement of employment.
Completion of the NDIS orientation module
A valid NDIS worker screening card (yellow card)
Training in infection prevention and control
Training in the use of PPE
Training in handling of all our animals

Our NDIS Program Manager is an EPI Certified EAL (Equine Assisted Learning) Practitioner with a Bachelor of Equine Science. After several years running sessions on the farm, she has recently taken over the role of Program Manager continuing to run sessions herself, as well as mentoring and developing the team.

Probably one of the most important factors that we value is real-world experience and within the team we have at least twenty-five years of combined experience working with disabled people in many different roles in both the public and private sector. Qualifications represented are:

Bachelor of Equine Science
Certified EAL Practitioner
Trained teacher with experience in special education
Diploma of Social Science
Certificate IV in Disability
Certificate III in Sport Coaching Equestrian
Disability Support Services, Youth and Children
Certificate III in Education support and Child Services
Certificate II, III, IV and Diploma in Auslan
First Aid and Resuscitation

About Trevena Glen

We are a family-owned business located 40 minutes outside of North West Brisbane’s CBD. We provide a variety of activities that are easy to organise with the help of NDIS coordinators. You can also book directly through our online NDIS program.

Disabilities & NDIS