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The Hand Up Space

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Wollongong, NSW
The Hand Up Space

We are a boutique NDIS Registered Support Coordination service that gives people the Hand Up they deserve!! Disability led - Lived Experience
Wollongong, NSW

27/08/2026

Meet Richie 🐾❤️

Happy Gotcha Day to Richie — my new 4-year-old Pharaoh Hound and an utter stunner.

Pharaoh Hounds have been part of my life for 15 years now, so yesterday felt pretty special. ❤️

And a reminder that matters to me personally and professionally: life needs to exist outside work.

I love what I do at The Hand Up Space. I care deeply about NDIS work and the people I support.

But there also needs to be dogs, sunshine, laughter, and things that have absolutely nothing to do with NDIS funding. 😂

So welcome home, Richie.

Your first job is keeping me sufficiently distracted from emails. 🐕😂

21/08/2026

Hey Legends

Well, apparently my response to the new NDIS Bill other than repressed rage was to get another dog. 😂

Meet Richie 🐾— an ex-show Pharaoh Hound and absolute bloody stunner.❤️

As an NDIS Support Coordinator and NDIS Participant , some days I genuinely feel like curling into a ball and ignoring every email forever.

Instead, I got another dog.

Much more productive. 😂

Richie will soon learn that living with me means hearing a lot about the NDIS and an excessive amount of swearing.

He doesn’t know what “reasonable and necessary” means yet.

Lucky bastard. 😂

Can’t wait to meet you next week Richie ❤️

Have a fabulous weekend!
Neens 👋🏻

09/08/2026

YES, I’M AN SC WITH MS. ❤️

And every month, I go to the Wollongong MS Peer Support Group lunch.

Why have I done this for years?

Because facing a progressive neurological disease is a hell of a lot easier when you’re sitting around a table with people who get it than when you’re facing it alone.

Today I wore my fabulous new earrings, bought yesterday at the Warrawong markets from a very cool 73-year-old bloke who makes handmade jewellery.

They say “Happy” and have a colourful girl in red shoes swinging away.

Basically, that reminds me of younger me.

I ordered a chicken roll and salad and proceeded to discuss:

🎬 The latest movies
💇‍♀️ Why Lauren at Wests Illawarra is the best hairdresser
🚶‍♀️ Why movement matters
💊 MS disease-modifying drugs
❤️ And why you really should LIVE your life while you can

And it got me thinking about the NDIS.

We were promised greater community inclusion, employment and societal change.

But sometimes I look around and wonder whether we accidentally built Provider Land instead.

A place where people’s social lives can become:

➡️ Support worker arrives
➡️ Support worker takes you somewhere
➡️ Support worker leaves
➡️ Repeat

That isn’t the same thing as genuine community.

For me, genuine inclusion looks like sitting around a table with other people living with MS, arguing about movies, talking absolute rubbish, sharing lunch and occasionally discussing medications without anyone needing to write a progress note about it.

😂

I’m incredibly grateful for my MS group.

Not because it fixes MS.

It doesn’t.

But because I don’t have to face it alone.

And sometimes the best support isn’t a funded support at all.

Sometimes it’s a chicken roll, fabulous earrings, a few laughs and people who understand exactly why you’re having the conversation you’re having.

Happy Sunday everyone. Go and actually LIVE this week. ❤️

07/08/2026

How blessed am I? ❤️

Sometimes I forget that I’m on both sides of the disability fence.

By day I’m a Support Coordinator helping people navigate the NDIS. By… also day… I’m someone living with Multiple Sclerosis who needs a few supports of my own.

Today Kelly from the MS Plus Employment Support Program came to visit with a VELA chair for me to trial.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… “It’s a chair, Nina. Calm down.” 😂

But this isn’t just any chair. It’s designed to reduce fatigue, improve posture, provide stability and help me move around my workspace safely without using precious energy reserves. For someone with MS, every bit of energy I save means more time doing what I love and less time becoming one with my bed.

The really exciting part is that workplace equipment like this may be funded through JobAccess as a reasonable workplace adjustment, helping people with disability stay in the workforce for longer.

I spend my days helping other people access supports, so it’s a nice reminder that it’s okay to accept support myself too.

Vela website link - https://www.vela.eu/vela-chair?campaign=16707296612&content=590045255021&keyword=vela%20chair%20australia&utm_term=vela%20chair%20australia&utm_campaign=16707296612&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=4348047617&hsa_cam=16707296612&hsa_grp=133687264454&hsa_ad=590045255021&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-2388846079650&hsa_kw=vela%20chair%20australia&hsa_mt=p&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16707296612&gbraid=0AAAAAoSIOrGKMlMSC1wYHoG-NSYukD9Ph&gclid=CjwKCAjwhNbTBhB4EiwAsFSg-mXnfgRbwBCHnZ3yza-SnwnHFcgIJdpKO43wfcgJL6Q1LOHW0XMKOxoC5TwQAvD_BwE

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 👋🏻

05/08/2026

The highlight of my day wasn’t the networking… it was the velvet green couch. 😂☀️

A couch in the winter sunshine, hot chips covered in gravy and a hot chocolate at Caffeine Connections .

Today was Casey’s first networking event with me from Sam Bell | Human Centred Advisory Co and honestly, watching her confidence grow has been one of my favourite things as my assistant.

The NDIS networking world can feel like a whole different language. Lots of names, lots of introductions, lots of people trying to explain what they do while also juggling a million things behind the scenes.

For me, as a neurodivergent person, networking doesn’t always come naturally. Walking into a room full of strangers and making small talk isn’t where I shine. I’d much rather be alongside participants, solving problems, fighting for better outcomes and doing the work. I know my strengths.

But I also know showing up matters.

So I show up when I need to.

And sometimes the biggest win isn’t the business card you collect… it’s sitting in the sunshine with someone from your team, eating chips and watching them realise they belong. 💛

Go Casey Furner (Harvey) 🙏🙌🏼

27/07/2026

The best words I heard last week were “I do not feel heard by NDIS. I want an advocate!”

Any Support Coordinator will tell you how deeply happy hearing someone begin to identify their right to be heard, to be treated with dignity and respect and to have access to Advocacy 🙌🏼

15/07/2026

📣 Calling all Illawarra NDIS Providers, Participants, Families and Support Coordinators!

If you’ve ever said “I wish the NDIA would just listen…” — this is your chance.

The Illawarra Support Coordination Alliance is excited to welcome Sue a senior NDIA representative for an open discussion about the future of the NDIS.

Your voice matters.

The people making decisions need to hear what is working, what isn’t, and what needs to change. Every conversation, every lived experience and every professional perspective helps paint the bigger picture. Real change starts with people speaking up respectfully and constructively.

Whether you’re a participant, family member, provider or Support Coordinator, we’d love to see you there.

📅 Wednesday 22 July 2026
🕐 1:00pm – 2:30pm
📍 9 Old Springhill Road, Coniston

✅ Free parking on site
♿ Accessible bathroom available

And a FREE lunch provided by Real Life Community Group

Let’s fill the room with people who care about making the NDIS better—not just for today, but for the future.

See you there!

Nina 👋🏻 and Michelle

03/07/2026

We did it!!!!!!

Today, The Hand Up Space passed our Specialist Support Coordination Module 4 NDIS Audit with flying colours!!

I’m incredibly proud. I love the incredibly complex work that it is and the impact that it has.

A massive thank you to the self-confessed “lesbian lumberjack “ 🌈 Sam from Human Centred Advisory Co whose calm guidance got me through the process, and to Astalty , who had information management and document retrieval so audit-ready it made life a whole lot easier.

After a big day, there was only one appropriate way to celebrate…

A Fireball.
A cheeseburger and good company

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Neens 👋🏻

29/06/2026

Quick update from The Hand Up Space!

We’ll be closed Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd July while we complete our Specialist Support Coordination Module 4 audit.

Audits always feel a bit like an endurance event… But they’re an important part of keeping our practice sharp, safe, and accountable in the NDIS space.

Looking forward to reconnecting on the other side of it and working again with Sam and Casey from The Human Centred Advisory Co — always appreciate their grounded, human-centred approach.

Thanks for your patience while we take a short pause.

Nina 👋🏻

27/06/2026

What does a Specialist Support Coordinator do on a Saturday?

First stop: Food for Life

Let’s set the scene:

Three facts:

* anyone can shop there
* free fruit + veg every Saturday 🥕
* undercover café

Also:

* low cost food that shouldn’t need to exist in a “world’s richest country” but here we are.

The line.
Snaking through the car park told me everything about what is really happening in our community.

Because food insecurity doesn’t show up in reports as “urgent risk escalation” — it shows up as people quietly choosing between rent, meds, and dinner.

And that, inconveniently, is exactly where Specialist Support Coordination actually lives.

In consequences.In the system gaps.

Next stop: Project Contemporary Artspace

“Dogalogue” — an exhibition about dogs, love, attachment, and the emotional support system no funding line item fully understands.

Because for a lot of neurodivergent and disabled people, dogs aren’t “companions”.

They’re regulation.
They’re grounding.
They’re the only consistent service provider who never cancels.

So yeah.

Saturday looked like:

* food relief systems doing what govt policy won’t
* and dogs doing emotional support better than half the sector combined

Have a great weekend and go checkout Food for Life!

Neens 👋🏻

Address

PO Box 4168 Towradgi
Wollongong, NSW
2518

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.thehandupspace.com/

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