Participant voice and choice
Supported decision-making in an NDIS care team: prepare one choice together
Supported decision-making means helping a person understand their options, communicate what matters to them and make their own decision. In a care team, start with the choice they are actually considering, ask how they want support and identify the information still needed. Keep what they express separate from what other people think they mean.
The preparation note below helps organise that work around a choice. You can use it on paper, in a private document or through a conversation with chosen communication support. No Kinovo account is needed, and completing a worksheet is not a condition of having your view heard.
- For:
- Participants and chosen supporters preparing a practical care-team choice
- Includes:
- Copyable decision-preparation note + fictional example + practical prompts and specialist resources
- Time:
- 13 minute read
Published 6 September 2026 · Updated 23 October 2026
Written by Callum Cruikshank — Founder of Kinovo
Callum draws on his family's lived experience of coordinating support. These resources offer practical coordination ideas, not clinical, legal or NDIS funding advice. No independent clinical review is claimed.
The NDIA's supported decision-making policy centres the person's will, preferences and rights, with access to support and safeguards. The kind of support someone wants can change with the decision and circumstances.
This note is an optional coordination tool. It is not a capacity assessment, a consent form, a clinical recommendation or evidence that someone has legal authority to decide. A care-team agreement or completed task does not settle those questions.
Copy the decision-preparation note
Use the parts that help and add necessary context. Record how the person's meaning was understood and checked. A supporter can do the writing without choosing the answer.
Choice being explored - note prepared or checked on [date]
The actual question, without assuming the answer: ___
Why this needs considering now: ___
What the person has expressed matters to them: ___
How they want information presented and support provided: ___
People they want involved / any concerns about involvement: ___
Actual deadline, if any / who confirmed it: ___
What happens if there is no decision by then / extra time requested or confirmed: ___
For each real option or unanswered question
Option or question, including keeping things as they are or not now where available: ___
What is known / source and date: ___
Benefits, difficulties, costs and practical consequences to explain: ___
What is still missing or uncertain: ___
Person asked to find out / have they accepted the enquiry: ___
When an answer is needed / timing actually agreed / next check: ___
How the answer will be made accessible to the person: ___
The person's view and what happens next
What the person communicated / how / when / relevant context: ___
A supporter's interpretation, separately labelled / what needs checking: ___
How the meaning was checked with the person / uncertainty remaining: ___
Current position, including not decided, more information wanted or a different option: ___
Next action actually agreed / person who accepted it: ___
What may be shared, with whom and for this purpose: ___
Any consent, professional advice or representative-authority question still unresolved: ___
Agreed next check date or useful trigger: ___
Copy this into a document you can edit, or use Print or save as PDF to print the page. It can also guide a conversation, pictures or an audio note kept in an appropriate place. An unanswered field can stay unanswered while the people involved work out what help is needed.
Find the question the person is considering
'What support should we arrange?' may contain several choices. The person might want to learn about a place, consider a provider or decide whether to attend. Clarify which question matters now before moving to bookings or dates.
For example, 'Would you like to find out what the Saturday art group is like?' leaves room for exploration. 'Which Saturday should we book?' assumes the decision to attend has already been made. A smaller question is useful when it makes the choice clearer, without removing alternatives.
Ask what matters to the person about the choice. Someone may be interested in making art but unsure about joining strangers. A supporter may be concerned about transport. Both can be relevant, with their source clear; the supporter's concern does not have to become the person's preference.
Ask what support and communication would help
Use the person's usual communication approach and ask what would help with this particular choice. They might want information beforehand, an interpreter, photographs, a visit, familiar communication aids, a quiet conversation or someone they trust nearby. Ask who they want to help, including whether they want a different supporter.
Present information directly to the person in a format they can use. Give them room to ask questions, show uncertainty or disagree. Check what was understood and what still needs explaining without turning the conversation into a test of giving the 'right' answer.
Queensland's Office of the Public Guardian guide for families, friends and carers offers practical ideas for explaining options and supporting a person's own choice. Its legal context is Queensland; authority and consent questions need advice relevant to the person and jurisdiction.
For a broader record of how someone likes decision support, the decision-making profile hosted by WAiS is another resource. It credits Helen Sanderson Associates and includes an example template. This article's note has a narrower purpose: organising a choice and the work needed to explore it.
The Disability Gateway supported decision-making hub brings together resources on communication and different areas of life. If a shared conversation is useful, the care-team meeting agenda below can help prepare it.
For young people and families approaching adulthood, our turning-18 NDIS consent and support explainer connects those preferences with the practical arrangements to check.
Compare real options and explain timing
Make the available options understandable on similar terms. Explain what each involves, what it might offer, the difficulties or costs and what remains unknown. Include another option, keeping the current arrangement or 'not now' where these are genuinely available. If an option is unavailable, say so and explain what is known.
A provider's offer may have a response deadline. Find out who set it, what happens if it passes and whether more time or a different arrangement can be requested. Keep a confirmed deadline separate from a team member's preferred date. Explain the consequences in the person's preferred way without promising that a place will be held.
If more information or support is needed, ask what can be arranged before the deadline and what the alternatives would be. Record an extension as requested until it is confirmed. Where waiting may affect health or necessary support, seek the appropriate professional or service advice; a preparation note cannot resolve an urgent decision or authorise someone to act.
Separate expression, observation and interpretation
Write what the person communicated as accurately as possible, with the relevant context. If a meaning is uncertain, keep that uncertainty visible. 'I don't want to talk about it today' may concern the timing of the conversation, the activity itself or something else that needs clarification.
- Part of the record
- What the person expressed
- Illustrative wording
- 'I want to see what it looks like first.' Record when and how this was communicated.
- Part of the record
- Supporter's interpretation
- Illustrative wording
- 'I think photographs may help. We have not checked whether that is what they mean.' This is labelled as a thought, not the person's confirmed choice.
- Part of the record
- Next clarification
- Illustrative wording
- Ask how the person would like to find out about the place, using their usual communication support, and record what they indicate.
| Part of the record | Illustrative wording |
|---|---|
| What the person expressed | 'I want to see what it looks like first.' Record when and how this was communicated. |
| Supporter's interpretation | 'I think photographs may help. We have not checked whether that is what they mean.' This is labelled as a thought, not the person's confirmed choice. |
| Next clarification | Ask how the person would like to find out about the place, using their usual communication support, and record what they indicate. |
The same care applies to gestures, communication aids and behaviour. Record an observation and its context without making it a settled answer on its own. If supporters read it differently, note the difference and seek the communication help needed to check meaning. A quiet or unfinished response is not an agreement recorded by this worksheet.
A yes may also need checking. Someone may be agreeing with a familiar supporter or trying to finish an uncomfortable conversation. Make room for disagreement and check meaning through the person's usual communication approach, without repeatedly asking until a preferred answer is given.
When a preference changes, keep a useful dated update rather than rewriting earlier uncertainty as if the later answer had always been known. Relevant arrangements or consequences may still need checking before an action is changed.
A fictional example: considering an art group
Chris is considering a community art group and asks a sibling, Jo, to help find out about it. A worker suggests booking a trial. Chris says they want to understand what the room and group are like first.
The note records the question as 'Would Chris like to explore this group further?' Jo agrees to ask the organiser about the setting, group size and whether looking around is possible. Chris wants the answer explained in a quiet conversation. The worker's trial suggestion stays a suggestion.
The organiser supplies information and asks for a reply about a trial by Friday. Jo checks what happens after Friday and whether more time or another option is possible. Until the organiser answers, the note records that question as unresolved; nobody promises Chris that the place will remain available.
After hearing the information, Chris says the group size does not appeal and wants to hear about a smaller option. Jo asks whether Chris wants help exploring that, and agrees to make the next enquiry. The team records Chris's view and deals with the original offer through the organiser's process. There is no booking just because a slot was offered.
Chris, Jo and the circumstances are fictional. They illustrate how information gathering can move forward while the person's choice remains open. The example does not establish clinical suitability, NDIS funding or anyone's legal authority.
When answers, help or independent support are missing
- Nobody has accepted the information request
- Keep the gap visible. Ask whether a different person, a clearer question or a narrower enquiry would help. Discuss who can take it on and what timing is possible. A named family member does not become responsible for all the work by default.
- The answer is delayed or incomplete
- Record what remains unknown and its effect on the choice or deadline. Use the appropriate contact or fallback and ask what options remain. Agree who will follow up; a message sent is not an answer received.
- Supporters disagree about meaning or risk
- Return to the person's communication, the known information and the uncertainty. Seek relevant communication, professional or legal advice when needed. A care-team vote does not resolve a consent, capacity or authority question.
- The person seems pressured or there is a conflict of interest
- Offer a way for them to discuss the choice with support they trust. Be open about another person's preferences, provider interests or service limits. Help them explore independent support if wanted or needed, rather than presenting someone else's preferred outcome as their own.
The full NDIA supported decision-making policy discusses pressure, conflicts of interest and the risk of agreeing to please others. It includes safeguards such as explaining conflicts and seeking independent help. Support should make it safe to express a different view.
For help finding independent support, the Disability Gateway advocacy page links to services by state or territory and the Disability Advocacy Finder. Ask what assistance is available for the situation; a care team or software account does not replace independent advocacy.
Questions about medical consent, contracts, guardianship, nominees or another representative's authority need the relevant process and advice. Rules depend on the decision and circumstances. For children and young people, check the applicable arrangements while supporting their involvement and views; this worksheet does not determine who may consent.
Use Kinovo for agreed supporting work
You can keep using the note without an account. If the person wants the practical follow-up shared in Kinovo, invited contributors can keep agreed information requests, relevant permitted files and follow-up messages together. Ask each person to update the part they have accepted, so the participant or family does not have to reconstruct every enquiry.
A Team leader or suitably permitted member can organise tasks; some proposals need approval. Those software controls do not decide the person's preference, assess capacity or establish representative authority. Completing a task to collect information does not mean the person has agreed to the option.
Check record audiences and linked-file access before adding sensitive details. The document-visibility guide explains the current controls. Keep the practical request clear without copying private discussions into a wider task or message.
See Kinovo's participant and family workspace if a shared place would help the people involved contribute their part.
If a carer is writing about their own support role, the carer statement preparation guide shows how to describe that experience while keeping the participant's voice distinct.
Sources and further support
Sources checked on 23 October 2026. The preparation note, prompts and fictional example are practical organising tools, not a legal instrument, capacity assessment, consent form or independent professional review.
Keep the person's question beside the agreed follow-up
Create a Kinovo account if your invited care team would find a shared place useful for agreed information requests, accepted tasks and relevant documents. Ask contributors to update their part and check who can see each record before sharing. Kinovo coordinates that supporting work; task completion and Team leader permissions do not establish the person's choice, consent or representative authority.
You can keep using this resource without an account. Set up or join a care team when you are ready.
FAQ
Is this supported decision-making worksheet a consent form?
No. It helps organise a question, relevant information and chosen support. It does not establish capacity, legal authority, clinical suitability or funding. Check the consent or formal decision process that applies before acting; a completed note or care-team agreement does not replace it.
How can someone take part if they do not use speech?
Use their usual communication aids, gestures, signs or other preferred approach, with the support they choose. Record how their meaning was understood and checked. If it remains unclear, note the uncertainty and seek appropriate communication help. Participation can use the person's preferred communication; it does not require filling in a written form.
What if the person is not ready to decide?
Ask what information, support or time would help. Check whether there is a real deadline, what happens if it passes and whether an extension or another option is available. Explain those facts accessibly. More time can be requested without promising it will be granted or treating silence as the answer.
What if family members or professionals disagree with the person's preference?
Keep each concern and its source clear, explain relevant information and check what the person means. A supporter can raise a concern without rewriting it as the person's own view. Seek appropriate independent, professional or legal help if the disagreement concerns consent, authority, communication or safety rather than resolving it through a team vote.
Does being a family member, nominee or Team leader mean I can decide?
These are different roles. Family involvement or a Team leader's software permissions do not themselves confer decision-making authority. A nominee, guardian or other representative's authority has a particular source and scope that needs checking for the decision. The person should still be supported to participate in the relevant way.
What if the proposed supporter also provides or sells the service?
Make the relationship and any interest clear. Ask for understandable information about the offer, alternatives and uncertainties, and whether the person would like someone else to help consider it. Independent advocacy or other relevant assistance may help where pressure or competing interests make the discussion difficult.
Who follows up if nobody can obtain the missing information?
Leave the request unconfirmed and discuss another person, a narrower question or an appropriate service contact. Record any deadline affected and what help is being sought. The participant or family does not have to become the default owner because a worksheet has an empty field.
Can a person change their mind after the note is written?
Keep a dated record of what has changed and check what they now want. Any action already taken, agreement, service notice or formal consent process may have consequences that need explaining. The note records preparation and follow-up; it is not a permanent permission to keep acting on an earlier preference.
Disclaimer
General coordination information, not individual clinical, legal, consent or NDIS funding advice. The person's rights, chosen support, relevant representative authority, professional advice and applicable decision process still matter. This resource does not assess capacity or authorise a decision.