Support and resources for people living with a spinal cord injury

We pay for specialist spinal cord injury support services for lifetime care participants and workers in the icare workers care program.

 If you're interested in any of these services, talk to your icare coordinator or case manager.

Guidance on the support needs of adults with spinal cord injury

The guidance is a best practice tool to inform and guide people involved in making decisions around why a person with a spinal cord injury needs assistance from support workers. The guidance can be used by people with spinal cord injury; their families and carers; health and rehabilitation professionals; attendant care providers; support workers; and organisations that make funding decisions relating to services and support. The guidance includes a decision-making framework, information and resources.

Health Maintenance Toolkit

The Health Maintenance Tool is a guide to help you understand and troubleshoot problems you may experience throughout your spinal cord injury journey.

It provides information, tips and tools to help you self-manage your health in 6 key areas

  • Your Mental Health
  • Your Bladder
  • Your Bowel
  • Your Skin
  • Your Pain
  • Autonomic Dysreflexia

and includes supporting apps for your smart phone.

More information is available on the Health Maintenance Tool Website

Sargood on Collaroy

Sargood on Collaroy is an accessible beachside health and wellness resort, purpose built for people living with spinal cord injury.

We’re a major partner of Sargood on Collaroy. icare Lifetime Care and the Workers Care Program can support participants and workers with a spinal cord injury to access its facilities and services.

You can request a stay through your icare case manager or coordinator. 

NSW Spinal Outreach Services and Rural Spinal Cord Injury Services

The State Spinal Cord Service is the key provider of clinical treatment for spinal cord injuries in NSW. As part of the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, their work focuses on spinal cord recovery; helping people with spinal cord injury build independence, achieve their personal goals and regain full participation in the community.

They regularly publish reports, newsletters and research findings that are relevant to both people with spinal cord injury and healthcare providers.

Through the State Spinal Cord Service, you may be referred to The NSW Spinal Outreach Service. This includes the Metropolitan Spinal Outreach Service and the Rural Spinal Cord Injury Service who offer specialist multi-disciplinary support, education, health promotion, counselling and advocacy and information and resources.

In-Voc

In-Voc provides vocational rehabilitation services to people with a spinal cord injury admitted to one of the three specialist spinal cord injury rehabilitation units in NSW. In-Voc services are provided by the NSW Spinal Outreach Service of Royal Rehab.

In-Voc aims to support people with spinal cord injury by:

  • Providing services that are specific to their needs to help plan their employment future
  • Assisting them to investigate and identify meaningful work and study opportunities
  • Assisting them to develop the skills necessary to return to work
  • Working collaboratively with injured people and employers.

This service will be offered to you when you’re an inpatient in the spinal cord injury unit.

Further resources, information and services

Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) Pain Network spinal cord injury pain website

The ACI Pain Network website, sponsored by icare Lifetime Care, is a free educational resource about dealing with spinal cord injury pain.

PTX

PTX is a database of physiotherapy exercises for people with injuries and disabilities that is also sponsored by icare Lifetime Care.

Spinal Cord Injury Pain online course - Macquarie Uni

The SCI Pain Course is a free, online education program designed to provide information about chronic pain and to teach practical skills for the management of chronic pain and emotional wellbeing.

The Course aims to provide the information and skills that you would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist, if you attended a specialist Multidisciplinary Pain Management Clinic.

Groups and associations

The main support groups and associations for people living with a spinal injury in NSW are:

Both not-for-profit organisations provide a range of information and support services.

Further online resources

General information and resources can be found at: