Identity Before Diagnosis: Revolutionising Support for People with Psychosocial Disability and AOD use
Tracks
Monarch Room - In-Person Only
| Wednesday, May 27, 2026 |
| 2:45 PM - 3:15 PM |
Overview
Kym McMinn, T and K Support Services
Details
Three Key Learnings
1, Identity-led practice creates safer, more meaningful engagement and improves outcomes for people with complex needs. When identity, not diagnosis drives support, participants engage earlier, stay connected longer, and experience more stability.
2. Harm minimisation and abstinence are both valid pathways when identified by the person, not the system. This flexibility allows support to be tailored to real circumstances, developmental stages, recovery readiness, and personal identity.
1, Identity-led practice creates safer, more meaningful engagement and improves outcomes for people with complex needs. When identity, not diagnosis drives support, participants engage earlier, stay connected longer, and experience more stability.
2. Harm minimisation and abstinence are both valid pathways when identified by the person, not the system. This flexibility allows support to be tailored to real circumstances, developmental stages, recovery readiness, and personal identity.
Speaker
Mrs Kym McMinn
Managing Director
T and K Support Services
Identity Before Diagnosis: Revolutionising Support for People with Psychosocial Disability and AOD use
Abstract
T and K Support Services is a registered NDIS provider specialising in psychosocial disability and supporting people with intersecting complex needs including AOD use, mental illness, and criminal offending histories. Our "Identity Before Diagnosis" approach challenges traditional systems that define people by labels rather than by who they are, what they value, and the identity they want to build.
Our practice adapts to the person, no one-size-fits-all model, and no assumption that two people with the same diagnosis require the same support.
One young woman we support, living with psychosocial disability, trauma, mental illness, and episodic AOD use, identifies primarily as "a young woman that likes to party with friends". Support for her relies on non-judgmental, trauma-informed engagement, co-designed harm-reduction strategies, and intensive participant-led safety planning. We provide practical real-world support: Daily check ins, emotional regulation tools, safer-use planning, and flexible responses that adapt to her shifting capacity and needs.
Another participant, a man in his 30's living with schizophrenia and newly connected to the NDIS after 16 years of addiction and forensic involvement, is rebuilding a substance-free identity grounded in stability and connection. For him, support centres on structure, routine, relational safety, and collaborative recovery planning, alongside highly practical wraparound assistance, attending appointments, coordinating with clinical teams, supporting medication engagement, strengthening daily living skills, and helping him reconnect with community.
A core component of our model is deep collaboration across systems. We work closely with mainstream systems, AOD teams, area mental health services, Forensicare, and The Assessment and Referral Court (ARC), including local magistrates to ensure participants experience true wraparound responses rather than system fragmentation. We actively disrupt traditional models to create safer, more human centred support systems.
Across complex presentations including psychosis, substance use, trauma and offending, we integrate the Hearing Voices Approach, trauma-informed practice, and relational consistency.
Our practice adapts to the person, no one-size-fits-all model, and no assumption that two people with the same diagnosis require the same support.
One young woman we support, living with psychosocial disability, trauma, mental illness, and episodic AOD use, identifies primarily as "a young woman that likes to party with friends". Support for her relies on non-judgmental, trauma-informed engagement, co-designed harm-reduction strategies, and intensive participant-led safety planning. We provide practical real-world support: Daily check ins, emotional regulation tools, safer-use planning, and flexible responses that adapt to her shifting capacity and needs.
Another participant, a man in his 30's living with schizophrenia and newly connected to the NDIS after 16 years of addiction and forensic involvement, is rebuilding a substance-free identity grounded in stability and connection. For him, support centres on structure, routine, relational safety, and collaborative recovery planning, alongside highly practical wraparound assistance, attending appointments, coordinating with clinical teams, supporting medication engagement, strengthening daily living skills, and helping him reconnect with community.
A core component of our model is deep collaboration across systems. We work closely with mainstream systems, AOD teams, area mental health services, Forensicare, and The Assessment and Referral Court (ARC), including local magistrates to ensure participants experience true wraparound responses rather than system fragmentation. We actively disrupt traditional models to create safer, more human centred support systems.
Across complex presentations including psychosis, substance use, trauma and offending, we integrate the Hearing Voices Approach, trauma-informed practice, and relational consistency.
Biography
Kym McMinn is the Founder and Managing Director of T and K Support Services, a registered NDIS provider specialising in psychosocial disability supporting people with intersecting needs, including AOD use, mental illness, trauma, and criminal justice involvement. Drawing on lived experience as a parent, Kym has developed the organisation's "Identity Before Diagnosis" framework, centred on relational safety, harm minimisation, and person-led practice. She works closely with area mental health services, Forensicare, The Assessment and Referral Court (ARC), AOD providers, and community partners to deliver wraparound support. Kym is passionate about disrupting deficit-based systems and redefining how complex individuals are supported.
