ACT disability minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says the territory government is working to mend the cracks in the National Disability Insurance Scheme clients with mental illnesses are falling through.
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About 12 per cent of NDIS participants in Canberra have a psychosocial disability, Ms Stephen-Smith told the ACT Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
She said although twice as many Canberrans were now receiving support for their mental illness through the NDIS, she said the "transition has not been easy - or even possible - for some people with psychosocial disability".
"We continue to work with the Commonwealth and across directorates to understand and address the gap," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Do you have a psychosocial disability and receive support through the National Disability Insurance Scheme? Email katie.burgess@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Of the ACT's 5878 active NDIS participants, about 33 per cent have an intellectual disability while 21 per cent have autism.
When the NDIS was introduced n 2014, about 350 Canberrans with a psychosocial disability were supported by ACT government-funded services.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the most recent data showed 717 Canberrans were getting support through the NDIS for mental health conditions.
The territory government provides almost 60 per cent of the funding for the NDIS in the ACT.
Ms Stephen-Smith said that meant the government had "a responsibility to ensure that Canberrans are getting the full benefit of the NDIS and that we are using our experience to shape the system for successful national implementation".
To that end, the ACT Office for Disability was "proactively" working with the Commonwealth Department of Social Services and the NDIA to review the decisions that led to a shortfall in respite care.
Fairfax Media this week reported young Canberrans with high needs could be locked out of respite care by Christmas, with the ACT's last two providers of overnight care, Marymead and the Disability Trust, to reduce their services.
In August, Marymead revealed it could no longer afford to run respite for people with high needs under the scheme's current funding.
It closed its doors to 70 per cent of the 120 families who rely on the overnight service and shrunk down its operating hours from seven nights a week to four
The Disability Trust has also cut back on overnight care in the Southern Highlands because of funding shortfalls.
Ms Stephen-Smith said they would look at the "circumstances of participants most affected by Marymead's decision to ensure that they have adequate and appropriate supports".
