I get asked a LOT about how I started NDIS nursing.

People think I must have had a structured pathway, or some sort of plan to get into disability work.

However, my life doesn’t work like that. I tend to be fairly spontaneous and end up falling into situations most of the time, so my entry into disability nursing was a little unconventional.

But that means it’s also pretty doable for you, because it really wasn’t that hard.

Read on to see exactly how I ended up with a pretty good disability nursing job!

My nursing background

I finished my degree in 2019. I didn’t apply for a grad year, as I had a LOT of other stuff going on. I wasn’t really bothered, as my placements had already shown me that ward work was not for me.

So I started off in aged care. And I worked a couple of jobs in a couple of places, in between stints of travel and running my previous non-nursing business.

It was OK work. But I still found myself getting burned out by the pace, unpredictability, and repetitiveness of it all.

Unpredictably AND repetitiveness? Definitely. Shifts were usually mind-numbingly repetitive, doing the same med round and the same wounds while having the same conversations, over and over and over again.

And then something would happen to throw it all into an unpleasant chaos – a bad fall, an infectious lockdown, or care workers screaming at each other and expecting me to sort it out.

It was not something I could see myself doing long-term.

Enter 2024…

We’d been in Europe for 4 months and were about to return (reluctantly, for myself and my husband) to Australia. It was time to settle down for a while so our youngest children could do the teen things they wanted.

I figured my previous job was OK. It was close to our new house, the residents and families were lovely, so it would do.

So I applied there again. I was accepted. However, the new manager just kept stuffing me around – not doing the paperwork, delaying everything, and making me reconsider my whole ‘let’s just take an easy local job’ approach.

Plus, his mis-management of the onboarding process (when they were chronically understaffed and desperate for nurses) was setting off alarm bells.

If he couldn’t manage to onboard me when he said he would, I had no confidence in his day-to-day management skills.

Should I quit nursing?

By this stage, I was seriously considering quitting nursing. I hadn’t really liked my previous jobs, or most of my student placements. I couldn’t think of an available job that I’d actually want to do. And my online work had been so successful and enjoyable that pursuing nursing seemed a waste of time.

Really, it was only the fact that I’d worked hard for my degree, I’d done really well at the study part, and felt that I hadn’t used it properly that was keeping me in nursing.

But I could also step back, look at it logically, and admit that it was a sunk cost fallacy. Just because I’d put in the effort didn’t mean I had to keep flogging a dead horse.

So I withdrew my job application, breathed a sigh of relief that I’d averted that shitshow, and I was trying to decide what to do next – ditch nursing, or have another try in a different area.

And then…

Part of setting ourselves up in our new home was taking my son to a local disability provider to discuss enrolling him in their day program and supported workplace.

So we went there. We did a tour. We talked to a few people.

And I liked it there. They didn’t rush, they spoke to my son (not just me), and they seemed genuinely invested in their clients.

So on a whim, I asked if they ever employed nurses. The guy got a gleam in his eye, and said yes, actually, they were looking for one now.

A couple of interviews, a few conversations, and a flurry of paperwork later, I got the job. I was officially the Clinical Educator/Coordinator for the company.

It wasn’t advertised. I don’t think they interviewed anyone else.

I was just in the right place at the right time. With the right experience and the right attitude.

It was that easy?!

You’re right – I didn’t have a lot of nursing experience, and much of it was due to timing. But I did have other experience that has helped me immensely in the job.

• I had a son on the NDIS, so I had experience from the participant end. And I had experience with disability and advocacy in general – it’s a big positive in an industry where many entering it have no idea of the realities of the space.

• I’d run a successful online business for many years, so I could talk about being self-directed, setting my own priorities, and working independently on big complicated projects. As I’d be the only nurse with no-one really overseeing me, this sort of experience was vital. They really needed someone who could assess the company, identify its needs, and build the job from scratch. They definitely did NOT need someone who needed to be micromanaged and structured.

• I’d homeschooled my five children, so I could talk about teaching, and educational theory, and flipped learning, and ways I could teach and train support workers. I found out later that the previous nurse they’d had really didn’t connect with the workers and didn’t structure the training at the level they needed. Being able to address those concerns by talking about accessibility for staff with low literacy and numeracy levels, and making it interesting and engaging, and the importance of putting in the effort to build relationships with staff was received really well.

All of the above were big positives. Plus I did some intensive research, and turned up able to discuss the basics of the high-intensity skills and NDIS training requirement. Preparation always looks good.

Big question – how’d it go?

I’m here running a disability nursing site and summit, so obviously it went pretty well!

I enjoyed the work. I liked having a big project to tackle. I liked working with clients and their families to optimise their care and improve their health outcomes. And I really enjoyed training support workers, and getting right into the nitty-gritty of every step of best practice for tasks, so they can do their work well.

Working with clients with diabetes reminded me that I find it incredibly interesting, so I completed a Graduate Certificate of Diabetes Dducation in 2025.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the area after nearly a year. But I was able to continue working remotely three days per week for a while, and I still work for them one day a week. Remote is definitely not as rewarding, but it’s also great to have no commute and no need to dress up!

I recently started working for a primary health ACCHO part-time, and the background knowledge of the NDIS has already been helpful when working with our clients with disabilities.

So no, I’m all-in for nursing and diabetes education now, with no thoughts at all of quitting.

I just needed to find my niche.

So…how do YOU get an NDIS nursing job?

You can go the standard route, and wait for a job to pop up.

Or you can learn from how I started NDIS nursing, be proactive, and find one for yourself. I prefer this approach.

In fact, it’s how I’ve found ALL my nursing jobs – none were currently advertised. So don’t think that because a job isn’t advertised that it doesn’t exist.

Lots of NDIS companies need a nurse, but may not know it yet.

Or they know they need a nurse, but they haven’t gotten around to making it happen.

I also know of a few places that have a nurse or two, but need more.
(I’ve even been head-hunted by a couple of these – they really need nurses).

So if you know of some local companies that seem like good places to work, hit them up. Send in your resume. Call them up for a chat.

Familiarise yourself with the NDIS first – read up on health vs the NDIS, the high-intensity support skills, and the pricing arrangements.

Find out what they need, and work out if you can help them with that need. Most places need staff training and health professional oversight and help with paperwork and audits.

Talk up what you can do. Are you brilliant at teaching and training? Do you have the knowledge and experience to do continence assessments or wound care? Can you help them safely and competently take on clients with higher needs?

Also remember that many providers are struggling financially. The NDIS looks like a cash cow, but it’s harder than it looks to stay viable. Make sure you can talk about billable tasks, to show that your activity will cover some or all of your wage, and maybe even be profitable.

And if you can do all the above, I think you’ve got a pretty good chance of landing an NDIS nursing job.

I hope that’s been helpful – if you have any questions or comments please leave them below.

And good luck with your job hunting!