Can DVA support self-employment?

Can DVA support self-employment?

Recovery Partners consultant, Lucy was referred by DVA to provide rehabilitation services to Patricia who medically discharged in 2022. During their initial meeting, Patricia was clear about her capacity for work. Patricia said that she needed a year of not working after being discharged from ADF in order to focus on addressing her medical symptomology. Lucy supported this recommendation and facilitated Patricia’s medical and psychosocial needs over 2023.

Patricia explores starting her own business

In 2024, Patricia became highly motivated and started to commence forming her own business. At the time of Lucy’s vocational assessment in late 2024, self-employment was indicated as being one of the most practical options to pursue considering her ongoing medical restrictions and vocational suitability.

When first exploring the area of self-employment with Patricia, she described sound awareness about the benefits and cons of self-employment. She had also already created a business plan, talked to individuals who are self-employed and worked with a Graphic Designer to support making relevant graphics for her business. As time proceeded, Patricia continued to work on her business.

As part of the vocational assessment, Lucy explored other roles that are outside Patricia’s current business area (Complementary Health Therapists). The additional recommended roles were Occupational Therapist, Counsellor, Coordinator, Rehabilitation Counsellor, and Occupational Environmental Health Professionals. From undertaking labour market research, it was identified that these additional roles would require further time and financial investment for Patricia to complete study in order to become qualified in the relevant area related to the employment pathway. This would enable Patricia the opportunity to earn a similar salary to the one she had in ADF. It is worth noting that these additional roles fall outside of Patricia’s motivation to pursue. Furthermore, the medical certificate at the time of the vocational assessment highlighted that Patricia would medically benefit from a role where she can work at her own pace and has one to two hours of capacity of light work per day, which was currently being achieved by Patricia in her self employment.

DVA subsequently approved Patricia’s self employment request and Patricia continues to work on her own business!