What Is Innovative Community Participation?

Innovative Community Participation is an NDIS support category for approaches to community involvement that fall outside standard programs — designed around a participant's specific interests rather than a fixed activity list.

How it's different from standard community participation

Where general community participation support often means joining existing programs or groups, innovative community participation is built around trying new, tailored approaches — for example, a new hobby, a less conventional social setting, or a creative project suited to one person's interests.

It's especially useful for participants who haven't found standard group programs to be a good fit, or who want to build confidence in a specific new setting rather than a general one.

What it looks like in practice

In practice, this might mean a support worker helping a participant try a new class, join a niche interest group, or take on a small community project — with the goal of building real confidence in that setting over time, not just attendance.

Because it's individually tailored, this support usually starts with a conversation about what the participant actually wants to try, rather than picking from a set program list.

Guidance to Independence delivers innovative community participation support for participants across Narellan and South West Sydney. Get in touch to talk through what this could look like for you.