Our story
We went looking for good care and could not find it. So we built it.
Most people meet the care system at the worst possible moment. Something has changed — a fall, a diagnosis, a slow realisation that things are not managing on their own anymore — and on top of that, you are handed a process nobody has explained.
That was our family's experience too. It is the whole reason SCL exists.
How SCL began
It started at a kitchen table on the Coffs Coast.
Our family went through the disability care system ourselves. We saw what genuinely good support looked like on the days we got it — and just as clearly, every place the system let people down.
The gap was not compassion. The people doing the work cared. The gap was structural: rosters built around the provider rather than the person, costs nobody would explain plainly, and a constant sense that you were meant to be grateful for whatever turned up.
So in 2018 we started SCL Support Services, as a registered NDIS provider, to be the service we had been looking for. It has grown into a team supporting people across the Coffs Coast, with the organisation continuing to grow.
Why we started
We were not trying to start a business. We were trying to get one person the support they deserved, and discovered how many other families were stuck in the same place.
What we learned
Four things we could not unsee.
Everything about how we run SCL comes back to these. They are not marketing lines — they are the specific things that went wrong for us, that we decided not to repeat.
Consistency matters more than almost anything
A different worker every week means explaining yourself every week. People stop asking for help rather than keep re-introducing themselves in their own home.
The admin should not be the hardest part
Families are already dealing with enough. Assessments, funding rules, invoices and working out who to call should be explained clearly and made easier to navigate.
The money needs to be explained clearly
Funding classifications, service prices and contribution rules should be explained plainly. Publishing prices clearly is a basic part of helping people make informed choices.
Being told the truth is worth more than being sold to
The most useful conversations we had were with people who told us what would not work. That is the kind of provider we set out to be.
Why aged care, why now
Similar problems, a different stage of life.
The families who ring us about disability support and the families who ring about ageing parents describe the same experience almost word for word. Confused by the system. Worn down by inconsistency. Unsure what anything costs until the invoice arrives.
Support at Home replaced the Home Care Packages Program and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme in November 2025, and it reset a lot of how in-home aged care works. Starting a division now means building for the system as it actually is, rather than carrying across habits from the old one.
We are not new to care. We are new to aged care — and there is a difference worth being honest about.
Where we're up to
Getting it right before we start, not after.
Registration in progress
We are working through aged care provider registration with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
Team being built
Home care workers, care partners and clinical staff are being recruited now, so we are ready rather than scrambling.
Prices already published
Our full price list is live before we have taken a single client. You can see exactly what things cost.
We would rather open properly than open early. When approval comes through, the team, the pricing and the systems will already be in place.
Looking ahead
We are at the beginning, and we think that is worth something.
We have no thousands of clients to point to and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we have is a team that has done this work for years on the disability side, a clear view of what we refuse to repeat, and the capacity to actually know the people we support.
If you are working out what comes next for yourself or someone you love, we would like to help — whether or not you end up with us.