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Richard has more important things to do than manage his NDIS plan. 

It’s an understatement to say Richard likes to keep himself busy. Doing the activities he enjoys is how he manages his health and wellbeing. 

He says that, “When I'm doing the physical stuff, it really helps me mentally, because I've got rapid cycling bipolar. So I might be hyperactive about something. And then not.” 

There’s a lot of stuff he likes doing. Living on the Central Coast in NSW, it’s no surprise surfing is his number one thing. 

Getting out in the water and being in nature allows him to forget about everything except the next wave he’s going to catch. 

It’s different to his other passion, photography, which he’s been doing for over 50 years. 

With his OCD, he loves going out, taking the same photo again and again, and noticing something different every time. 

When he was young, it was his OCD that drove him to hit thousands and thousands of tennis balls. He rose to the top level of tennis and played on the world pro circuit for 10 years. 

Richard holding a camera while taking photos outdoors on the NSW Central Coast.

To many, Richard’s level of energy could sound tiring. 

But what really drained him was masking who he was and how he was feeling. 

“I just came across as this sort of happy, hyper, sort of bloke, running around being crazy and being funny and all that sort of stuff. But on the inside, I was really hurting… and it’s exhausting.” 

Richard is happiest when he’s watching the swells coming in, or focusing on his camera, which is why he leaves the day-to-day management of his NDIS plan to MyIntegra. 

The team manage his funding and his activities, and they're there to help whenever he needs it. 

“There's a new activity that I might want to do, and I'll go, ‘I’d really love to be able to do this.’ So I ring up MyIntegra, they listen, and they say, ‘Yes, I think we can do this. Let's look at your funding and see whether we can get that activity going for you.’ 

“So some might say that I'm bipolar and I own it. I go, ‘Yes, I am,’ and I have to do things every day to help me, you know, live.” 

 

  • MyIntegra is part of APM Group in Australia. Discover more at MyIntegra.