Letter to Centrelink for DSP - advice needed!

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

So I've been rejected for the DSP again, and again I'm appealing. This time I've gotten the impairment table they use and used it myself. My plan is to fine tune this letter, and then send it with a cover letter to my psychiatrist for her approval, and then give it to Centrelink.

Any and all constructive feedback very helpful

To whom it may concern,

I have applied several times for a Disability Support Pension due to a mental breakdown that occurred in May 2011. I have been rejected several times, the most recent being 22/11/13. As I firmly believe that I qualify for a DSP, I am writing this letter to further my appeal.

I have been advised that I do not meet the 20 point criteria. Please find below my own determination of my score for each point, with examples for your benefit. As you will see, I have shown this to my psychiatrist who has confirmed each point.

A. Self care and independent living
Moderate/Severe 10-20

I require regular reminders to attend to my personal hygiene – mainly showering – as doing so causes extreme anxiety. I also tend to neglect eating as I find it difficult to make a decision on what to eat, so I just don’t eat. My husband assists with this, reminding/encouraging me to shower, helping me to use the coping techniques I have learned, and ringing me through the day to make sure I’m eating.

B. Social/recreational activities and travel
Severe/Extreme 20-30

I rarely leave the house by myself, even to travel to well known destinations; for instance, I have been attending the same Kingdom Hall (church) for 25 years, but will not attend alone due to the extreme anxiety. I am also generally unable to attend social functions even with a support person. Even leaving the house to water the back garden is often beyond my capability. My husband takes over these responsibilities as necessary, or encourages me to try and push through the anxiety so I can go out.

C. Interpersonal relationships
Extreme 30

I do not visit anyone socially, and generally hide in my bedroom when people come to the house. The only contact I have with people is by Facebook or email. However, I find it very difficult at times to respond to direct questions/emails in a timely fashion, generally leaving it for several hours/days before responding, if at all.

D. Concentration and task completion
Moderate/Severe 10/20

My general attention span is 15-20 minutes at best, 5-10 minutes at worst. This is caused mainly by frequent daydream type distractions, where I run over and over previous events and how I could have done them differently/better. I don’t drive any more than absolutely necessary due to this.



E. Behaviour, planning, and decision making
Severe/Extreme 20/30

I have frequent mood swings, generally going from happy to aggressive or anxious to hysterical. I find it very difficult to make decisions, constantly weighing up each aspect without being able to decide on the best course of action. I also find that I fall very easily into suicidal thoughts at the slightest provocation.

F. Work/training capacity
Extreme 30

I am unable to work outside the home in any capacity for any length of time due to constant anxiety. I am currently doing a small amount of transcription review work from home, approximately 6 hours per week; I have recently decreased the available days and work I will accept as I could not cope, but I am still struggling with it.

It is my hope and intention to eventually return to work outside the home, preferably full time. However this anxiety/agoraphobia has now been affecting my life for 2.5 years, and has caused us considerable financial strain. For the majority of that time my husband’s parents have been paying our mortgage. We have had to move in with my parents and rent out our house to pay the bills. As I have discussed several times with your call centre staff, with my husband working full time, the only payment I am eligible for is the DSP.

It is NOT my intention to ‘relax’ if and when my application is accepted, I only wish to remove some of the hardship my breakdown has caused, which will then allow me to completely focus on my recovery. At the moment I cannot afford private psychological help, and am therefore forced to rely on the public system, which is badly overworked. I am only able to see a psychiatrist once every 6 weeks or so, and am having to find a private psychologist that bulk bills as there is no room for me in the public area, but I can’t afford to pay any out of pocket fees. Even the small amount of payment provided by the DSP will help me to afford regular psychological help.

[AnyDream]

I haven't dealt with Centrelink in this sort of capacity, but I did have a review successfully made in my favour for special child care benefit. The important thing is to connect the dots for them. So statements like X causes Y (where X is your symptom & Y is centrelink's criteria) work best. Also the supporting evidence is pretty important. The statements you have made in this letter would be much stronger if they were in a letter from your psychiatrist/psychologist. Plus a letter from your GP which would provide context like dates (eg I first saw Bumperstump in 2010, her condition deteriorated significantly in 2011, resulting in ...). Any medical certs or letters from that time will be helpful too. As it reads now, is based very much on your personal experience, but your psych may have other language for those same symptoms that better meets C criteria. And times & dates will provide stronger evidence than just describing your current state too.

ETA the irony in all of this is that the more debilitated you are, the less likely you are to be able to deal with all the frickkin paperwork that is needed. Do you have contact or access to anyone who works in the social work sphere who would be able to help you coordinate all of this?

[~clover~]

I haven't had anything to do with DSP either, but my first application for carers payment was turned down.

I was advised by a person in the centrelink office to appeal, so I did. This time I was specific about simple things. Not only costs of medication, pediatrician appointments & ot therapy, but how it all affected MY life. How it is hard to ask people to look after DD because of her meltdowns & activeness. Really just the simple things the person in the office won't think about, because they don't live it day to day.

The appeal worked & payment was backdated to when it was first lodged.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

I haven't dealt with Centrelink in this sort of capacity, but I did have a review successfully made in my favour for special child care benefit. The important thing is to connect the dots for them. So statements like X causes Y (where X is your symptom & Y is centrelink's criteria) work best. Also the supporting evidence is pretty important. The statements you have made in this letter would be much stronger if they were in a letter from your psychiatrist/psychologist. Plus a letter from your GP which would provide context like dates (eg I first saw Bumperstump in 2010, her condition deteriorated significantly in 2011, resulting in ...). Any medical certs or letters from that time will be helpful too. As it reads now, is based very much on your personal experience, but your psych may have other language for those same symptoms that better meets C criteria. And times & dates will provide stronger evidence than just describing your current state too.

ETA the irony in all of this is that the more debilitated you are, the less likely you are to be able to deal with all the frickkin paperwork that is needed. Do you have contact or access to anyone who works in the social work sphere who would be able to help you coordinate all of this?

I know, right?! I've never appealed before, simply because I couldn't cope with the process.

I agree, that's why I've used their impairment table and scoring system. Maybe I should send the letter to my psych and ask her to write her own letter, either as well, or with the info I've provided in it?

I haven't had anything to do with DSP either, but my first application for carers payment was turned down.

I was advised by a person in the centrelink office to appeal, so I did. This time I was specific about simple things. Not only costs of medication, pediatrician appointments & ot therapy, but how it all affected MY life. How it is hard to ask people to look after DD because of her meltdowns & activeness. Really just the simple things the person in the office won't think about, because they don't live it day to day.

The appeal worked & payment was backdated to when it was first lodged.

I'm actually fighting for 2 payments, DSP for me and Carer Allowance for Professor. I think the one letter will fix both, that's why I've been putting in how Professor has to help me. We worked out the other night that as of this fortnight, if even just the CA was approved and backdated, we'd get just under $3k That's why I'm still fighting! It's causing so much stress though :/

The psych only told me on Friday that she can organise a welfare officer to help me with the appeals. I was like AWESOME, coulda used that information 3 months ago!

[~clover~]

Yeah, my back payment was a pretty decent amount. It was later in the year & my application was put in before the end of financial year, so I also got the sup payments.

I actually had someone ring me to let me know I'd been approved, rather than just send a letter.

[HotI]

my mum is going through appeals currently. crazy thing is da got approved for carer s allowance, but mum got knocked back for dsp. the process has notbeen easy for them.

if you can get psych to write letter, do it AND take up offer of assistance. sometimes it is how things are presented that makes all the difference.

[dinky]

You need to get your psych to write a letter stating your condition and what it will and wont allow you to do. You also need your GP to write a letter as well, so that he can state the extent of your condition. The DSP form must be filled in precisely or it will be rejected. Centrelink will then usually get you to see one of their assessors before they will sign off on it. I only know this because I have a friend who applied for DSP, she got her GP and her surgeon to write letters and filled out the form exactly then they were okay with it.
I think another problem is that you state that you are able to work, which means that you shouldn't really need a payment, they will cut your payments for any sort of income that you get anyway. That's just what they do!
Good luck!