Not every need calls for ongoing help. Sometimes it’s about a particular stretch of time — recovering after a hospital stay, rebuilding strength after a setback, adapting your home, or being cared for through a final chapter. Short-term Support is shaped for exactly that: focused, thoughtful support, for as long as it’s needed and no longer.
Support at home
Short-term Care
Our promise
Hospitality, however long we’re with you
Short-term doesn’t mean lesser. Whether we’re with you for a few weeks or a few months, we bring the same warmth, attentiveness and thoughtful touches we’re known for. We’re here to make you feel yourself and to create a world that you are in control of. Great care is a given — what we care most about is how these days feel, and the small moments of joy we can create along the way.
The same care, for a shorter while
Support that meets the moment
Steady support after a hospital stay or a setback, helping you rebuild strength and routine and easing back as you start to feel like yourself.
Care that evolves alongside you
As things change, so do we. Support steps up when you need more and eases back as you find your footing, for exactly as long as it's useful.
A steady hand through change
Familiar faces, thoughtful coordination and a calm presence through the in-between, so a season of change feels a little lighter to carry.
What it looks like
Explore our pathways
Short-term Support brings together a handful of focused pathways, each shaped around a different kind of moment. Some people need one for a few weeks and never think about it again. Others move between them as life shifts — a stretch of recovery, then a few changes around the house to make everyday life easier. However it unfolds for you, we’ll help you find the right fit, and stay flexible as things change.
Some setbacks just need a good run at them. After an illness, a fall or a stay in hospital, this pathway gives you up to 16 weeks of focused allied health and nursing support, built around goals set by you — with its own funding, so it never eats into your everyday support. The clinical side is covered by the government, and is designed to step back the moment you no longer need it.
Sometimes the thing standing between you and an easier day is entirely practical. This scheme has its own upfront funding for equipment and home changes, so there’s nothing to save up for — and we take care of the arranging, sourcing and prescriptions, which is exactly the sort of thing that shouldn’t land on you or your family.
When someone wishes to spend their final months at home, this pathway makes that possible — around $25,000 of dedicated funding over 12 weeks, extending a further four if funding remains. It sits alongside the specialist palliative care team already involved, never in place of them, and every clinical service is fully government-funded. Our part is the everyday: presence, warmth, and protecting the hours that matter.
In-home and Community Respite
Caring for someone you love is its own kind of work — steady, unglamorous, and relentless in a way that’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t done it. Respite care gives the person who usually provides that care a proper break, while you’re in warm and capable hands. It might be a few hours at home, or time spent in the company of others out in the community.
Unlike the pathways above, respite draws on your ongoing budget rather than separate funding — but it’s here on this page because it’s short-term by nature, and because it’s often the thing families need before they realise it.
How we like to help:
- Stepping in for a few hours at home so your carer can get to their own appointments, see friends, or simply sleep properly
- Keeping the day running the way it usually does — the same meals, the same routine, the same afternoon walk — so nothing feels disrupted
- Offering time out of the house instead, in a group setting, if company and a change of scenery appeal more than quiet at home
- Learning how the day normally runs well before the first visit, so your carer can leave without a briefing sheet and a knot in their stomach
- Booking it in regularly, so rest becomes part of the rhythm rather than something reached for in an emergency
The Symbol difference
Our team is a collection of thoughtful, vibrant and knowledgable individuals. We find people who view care through the same lens: as an act of hospitality. For us, it is more than just ticking a box, it’s about matching you up with someone who understands your rhythm and takes pleasure in creating the life you want to lead.
They are supported by a concierge-inspired team, who listen and make sure that our support is evolving with you.
Frequently asked questions
Yes – you may be eligible for up to 2 episodes of the Restorative Care Pathway within a 12-month period, if your circumstances call for it.
Yes – some people need one pathway for a few weeks and move on, while others move between pathways as life shifts. The Symbol team is here to help you find the right fit each time.
- A stretch of recovery, followed by home modifications, is a common path
- We stay flexible as your circumstances change
No – this scheme has its own upfront funding, separate from your everyday support, so there’s nothing to set aside.
- We handle the arranging, sourcing and prescriptions
- Covers everything from walking frames and shower chairs to ramps, handrails and stairlifts
You get one concierge who coordinates everything on your behalf, so you’re not left chasing forms, providers or appointments while you’re already stretched.
- Clear, steady communication with you and your family throughout
- One familiar point of contact, whichever pathway you’re on
- We stay flexible as your needs shift between pathways
You can access up to 16 weeks of focused allied health and nursing support, built around your own goals.
- The funding is designed to be used for a 12 week period, but if there are spare funds then the period may be extended up to 16 weeks
Generally, funding needs to be used within 12 months of approval, though there’s some flexibility for progressive conditions or more complex modifications.
Around $25,000 of dedicated funding is available over 12 weeks, with a further four weeks if funding remains.
- Sits alongside your existing palliative care team, not in place of them
- Every clinical service is fully government-funded
We bring in whichever allied health professionals suit what you’re rebuilding, and keep your program moving between appointments.
- Physiotherapy, occupational therapy and exercise physiology
- Podiatry and dietetics, where relevant
- Nursing support added where a clinical eye helps
Each pathway is shaped around a different kind of moment – recovery, practical home changes, or a final chapter at home – and you can move between them as things change.
- Restorative Care Pathway – for rebuilding strength and routine after an illness, fall or hospital stay
- Assistive Technology & Home Modifications – for equipment and changes to your home
- End-of-Life – for dedicated support in your final months at home
We do – every home modification requires a prescription, and we coordinate the occupational therapist or physiotherapist input needed to get there.
No – each pathway comes with its own funding, so it sits separately from your everyday Support at Home budget.
- Restorative Care Pathway and End-of-Life funding are both government-covered on the clinical side
- AT-HM funding is upfront, so there’s nothing to save up for
Your Concierge is ready when you are
Our Concierge team is here to do more than coordinate services. They’re here to answer questions, make life easier, anticipate your needs and help you continue living the life you love. It all begins with a simple conversation about what’s important to you and how we can help make it happen.