About The Planning and Practice Hub
Human services expertise across government, providers, regulation and practice.
The Planning and Practice Hub supports Australian human services organisations across NDIS, aged care, child and family services, homelessness, disability and community services.
The Planning and Practice Hub was founded by Rachel Willis, a human services executive, consultant and Board Director with almost 30 years' experience across government, private and not-for-profit services.
Rachel has led government commissioning for Ageing, Disability and Home Care, supported major NSW reforms including Going Home Staying Home, the NDIS rollout, Safe Home for Life, Targeted Earlier Intervention and the Area Assistance Scheme, and led service transformation across homelessness, disability, child and family services and community support.
This experience provides a practical understanding of the connection between policy intent, funding requirements, regulation, governance and the everyday reality of service delivery.
Why the Hub exists
Good services need more than good policies.
Human services organisations are operating in an environment of increasing regulatory expectations, workforce pressures and service complexity.
The challenge is no longer simply having policies, frameworks and evidence. Leaders need confidence that systems are understood, implemented and working in practice.
The Hub helps close the space between those requirements and everyday practice. That means building governance that clarifies accountability, policies that workers can use, capability that supports sound judgement and evidence that gives leaders and Boards meaningful assurance.
Rachel also contributes to sector governance and capability through Board roles with Foundations of Hope and Mental Fitness Collective. Foundations of Hope publicly lists Rachel on its Advisory Board, while Mental Fitness Australia also profiles her as a Certified Mental Fitness First Responder facilitator in NSW.
Explore human services reform and commissioningPractice assurance
The next question is whether practice is actually working.
Practice assurance brings together governance, policy, workforce capability, supervision, lived experience, quality indicators and evidence to help leaders understand whether requirements are being consistently applied.
Explore practice assurancePolicy tells people what should happen.
Practice assurance helps you know what is happening.
Government and reform experience
- Government commissioning for Ageing, Disability and Home Care
- District leadership of major NSW reforms
- NDIS rollout and transition from state-funded disability services
- Outcomes-based commissioning and service redesign
- Targeted Earlier Intervention and child protection reform
Provider and governance experience
- 10 years as a sector CEO
- Homelessness, disability and in-home support services
- Board governance and responsible person accountability
- Quality, safeguarding and compliance systems
- Human services transformation and organisational change
From policy requirement to evidence
The work does not finish when a policy is approved. We connect the requirement to accountability, operational practice and evidence of implementation.
Policy requirement
The standard your organisation must meet. Legislation, regulator rules, funding agreements, and quality frameworks that define the line.
Governance responsibility
Who is accountable, and how the decision is made. Board delegations, charters, risk appetite, and the framework that holds it together.
Operational response
What actually happens in practice. Policy translated into procedure, roles, and the day-to-day work of the people who deliver it.
Evidence of implementation
Proof it works. Records, audits, reviews, and the evidence that holds up when a regulator asks the question.
Who we work with
Leaders responsible for quality, safety, governance and sustainable service delivery.
Supplier credentials
Supporting government, not-for-profit and human services organisations with advisory, governance, quality and reform expertise.
The Planning and Practice Hub is listed on the NSW Government buy.nsw Supplier Hub. This procurement credential sits alongside Rachel's sector consulting, governance, commissioning and executive experience.
View the NSW Government supplier profileBring us the issue that is difficult to untangle.
A regulatory change, policy gap, governance concern, tender, audit finding or practice problem is often the best place to start.
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