What Is Recovery Coaching (and Who Needs It)? -

Person walking forward on a path with hope

Quick answer: Psychosocial recovery coaching is an NDIS support for people living with mental health challenges. A recovery coach helps you understand your plan, connect with services, build routines, and work toward your own recovery goals. Unlike a support coordinator, the focus is personal — on your recovery journey, not just managing your services. It’s funded under Capacity Building in most NDIS plans.

Psychosocial recovery coaching is a relatively new term in the NDIS context, and many participants are still working out what it means and whether it might be useful to them. Here’s a clear explanation.

What the NDIS says

The NDIS defines a recovery coach this way:

A recovery coach is an NDIS funded worker that has mental health knowledge. A recovery coach will: spend time with you, and people important to you, to get to know you and understand your needs; help you to find out about different services and supports, and how these can help you; help you get support from mental health services; help you better understand the NDIS and support you with the NDIS.

In other words, a recovery coach stands beside you rather than doing things for you. Like a Support Coordinator, they help you get things done — but the difference is that it’s you who will be doing the things. You organise your own life and see to your own needs, while your coach supports, advises, and encourages you, and helps you develop the tools you need to do it.

Who is it for?

Psychosocial recovery coaching is designed for people with psychosocial disability — that is, disability arising from mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and similar. It’s relevant both to people who are actively experiencing mental health challenges and to people in recovery who want to build their capacity and independence.

Not everyone qualifies for recovery coaching under the NDIS. Eligibility depends on your plan and your circumstances, and specifically on the degree to which mental health has been a factor in your disability. If you’d like to know whether you qualify, the best starting point is to ask your Support Coordinator, your LAC, or us directly.

What qualifications do recovery coaches have?

Recovery coaches are required to have either formal qualifications or lived experience — and often both. Lived experience can mean having personally navigated mental health challenges, or having significant experience supporting people who have. Many of the best recovery coaches bring a combination of professional training and firsthand understanding of what recovery actually looks and feels like.

This is an important distinction from other types of support. A recovery coach who has been through their own mental health journey often brings a depth of empathy and practical insight that formal training alone can’t provide. They understand the non-linear nature of recovery, the way goals shift, and the patience required.

What does recovery coaching look like in practice?

Recovery coaching is a long-term relationship. You need someone you can work with consistently over time — because the work itself is about building skills, habits, and confidence that develop gradually.

In practice, sessions might involve setting and reviewing goals, problem-solving specific challenges, navigating appointments or services, working on daily routines, or simply having a consistent, trusted person to check in with. The content is shaped by you and what matters to you — not by a fixed program.

Recovery coaching at Heartfelt Support

Heartfelt Support offers psychosocial recovery coaching in southern Adelaide. Our coaches bring lived experience and a strengths-based approach — focusing on what you can build on, not what’s holding you back. If you’d like to know more or discuss whether recovery coaching might be right for your situation, visit our recovery coaching page or submit a referral and we’ll be in touch.