A wide range of techniques and therapeutic modalities can provide necessary support for individuals navigating any kind of recovery journey. Psychosocial recovery coaching is one such tool, offering a holistic, person-centered approach that’s all about enhancing personal strengths, increasing resilience levels, and building overall well-being.
If you’ve never discovered psychosocial recovery coaching before, learning what it is and how it may offer transformative benefits to you could be a key part of your ongoing recovery journey.
How does the NDIS support psychosocial recovery coaching?
Psychosocial recovery coaches play an important role in supporting individuals with psychosocial disabilities to build agency and ownership within their own recovery. These coaches often work collaboratively with the individual, their family, and their support network to build recovery plans that coordinate with other NDIS supports. This may look like:
- Building a relationship that enables recovery
- Increasing the individual’s awareness of how much choice and control they have in their own life
- Empowering the individual to build goals and strategies to achieve those goals
- Providing consistent, ongoing support, including throughout times of increased needs
- Increase the individual’s capacity by building stronger recovery skills and decision-making capabilities
A recovery coach can be an NDIS-funded worker who has mental health knowledge. These coaches will be able to support you through the following:
- Spending time both with you and with the people who matter to you, building an understanding of who you are and your relevant needs
- Assisting you to get support from relevant mental health services
- Helping you to build your understanding of the NDIS and how it can be of service to you
The NDIS offers a range of recovery coaches, including those with their own lived experience of mental health challenges. For many NDIS-supported recovery coaches, they’re able to draw on this first-hand experience, using it to strengthen the quality of their support work.
While recovery coaches are optional, for people whose plans include psychosocial support needs, a recovery coach will be funded as a part of that overall plan. Hours are needs-based, with your NDIS planner or Local Area Coordinator working with you to decide on how many hours are appropriate within your overall plan.
This role is different to a support coordinator, whose focus is on working with the individual to ensure they get the most value from their NDIS plan. A psychosocial recovery coach, by contrast, is designed for individuals whose primary diagnosis is a psychosocial disability.
What are the benefits of psychosocial recovery coaching?
Psychosocial recovery coaching can offer a wide range of benefits to people living with a psychosocial disability. For those who are looking to increase the quality of their mental and emotional well-being, benefits may include:
- Increased self-advocacy abilities. Psychosocial recovery coaches can empower individuals to take an active role within their own recovery, increasing their levels of self-confidence and building their abilities to advocate for themselves.
- Goal setting and goal achievements. Individuals can benefit from the support of psychosocial recovery coaches in setting meaningful and personalised goals, with coaches providing ongoing guidance and support as they work towards the realisation of these objectives.
- Hard and soft skill development. Essential skills, such as problem-solving, coping strategies, and enhanced resilience tools, can all be a focus within a psychosocial recovery coaching relationship. This can be of great benefit in building specific hard and soft skills that will play a vital role in the individual’s ongoing recovery.
- Greater self-awareness. Psychosocial recovery coaching can lead to an enhanced sense of self-awareness for the coached individual as they gain a greater awareness of themselves, what they value, where their strengths lie, and an overall enhanced understanding of their own capacities.
- Stronger coping strategies. Coaches can work with individuals to develop a range of effective coping strategies that can support the individual in managing negative emotions, challenging setbacks, and stress responses, helping to grow resilience along the way.
How to prepare for psychosocial recovery coaching
If you’re preparing for your first experience with psychosocial recovery coaching, there are a number of ways you can make sure you’re set up for a rich and successful coaching relationship.
First, it’s important to understand your unique needs. What are the goals, challenges, and areas of focus that are most relevant to you in this current season? These can help you to assess what you’re likely hoping to achieve through the process of psychosocial recovery coaching.
It’s also important to review your NDIS plan to assess whether or not psychosocial recovery coaching is included as one of your funded supports. Your NDIS planner or LAC can help if you require further information in the course of this review.
You’ll then need to find a suitable provider. Look for those with experience and expertise in working with individuals who are living with disability. You may also find it useful to ask for recommendations from trusted sources, including your established support network.
Once you’ve found your preferred provider, reach out to inquire about the services they offer, their current availability, and the required process for engaging in NDIS-funded coaching. From this stage, you can arrange a consultation to discuss your goals, any specific requirements for your individual needs, and the shared expectations each party is bringing into the coaching relationship.
When you’ve settled on the right coach, you’ll be able to work together to develop a support plan that’s tailored to your goals and needs. This plan will encompass coaching sessions, frequency and duration.
You’ll then need to inform your NDIS planner or support coordinator about your plans to engage in psychosocial recovery coaching, who can provide guidance on any necessary documentation or approvals in order for the coaching services to be funded.
Before your coaching sessions begin each time, make sure to carve out space to mentally prepare yourself. Continue to reflect on your goals, objectives, and the commitment you’ve made to your ongoing personal development. This can help you to be more open to the coaching process, bringing your own sense of collaboration to this shared journey. After all, this is your experience: your psychosocial recovery coach is merely there to support you as you achieve your goals and move in the direction of your dreams.
Enhanced Lifestyles offers psychosocial recovery coaching in Adelaide, the Riverland, and the Limestone Coast. Find the support you need to build a meaningful life brick by brick with our empowering psychosocial coaching.
