MENTAL HEALTH & DISABILITY SUPPORTS | HUNTER & CENTRAL COAST

Psychosocial recovery coach

Navigate life's challenges with person-centered support for NDIS participants who have psychosocial disability.

Mental health conditions can impact your ability to manage day-to-day life. An NDIS psychosocial recovery coach collaborates with participants experiencing difficulties to pinpoint, plan and implement the right supports. Fostering resilience, well-being and personal growth.

Don’t let mental health be a barrier

Psychosocial disabilities can create barriers in day-to-day life. But with the help of our qualified psychosocial recovery coaches, you can develop the capacity to reach your NDIS plan goals. Discover a mentor, guide and facilitator, all in one.

Your psychosocial recovery coach will support you to thrive in a safe environment, building on your strengths, motivation and confidence. Some of the psychosocial disabilities our mental health-experienced team supports include anxiety disorders, schizophrenic disorders, mood disorders, agoraphobia and alcohol and other drug dependence.

What is a psychosocial recovery coach?

Psychosocial recovery coaching is an NDIS support for participants with a psychosocial disability who need assistance managing the hardships of everyday life.

A psychosocial recovery coach is a highly-trained and experienced mental health specialist who works closely with participants, their loved ones, carers and other service providers to access and action NDIS supports. Build capacities, boost social engagement and bolster economic independence.

To get started with recovery coaching, speak to your coordinator of supports or NDIS Planner about adding this service to your NDIS Plan.

What do psychosocial recovery coaches do?

A psychosocial recovery coach designs and coordinates a personalised Recovery Plan to help an NDIS participant with a diagnosed mental illness to create meaningful connections and life skills. Here for you throughout your NDIS journey, we can:

Develop recovery-enabling relationships based on hope
Explain human rights and support capacity building for self-advocacy
Support in developing life goals through recovery planning
Coach to build strengths, knowledge, skills, resilience, and decision-making
Provide information and advice
Help understand and effectively use NDIS/other services and resources
Collaborate with broader services to ensure supports are responsive to requirements and help achieve goals
Support engagement with the NDIS
Assist in connecting positively with family and friends
Connect with mental health, health and other services, particularly when a participant is unwell
Document and report on all interactions, support and outcomes

Meet our psychosocial recovery coaches

Our NDIS psychosocial recovery coaches are ready to empower participants to lead fuller, more autonomous lives. We draw on lived experience and a deep understanding of psychosocial disability and mental health every day.

Talisha Jenkins

Senior Caseworker

Charlotte Hanrahan

Caseworker

Bachelor of Social Work

What do you love about working at Hunter Care Group?

I love working with such a supportive and collaborative team. It’s incredibly rewarding to assist participants in the best way I can and to contribute positively to the Newcastle community.

What are your favourite interests/activities outside of work?

I enjoy watching a lot of TV and using that time to relax and unwind.

What’s your favourite Newcastle hangout?

The Newcastle Ocean Baths, followed by a matcha at Spur.

Jemima Flannery

Case Worker

What do you love about working at Hunter Care Group?

I love working at Hunter Care Group because it allows me to make a genuine difference in participants’ lives while building strong relationships with families and support teams. It’s rewarding to help coordinate supports that promote independence, safety, and positive outcomes.

What are your favourite interests/activities out of work?

Hanging with my Family and friends

What's your favourite Newcastle hangout?

My favourite hangout spot would be the beaches in Newcastle

Anthony Jhureea

Caseworker

Certificate IV Community Services

What do you love about working at Hunter Care Group?

HCG has a great working culture and a fantastic, friendly team to work with.

What are your favourite interests/activities out of work?

I love the beach and bushwalks. I also love running and am a huge mixed martial arts fan.

What's your favourite Newcastle hangout?

Of a weekend, you can catch the family and me down at the Newcastle farmers markets.

Ben Howard

Case Worker

What do you love about working at Hunter Care Group?

What are your favourite interests/activities out of work?

What's your favourite Newcastle hangout?

We love Hunter Care Group

This brilliant group of carers are amazing and the caring oozes out of all of them. With NDIS supports, the clients are supported with friendly carers with different experiences and hobbies. I have always been matched with workers suited to my needs.

— Lesley R

Amazing environment to work in, really well organised and the staff are all so helpful and friendly to both clients and team members.

— Lyndsay G

When we met our COS from Hunter Care Group, he was friendly, gave us clear advice and was excited to help our son find good quality of life. It made us feel hopeful for his future to see someone so passionate about helping to make a difference in our son’s life.

— Tiffany T

Excellent disability support service definitely deserves the five-star rating. Very highly recommend for NDIS plan management and one to one support. Prompt and efficient very happy with the service provider Hunter Care Group.

— Jo J

Not even a week after our first interview and we were updated on how things were progressing and our son is looking forward to starting his program! What a difference a caring, well-organised service makes! Thank you, Hunter Care Group.

— Tiffany T

I’ve never worked for such a brilliant team. The guys here go above and beyond for their consumers.

— Josh A

I have been receiving supports through Hunter Care Group for two years now. I have always been supported throughout any process and the caring nature of those involved has supported me dramatically with achieving my goals and being comfortable with who I am.

— Susan K

My son receives supports through Hunter Care Group for his NDIS plan and I have been blown away with the level of commitment from all involved. Always suiting my sons needs to experienced and suitable support staff. Thank you.

— David M

I have experienced supports through a range of services in Newcastle and Hunter Care Group is by far the best! Thank you, Hunter Care Group, you have changed my life!

— Susan K

I am proud to say I’m a support worker with Hunter Care Group. This company goes above and beyond for all their consumers and staff. Management is amazing, they are always communicating with staff and consumers and always there to answer any questions or help in any way possible. I love every day working with my consumers and helping them with achieving their goals.

— Kelly B

A dynamic company looking to change how supports are being implemented treat everyone with dignity and compassion while treating each person with an individualised approach.

— Kristen R

News

We are Hunter Care Group

In operation since the NDIS rollout, we’re one of Newcastle and the Hunter’s leading psychosocial recovery coach providers. We put people first and quality and compassion back into care. Our mental health and disability support services are simple, effective and tailored to your needs – and enabled by the latest digital systems.

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A hunter Care Group employee helping a man make breakfast.

Our easy referral process

If you would like the support of a psychosocial recovery coach, why wait? We make the referral process quick and easy while keeping it personal – and personalised.

Make a referral

Step 1. Referral form

Complete the referral form in as much detail as possible so we can speed up our intake process. This information allows us to identify our availability to provide the requested disability supports and match the referral with the most suitable team member.

A Hunter Care Group team member discussing an NDIS plan with a participant.

Step 2. Meet & greet

Once confirmed, one of our friendly team members will organise a time and place to meet. During this stage, we get to know more about the participant and how you’d like us to deliver the requested NDIS supports. We’ll also provide the participant with a welcome pack explaining our services.

Step 3. Goal plan

We compile the information gathered throughout the referral process to develop a comprehensive goal plan in line with the participant’s needs and requests. The relevant support worker or service will receive this goal plan to ensure we all work collaboratively to deliver high-quality mental health and disability services in Newcastle and the Hunter.

A man in a lifting sling being helped by a woman.

Step 4. Supports delivery

Get the disability supports needed in just 5-10 days. This estimated turnaround time from initial referral may take a little longer depending on service requirements. Our team will be in touch throughout the process so you know the expected timeframe. From there, we continually monitor and review supports to ensure they’re delivered to a high standard.

A hunter Care Group employee and a woman standing together.

Frequently asked questions

According to the NDIS, a psychosocial disability is a mental health condition that ‘affects a person’s daily activities, such as socialising or interacting with others in a social setting, learning or self-care, or their capacity to fully participate in society.’

While a mental health issue doesn’t always lead to a psychosocial disability, it can have a significant and lasting effect on recovery when it does.

This type of disability is often seen in mental health disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD and depression.

Learn more about the definition of a psychosocial disability.

The National Disability Insurance Agency views recovery as ‘achieving an optimal state of personal, social and emotional wellbeing, as defined by each individual, whilst living with or recovering from a mental health condition.’

That said, recovery involves different goals for different individuals. For example, you might be focused on building social connections, while another participant may wish to secure employment. Perhaps both of you want to take more control of your daily life.

As a leading NDIS provider, our specialised team of psychosocial recovery coaches can support you on the road to recovery, whatever that looks like to you.

The main difference between a psychosocial recovery coach vs support coordinator is that the former has specialist knowledge in mental health, its challenges and services. Therefore, we only work with NDIS participants who have been diagnosed with a psychosocial disability.

On the other hand, a coordinator of supports can assist an NDIS participant with any type of disability to build capacities through their NDIS plan. Typically, support coordination helps these participants determine suitable services, connect with providers, monitor their positive impact, manage funding and get ready for plan reviews.

A psychosocial recovery coach does all of this – and then some. In short, we also take care of mental health recovery services, supporting participants to define and progress towards personal, specific and short-term goals.

Yes. Depending on the nature and extent of your disability, you may be eligible to access both a psychosocial recovery coach and support coordination under your NDIS plan.

An NDIS psychosocial recovery coach may be someone with:

Lived experience in managing mental health issues; or
Learned experience and knowledge of psychosocial disability and mental health.

Additionally, these trained professionals will ideally hold:

A Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work or Certificate IV in Mental Health, or similar tertiary training; or
At least two years of paid work experience in the mental health sector

At Hunter Care Group, we are highly trained and experienced in delivering mental health services in Newcastle, Central Coast, Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and the upper Hunter. Rest assured knowing our team is fully qualified to help NDIS participants with a psychological disability make the most of support services.

An NDIS Recovery Plan is a personalised strategy to help participants with a psychosocial disability overcome day-to-day challenges. This tailored tool for recovery can:

Develop and, if necessary, organise goals into more manageable short-term objectives.
Recognise the participant’s strengths and challenges.
Assist the participant in discerning aspects of their life where they can make choices and those where decisions should be made by others.
Identify important people in the participant’s life who can offer support.
Link established goals with existing and potential resources and services.
Define the roles and responsibilities of the participant, recovery coach, clinical supports, and other kinds of assistance.
Detect early indicators that might demand modifications to support and outline how to adjust these supports to cater to changing needs.
Help the participant to avail of resources and services within the wider service system, such as NDIS-funded supports and clinical mental health services.
Explain how NDIS supports complement and interact with other forms of support.
Guide the participant through the broader NDIS service system.

Psychosocial recovery coaching is funded under the support coordination category of the NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue.

Importantly, the pricing for these services varies based on the specific time and day when the support is provided.

To learn more, get in touch with the friendly team at Hunter Care Group today. We’re always happy to help.

Support work Coordination of supports Specialist support coordination Supported independent living Psychosocial recovery coach

Our recovery-focused supports

Explore our range of NDIS support services that help participants live life as independently and proactively as possible.

Two Hunter Care Group employees holding hands with a happy elderly woman.

Support work

Get the assistance you or your participant needs from a reliable, like-minded NDIS support worker.

Whether you want to participate in a sport, visit a hydrotherapy pool, go to a gaming group, or complete a TAFE course, we help our participants get out there, have fun and hit goals!

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Coordination of supports

Make the best use of your funding with the help of one of our coordinators of supports (COS).

As a provider since the rollout of the NDIS, we have deep connections with local support services, government departments and local businesses, ensuring your NDIS journey is efficiently moving in the direction of your goals.

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Specialist support coordination

We help participants with higher support needs overcome barriers and access the right support.

Does a participant or loved one have specific environmental or behavioural challenges and require a higher level of support? Our specialist support coordinators can connect them with supports within a specialised support framework and build capacity.

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Supported independent living

Consistent supervision and skill building in a shared Hunter Care Group-owned home.

SIL involves shared supports with other housemates. A roster of care is developed to identify the supports each participant needs throughout the week.

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