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What is Psychosocial recovery coach?

Also known as: Recovery coach

A psychosocial recovery coach is an NDIS-funded worker who supports participants with psychosocial disability in their recovery. Coaches help participants build capacity and resilience, plan and organise supports, and connect with mental health and other services. The support was introduced on 1 July 2020 and is generally funded instead of support coordination, not alongside it.

Recovery coaches provide capacity building support. They do not deliver core supports for daily living or social and recreational activities. Participants can choose a coach with lived experience of mental ill-health and recovery, or one with professional mental health experience.

What a recovery coach does

  • builds the participant's capacity and resilience
  • helps them find, plan and organise supports
  • plans for and keeps them engaged through times when they need more support
  • coaches them to build on strengths, knowledge, skills and decision-making
  • connects them with community and mainstream services, including health and mental health services outside the NDIS, and helps those services work together.

Worker requirements

Under the Pricing Schedule 2026-27, psychosocial recovery coaching must be delivered by a worker who has either:

  • at least a Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work, a Certificate IV in Mental Health, or an equivalent tertiary qualification in a related field, or
  • at least 2 years of demonstrated professional experience in mental health related work.

The maximum amounts are based on the cost of employing a Level 4.4 worker under Schedule B of the SCHADS Award. NDIA guidance also recommends at least 20 hours of continuing professional development a year.

Recovery coach or support coordinator

Because coordination is part of the recovery coach role, the NDIA will generally not fund both a recovery coach and support coordination in the same plan, although it may in limited circumstances. Recovery coaches follow the same request for service process as support coordinators in the my NDIS provider portal, and once a request is accepted they can claim for supports delivered up to 28 days before their recorded role start date.

Hours, supervision and lived experience

The number of recovery coaching hours funded depends on the participant's needs, and the NDIA planner or NDIS partner helps work this out. NDIA guidance describes lived experience supervision, provided by people with significant experience working in and supervising lived experience roles, as best practice for lived experience recovery coaches.

How Rostery helps

Rostery's support coordination module and progress notes keep coaching sessions, goals and reports in one participant record.

Questions people ask

What qualifications does a psychosocial recovery coach need?

At least a Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work, a Certificate IV in Mental Health or an equivalent tertiary qualification, or at least 2 years of professional experience in mental health related work.

Can you have a recovery coach and a support coordinator?

The NDIA will generally not fund both, because coordination is part of the recovery coach role. It may fund both in limited circumstances.

Does a recovery coach need lived experience?

No. Coaches can qualify through lived experience peer work or through professional mental health qualifications or experience. Participants can choose a coach with lived experience if they prefer.

Is recovery coaching a core or capacity building support?

It is a capacity building support. Recovery coaches do not deliver core supports for daily living.

Checked against the official sources on 2 October 2026. Rules change: confirm the current position with the agency before you rely on it.

Related terms

Support coordinationSupport coordination is a funded NDIS support in which a coordinator helps a participant understand and use their plan: finding and connecting providers, negotiating service agreements, building the participant’s capacity to manage their own supports, and resolving problems when supports break down.Capacity BuildingCapacity Building is the NDIS budget category funding supports that build a participant’s skills and independence rather than assisting with daily tasks. It covers therapy, employment supports, improved living arrangements, and support coordination. Unlike Core, funding is allocated to specific sub-categories and cannot be moved between them.SCHADS AwardThe SCHADS Award is the modern award covering most Australian disability and community services employees. It sets minimum pay rates by classification level, and the rules for penalties, overtime, broken shifts, sleepovers, on-call, travel reimbursement and minimum engagement periods. Compliance is a legal obligation, not a payroll preference.NDIS provider portalThe NDIS provider portal is the NDIA’s online system where providers claim payment and see the details of the participants they support. There are two: the myplace provider portal, for participants on older plans, and the my NDIS provider portal, for participants whose plans are in PACE, the NDIA’s newer system. As participants move to PACE, more of the work happens in the my NDIS provider portal.Progress notesProgress notes are the written record of what happened during a support: what was delivered, how the participant responded, and anything of concern. They are the primary evidence that a claimed support was actually provided, and they are what an auditor, a plan reviewer or a coroner reads when a decision is questioned.

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