Service. Capacity Building.
Psychosocial Recovery Coaching in Sydney, grounded in evidence.
NDIS Recovery Coaching delivered by an Accredited Social Worker practising in acute mental health. Anchored in the CHIME-D recovery framework.
if you only read this.
i.
NDIS Recovery Coaching for participants with psychosocial disability across Sydney.
ii.
Delivered by an AASW Accredited Social Worker, not a Cert IV provider.
iii.
Grounded in the CHIME-D evidence-based recovery framework.
Chapter I.
What Recovery Coaching actually is.
A relational practice that walks alongside the participant in their recovery, not just the system around it.
Psychosocial Recovery Coaching is an NDIS Capacity Building service introduced in 2020 for participants whose primary disability is psychosocial. It is funded between 60 and 156 hours per year, delivered as sustained relational work rather than transactional support. Most participants meet with their Recovery Coach 1 to 3 hours per week, over months and often years.
The NDIS makes a specific distinction here that many providers blur. Recovery Coaching is funded for personal recovery, not clinical recovery. Personal recovery is about living a meaningful life in the context of mental illness. Clinical recovery is about reduction or absence of symptoms. They are different goals. Recovery Coaching does not replace psychiatric treatment or psychological therapy. It walks alongside them.
At Vitalya, Recovery Coaching is delivered as a relationship that is consistent, predictable, and deeply collaborative. The work happens in the participant’s life, not just in scheduled meetings. Phone calls together. Travel to appointments. Practising skills in real settings. Weekly check-ins. Bridging the participant, their treating teams, their family or chosen supporters, and their NDIS supports into a coherent recovery process.
This is different from Support Coordination, which focuses on managing services and the plan. Recovery Coaching focuses on the participant — on building skills, identifying patterns, holding hope when it is hard to hold, and creating the conditions for recovery to take root.
Chapter II.
The framework, named.
CHIME-D is the evidence base for personal recovery. Most providers do not articulate any framework. Vitalya does.
CHIME-D is the most widely cited framework for personal recovery from psychosocial disability. It emerged from systematic review of qualitative research with people in recovery, and has since been validated in peer-reviewed evaluation of NDIS Recovery Coaching outcomes.
The six domains are below. Each one names a process that meaningful recovery moves through. Vitalya’s coaching practice is structured to work across all six, holding the framework as a guide while letting the participant set the pace.
C
connectedness.
Building relationships and belonging
Recovery happens in connection, not in isolation. Coaching supports the participant to rebuild relationships with family or chosen people, peer communities, and the people in their life who matter. Coaching is itself a connection. The relationship between coach and participant is part of the recovery work.
H
hope.
Holding the belief in possibility
Recovery requires hope, especially when the participant cannot hold it themselves. Coaching carries hope on behalf of the participant during the times they cannot. Not naive optimism. Realistic, evidence-based hope grounded in what is actually possible.
I
identity.
Reclaiming who the person is
Mental illness can dominate identity. Recovery is partly about rediscovering and reclaiming the parts of the person that exist beyond their diagnosis. Coaching makes space for this. The participant is more than their illness.
M
meaning.
Building a life that matters
Personal recovery is grounded in living a meaningful life. That looks different for every participant. Work, study, creative practice, parenting, advocacy, faith, community. Coaching helps the participant identify what gives their life meaning and build practical pathways toward it.
E
empowerment.
Reclaiming agency and choice
Mental health systems often strip agency. Coaching is structured to return it. The participant chooses what matters. The participant sets the pace. The participant directs the work. Coaching is not done to the participant. It is done with them.
D
difficulties.
Acknowledging what is hard
Recovery is not a straight line. There are setbacks, hospital admissions, episodes, grief, frustration. CHIME-D adds Difficulties to acknowledge that recovery happens with mental illness, not despite it. Coaching holds difficulty without flinching and integrates it into the recovery story.
No. III. The difference.
What makes Vitalya different on this service.
Three differentiators that matter specifically for psychosocial Recovery Coaching in Sydney.
An Accredited Social Worker delivering the coaching
Most Recovery Coaches hold Cert IV in Mental Health. Vitalya delivers Recovery Coaching with postgraduate clinical training.
A Master of Social Work and AASW Accreditation means risk reading, formulation, mental state observation, trauma-informed practice, and clinical supervision are part of how the coaching gets delivered. For complex psychosocial cases, the difference shows up in early signal detection, plan documentation, and the ability to hold clinical complexity without losing the recovery focus.
Hospital systems literacy, from the inside
Currently practising part time as a social worker in acute inpatient mental health.
Many participants in Recovery Coaching have histories of hospital admission. Vitalya knows what discharge planning means because it is part of the work each week. Treating teams, mental health nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs are spoken to as colleagues, not as gatekeepers. Bridging the participant between clinical mental health services and community recovery is the daily work.
Neuroaffirming and communication-aware
Text-first communication. Written follow-ups. Predictable scheduling. Plain language. Sensory accommodations.
Many participants with psychosocial disability are also neurodivergent. The same accommodations that make Vitalya’s Support Coordination accessible apply equally to Recovery Coaching. Coaching only works when the participant can actually access it.
Chapter IV.
Who Recovery Coaching is for.
Knowing whether your participant fits saves time and ensures they end up in the right service.
The right fit for Recovery Coaching.
- Participants with primary psychosocial disability
- People in recovery from depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, PTSD, complex mental illness
- Participants ready for sustained relational work over months or years
- People building skills, routines, and meaning alongside their treatment
- Participants whose plan funds Recovery Coaching specifically
- People who want a coach with clinical mental health depth
- Participants navigating return to work, study, or community after admission
Better fit elsewhere.
- Participants in active crisis (clinical care first, coaching after)
- Participants who specifically want a coach with lived experience of mental illness
- Participants whose primary need is therapy or psychiatric treatment
- Participants needing administrative coordination only (see Support Coordination)
- Agency managed plans (Vitalya accepts plan and self managed)
- Participants outside greater Sydney
Chapter V.
What it looks like in practice.
Sustained relational work has a different shape than coordination. Here is the trajectory.
i.
SAME BUSINESS DAY
Referral acknowledged
Personal acknowledgement by text or email the same business day. No automated reply. No phone tag.
ii.
WEEKS 1 TO 4
Building the relationship
First weeks are about getting to know each other. Recovery story shared at the participant’s pace. Goals identified together. Treating teams contacted with consent.
iii.
MONTHS 2 TO 6
Active recovery work
Skills practised in real settings. Routines built. Patterns identified. Setbacks held without losing the recovery direction. Documentation built across CHIME-D domains.
iv.
ONGOING
Sustained partnership
Recovery is not linear and not finished in 12 weeks. Vitalya stays for the duration. Plan reviews evidence the recovery work. The relationship adapts as the participant changes.
Chapter VI.
Pricing, plainly.
how it works.
Charged at NDIS price guide rates.
Psychosocial Recovery Coaching at Vitalya is charged at the standard NDIS Price Guide rates for Recovery Coaching under Capacity Building. The rate is set annually by the NDIA and applied uniformly across providers nationally.
Plan managed and self managed participants welcome. Vitalya does not currently accept agency managed plans.
Recovery Coaching is typically funded between 60 and 156 hours per year. The exact pattern is set with the participant based on plan funding and recovery goals. No additional fees, no surcharges, no hidden costs.
Chapter VII.
Questions actually asked.
Practical answers from a practitioner perspective.
What is a Psychosocial Recovery Coach?
A Psychosocial Recovery Coach is an NDIS-funded support for participants with psychosocial disability. The role is to coach the participant in personal recovery — building skills, hope, identity, meaning, connectedness, and empowerment to live a meaningful life in the context of mental illness. It is different from Support Coordination, which focuses on managing services and plans.
How is Recovery Coaching different from Support Coordination?
Support Coordination is systems-focused. The work is finding providers, managing the plan, coordinating services. Support Coordination is what you fund when the participant needs help with administration. Recovery Coaching is relationship-focused. The work is sitting alongside the participant in their recovery, building skills, identifying patterns, and bridging clinical and community supports. Many participants benefit from having both.
Does Vitalya have lived experience of mental illness?
Vitalya does not claim lived experience. The differentiator is learned knowledge from inside the clinical mental health system, grounded in postgraduate social work training and ongoing acute mental health practice. Lived experience matters and is genuinely valuable. Participants who specifically want a coach with lived experience are well served by other providers, and Vitalya supports that choice.
What framework does Vitalya use?
Vitalya’s Recovery Coaching is grounded in the CHIME-D recovery framework — Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment, and Difficulties. CHIME-D is the most widely cited evidence base for personal recovery and has been validated in peer-reviewed research evaluating NDIS Recovery Coaching outcomes. Most providers do not articulate any framework. Vitalya does.
How many hours per week is Recovery Coaching?
NDIS Recovery Coaching is typically funded between 60 and 156 hours per year, which works out to roughly 1 to 3 hours per week of direct contact. The exact pattern is set with the participant based on plan funding and recovery goals. The relationship is sustained over months or years, not transactional.
Can a participant have both Recovery Coaching and Support Coordination?
Yes. Many participants benefit from both, with each role doing different work. The Coach focuses on the participant’s recovery process. The Coordinator focuses on the plan and providers. The two roles communicate and align so the participant is not coordinating their own coordinators.
Is Vitalya accepting new Recovery Coaching referrals?
Yes. Vitalya has capacity for new Recovery Coaching referrals across greater Sydney. If at any point we cannot take a referral, you will hear that the same business day with reasoning so an alternative arrangement can be made quickly.
Other services at Vitalya.
Specialist Support Coordination (Level 3)
Higher-complexity NDIS coordination for participants whose situations require clinical depth and systems expertise.
Support Coordination (Level 2)
Standard NDIS coordination for participants who need help connecting and managing supports. Neuroaffirming.
Capacity Building Social Work
Coming 2026. Direct social work intervention as a standalone NDIS service.
No. VIII. The next step.
Have a participant who needs Recovery Coaching?
Same business day response on every referral. Plan managed and self managed welcome across Sydney. The form takes three minutes.