NDIS Recovery Coach: How Recovery Coaching Works in Your Plan
An NDIS recovery coach is funded from the capacity building budget of your plan, in the support category for support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaches. Your NDIA planner or partner works out the hours with you. When the plan starts, the planner sends a request for service to the provider you choose, and once they accept, they can claim from your plan.
Where Does Recovery Coaching Sit in an NDIS Plan?
In capacity building supports, in the category called support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaches.
| Part of the plan | Recovery coaching |
|---|---|
| Support budget | Capacity building |
| Support category | Support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaches (category 07) |
| Main support items | 07_101 to 07_106, Psychosocial Recovery Coaching, by time of day and day of week |
| For work | 10_101, Psychosocial Recovery Coaching for Employment, in the finding and keeping a job category |
| Registration group | 0106, assistance in coordinating or managing life stages, transitions and supports |
Capacity building funding is stated. The NDIS says you can't move funding between capacity building categories, so recovery coaching hours have to be used for recovery coaching, and you can't top them up from your core supports.
Who Gets Recovery Coaching in Their Plan?
The NDIA says recovery coaching will generally be funded for people with psychosocial support needs.
You need to be an NDIS participant first. Many people with a psychosocial disability are eligible, and our page on psychosocial disability and the NDIS explains the requirements and evidence. If you're already a participant and recovery coaching isn't in your plan, our guide to getting recovery coaching in your plan covers how to ask.
Looking for a Recovery Coach?
We'll connect you with a registered provider of psychosocial recovery coaching, in person or online.
How Many Hours of Recovery Coaching Do You Get?
It depends on your needs. There's no set number.
Your NDIA planner or NDIS partner works out with you how many hours you need, and the funding is written into your plan. It can help to think beforehand about what you'd like help with, how often you'd want to meet, and what usually happens when things get harder, so the hours reflect real life.
What Is a Request for Service?
It's how a recovery coaching provider is linked to your new plan. They have to accept it to be paid.
- When you get a new plan with recovery coaching, you choose the provider you want to work with
- Your NDIA planner sends that provider a request for service through the my NDIS provider portal, with your goals, support needs and situation
- You're asked to choose a second provider too, in case your first choice isn't available
- The provider has 4 days to accept or say they're not available. If they don't accept, it goes to your second choice
- Once they accept, they're recorded as a my provider on your plan and can claim for recovery coaching
This happens with each new plan. Even if you already work with a recovery coach, their provider has to accept the request for service on your new plan before they can claim from it.
Does It Matter How Your Plan Is Managed?
Yes, for prices. The NDIS maximum prices apply to plans that are NDIA-managed or managed by a registered plan manager.
The 2026-27 NDIS Pricing Schedule says its maximum amounts apply when the funding is agency managed or plan managed. Whatever the management type, it's worth agreeing the hourly rate, travel and cancellation terms in a written service agreement before you start.
How Do You Get Started With a Recovery Coach?
Check what's in your plan, talk to a few providers, choose one, and make a service agreement.
The NDIA suggests talking to two or more recovery coaches before you decide, and asking about their qualifications, lived experience, availability and NDIS registration. Your support coordinator or my NDIS contact can help find one, or you can tell us what you need and we'll pass it to one registered provider at a time.
Questions People Ask
Is recovery coaching core or capacity building?
Capacity building. It sits in the support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaches category, and capacity building funding can't be moved between categories.
Can I have a recovery coach and a support coordinator?
Sometimes. The NDIA's factsheet says for most people it recommends only a recovery coach, as a better use of the plan, but depending on your plan or situation you may have both.
Can I change recovery coach during my plan?
Yes. Check the notice period in your service agreement, line up a new provider first, then tell your current provider. Our guide to changing recovery coach goes through the steps.
Does recovery coaching need a registered provider?
We only connect people with providers registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The NDIS Commission says choosing a registered provider can help with safeguards.
Keep Reading
- Getting recovery coaching in your planHow to get a psychosocial recovery coach in your NDIS plan: at planning, through a plan change, the evidence that helps, and what to do if the answer is no.
- Recovery coach price guideNDIS price limits for psychosocial recovery coaching in 2026-27: hourly maximums by time of day and remoteness, what else is charged, and who they apply to.
- Psychosocial disability and the NDISCan you get the NDIS for mental health? How the NDIA decides eligibility for psychosocial disability, the evidence it needs, and what it does and doesn't fund.
- Recovery coach vs support coordinatorPsychosocial recovery coach vs support coordinator: what each does, qualifications, NDIS prices, and why the NDIA usually recommends one, not both.
- Changing recovery coachHow to change your psychosocial recovery coach or provider: talking to them first, notice periods, lining up a new provider, and updating the NDIS portal.
- How it worksHow we connect you with a recovery coaching provider, and what happens to your details.
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