Recovery is a journey, not a destination, and many psychosocial challenges in life are overcome by working with a dedicated recovery coach. Fortunately, many recovery coaches are easily accessible – read on to find out how!
Here we set out information on psychosocial recovery coaches and how easy it is to find one near you.
A Recovery Coach: Who Are They and What Do They Do
A psychosocial recovery coach is a term used in the NDIS to refer to trained individuals who can support people with psychosocial disabilities.
A recovery coach can help you become more socially and economically independent by developing your social networks and empowering you to take better steps toward the life you want.
Every psychosocial disability has its quirks and the most effective way to support every individual is to create a recovery plan tailored to that person.
The recovery coach works in collaboration with the individual and their circle of support, which may include family or friends, to design an effective plan. The coach also knows when to tap other professionals to make their recovery plan more effective.
Recovery coaches are required to have experience and knowledge in handling psychosocial disabilities and mental health issues. To ensure the quality of their service, coaches are required to have mental health qualifications and at least two years of experience doing related work.
Improving One’s Quality of Life and Mental Health
Seeking help will significantly improve the quality of life of individuals with psychosocial disabilities. These conditions vary in their effect on the individual’s quality of life. Some may have much less of an impact, while others are faced with very detrimental effects.
The NDIS defines a psychosocial disability as any mental health issue that negatively affects the way people socialize and interact with society.
Conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and severe anxiety and depression are some clinically diagnosed psychosocial disabilities.
Also, those Australians with physical disabilities, leading to reduced capacity regarding social interaction or learning, or means to self-care on a daily or weekly basis, may also be affected by psychosocial disabilities in addition to physical ones.
When left unrecognized and unmanaged, an individual with these psychosocial disabilities may have a poorer quality of life.
How Recovery Coaches Can Help
The first step to seeking help is to identify the presence of a problem. If you have been diagnosed with the previously mentioned disability and have an NDIS plan, it is best to reach out to a recovery coach.
The psychosocial recovery coach is expected to have the following expertise and skills:
- Knows a wide range of information on different psychosocial disabilities and how the individual can recover from them.
- Can coordinate with relevant professionals and other resources to formulate an effective and personalized recovery plan.
- Can engage with the individuals such that it can build their trust, motivate them to take steps towards their recovery goals, stay focused, and continuously adapt to the changing needs of the individual.
- Can understand the episodic nature of psychosocial disabilities and makes the recovery plan more fluid to adapt to such episodes.
As psychosocial recovery coaches are capable of all this, they can effectively carry out their responsibility to improve the quality of life of individuals. Their responsibilities are the following:
- Provide professional support for the person through recovery planning.
- Collaborate with other professionals and services to provide the assistance needed by the person with the disability.
- Coach the individuals to strengthen their decision-making and resilience to help them have better control over their lives.
- Assist individuals in building positive connections with their friends, family, and society as a whole.
- Provide adequate documentation of the person’s condition, progress, and recovery plan.
Generally, a psychosocial recovery coach has more hands-on tasks like helping you with advance directives and crisis management, using their specialist knowledge to help your mental health and support you towards your goals.
Given their required training and years of experience, they can provide better and more personalized care to accelerate the individual’s recovery.
What Does a Recovery Plan Mean?
So, what does it mean to “recover” from a psychosocial disability? For an individual with a psychosocial disability, seeking support and recovery means being closer and closer to achieving optimal and healthy social and emotional well-being.
Hence, the recovery coach aims to bring these individuals to better control over their daily life, including self-management, overcoming negative feelings and isolation, and facilitating positive emotions.
All these are geared toward the betterment of their well-being. So, a psychosocial recovery coach can provide a recovery plan that includes the following:
- Map out short-term and long-term goals for the individual.
- Identify fluctuations in the recovery of the individual and make necessary tweaks to the plan.
- Support the individual by outlining their responsibilities in recovery.
- Organise and coordinate other NDIS supports or clinical support, as needed.
Recovery plans have different timelines, but are usually implemented for extended periods to provide the best quality of support for you.
A Guide To Finding Psychosocial Recovery Coach
If you want to begin your recovery journey, here is a simple guide to finding the coach for you:
Step 1. Begin with simple research to find recovery coaches online.
An easy way to begin looking for a psychosocial coach is to search online. You can also try asking your NDIS plan manager or local coordinator to link you to recovery coaches. Or, you can look at the registry of NDIS providers.
To make things easier, you can visit Goal Coach to book a free 15-minute online chat with our esteemed recovery coaches. Here, we have caring, friendly, and skilled coaches to provide you with a recovery plan suited to your needs.
Another essential point to consider in seeking your preferred recovery coach is based on reviews of previous individuals who sought their services. Here at Goal Coach, our team indeed made a difference, and you can check some of the experiences of our clients.
Step 2. Make a list of questions you want to ask the coach.
When you look for a coach, you might already have a bunch of questions in mind. It would be more efficient if you list all these questions and ask them all during the consultation.
Important details to ask include their capability to manage your specific psychosocial concern, their availability, implementation of patient privacy, or your comfortability with their team.
This way, you will not miss a detail about how the recovery coach can go about their plan, and it will also help you assess if the coach can offer the kind of service and planning prefer!
Step 3. Set a meeting with the recovery coach.
Now, it is time to set a meeting with a recovery coach. You can book a free 15-minute chat online at goalcoach.com.au. Then, you can have your consultation with our expert team to get your recovery journey started.
We provide online services for our clients. Our telehealth services still mean that a real person is talking to you! You can have a telehealth consultation with our recovery coaches using your phone, iPad, or computer.
You can opt for an online chat or a video consultation. To get ready for our virtual appointment, book a schedule, wait for an email or SMS confirmation, and prepare to join a Microsoft Teams meeting.
Once it is your scheduled time, all you need to do is enter the meeting, as linked in your confirmation SMS or email. You will be automatically entered in the meeting and your consultation will begin.
Essentially, a virtual consultation like this is more convenient, has zero risk of exposure to transmittable diseases like COVID, and saves you traveling costs. Plus, you would be more relaxed and less hassled as you stay in the comfort of your home.
This is the best time to have all your questions answered! Do not be shy and feel as comfortable as you can when asking our recovery coaches.
Moreover, remember that recovery coaching is 100% funded under the NDIS, provided that you have an NDIS plan which includes support coordination or recovery coaching.
Goal Coach: A Psychosocial Recovery Coach For You
If you are looking for a qualified professional to be your psychosocial recovery coach, head on to Goal Coach. We are sure to have a coach that understands what you need, and how to work towards your self-improvement goals.
Goal Coach is unique as we have no waitlist, are available nationally to all Australians, and have set up a holistic online service model, where our team’s care and attention are generating positive impact for our clients.
Finding a recovery coach is influenced by the organization’s location. Usually, clients look for providers based on their location. However, they can encounter limitations regarding quality of the coaches or prior reviews and experiences of other clients.
Fortunately, Goal Coach provides services using an online platform! Locations would not be much of a hurdle, and our recovery coaches reach Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and much more. All you need is a stable internet connection and a gadget, and you can utilize our online services wherever you are.
So, go ahead and get started with your recovery journey with our friendly and skilled experts from Goal Coach today!
At Goal Coach, we’re experts in mental health and the NDIS so you can always give us a call and we can give you some tips and point you in the right direction. book a free 15-minute chat to ask us all your questions and find out more about what we do…
Don’t forget, you can access recovery coaching with Goal Coach whether you have an NDIS plan or not.
