What career option would you like to explore?
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Explore a range of general support options
I want more variety in my work
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Learn more about providing specialised supports
I want to focus on a specific type of support
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Learn more about building capabilities and communities that support inclusion
I want to pursue my interest in inclusion and accessibility
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Learn more about supervisory or frontline management roles
I want to move into a supervision / frontline management role
Support for psychosocial disability
Psychosocial work supports people living with psychosocial disability to have more control of their lives and increase their independence and capability to deal with the complexities of day-to-day life. Your role will involve motivating, encouraging, listening, and advocating. You will learn about recovery-oriented practice and how to balance encouragement and support with respect for the rights of the person to make their own choices, at their own pace. You will also learn how to recognise external, social and environmental factors that influence the options and barriers faced by participants, and how to build capacity to challenge and build resilience.
People with psychosocial disability may also have a behaviour support plan. Positive behaviour support involves working with the participant to support them to understand the social, environmental and personal factors that influence behaviour, to increase their independence and ability to manage their life. You will learn about the principles of positive behaviour support and how to apply them in practice. A behaviour support plan is required for delivering this type of support and is developed by an NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner. The role of an NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner involves undertaking functional behaviour assessments, developing behaviour support plans and ensuring that workers responsible for implementing the plan have the capabilities they need. Detailed information on the capabilities required by behaviour support practitioners are outlined in the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework (PBS Capability Framework). Practitioners must be considered suitable by the NDIS Commission (through an application process) before practicing as an NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner. For more information on applying for assessment as an NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner, see the below link,
- NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission | Apply to be an NDIS BSP - Practitioners require solid experience working with people who require positive behaviour support and should demonstrate adequate knowledge and skills across the domains of the PBS Capability Framework. The PBS Capability Framework does not require minimum years of practice, qualifications, training or professional development to be a behaviour support practitioner; however some practitioners may have health or allied health professional qualifications in fields such as social work, psychology, nursing, occupational therapy.
Role profile
David is a support worker who works with people who have mental health and psychosocial disabilities
Can you describe what you do in a few sentences?
As a support worker in mental health, my job is to motivate and empower participants to make their own choices and be leaders in their own lives. I have a big focus on building capacity and providing any support I can.
What does a regular day look like?
With the participants I work with at the moment, the day is based around timing of medication and different appointments the participants have. Outside of those times, it’s all about what the participant wants and needs that day. I base my approach on how they are feeling, their goals, and what they want to do. Some of the activities might be cooking, going to the shops or just going for a walk or a coffee.
What’s the best part of your role?
All aspects of the role. The people I work with are the kindest, most beautiful people, and it’s such a privilege to get to know and support them.
What are the biggest challenges?
Having to watch participants go through the suffering on a bad day and knowing there’s not much you can do for them on those days. For example, if someone has schizophrenia and is having a bad day, you know there’s no way to take the voices they’re hearing away.
How did you get into your current role?
I’ve done a lot of different jobs prior to this and they all helped me build experience that’s useful. I worked in childcare, retail, hospitality all over the world and when I came back to Australia I was working in aged care for a little while before I decided I wanted to work in mental health.
I heard about a few companies that specialised in mental health and when I interviewed for my current role, the interviewer talked about more of a focus on getting the right person who was compassionate and patient, not necessarily the qualifications, and they would be able to train me.
What skills or experiences did you have that were helpful, and what did you need to learn?
In addition to my past (varied) experience, training about restrictive practices and choice and control were really good for understanding more about disability and mental health. Then when I started, I got a lot of basic training around administering medication, first aid, resuscitation and then a lot of in-service training on the job.
Capabilities
The NDIS Workforce Capability Framework outlines outlines core capabilities for General and Advanced Support Work that apply to all support workers. The Framework also calls out some additional capabilities that are relevant to psychosocial and work in trauma informed care. In line with the Framework’s approach, the below capabilities are written from the perspective of the participant.
- Support me with my psychosocial disability
- Support me to implement my positive behaviour support plan
- Support me with my experience of trauma
- Support me with my complex, challenging or changing social circumstances
Some roles will require additional training or qualifications. It is recommended that you investigate specific roles of interest to find out about potential qualifications you could undertake. For example, many recovery coach or psychosocial support roles require:
- Cert IV (or equivalent) in mental health or mental health peer work
- Bachelor’s degree in human services, psychology or counselling
Things to consider
- This work can be very rewarding but also challenging. Doing well requires you to develop resilience and take care of your own health and wellbeing. It is important to know when to seek support.
- Reflective practice is an important part of these roles. It means participating in conversations with others to examine your own attitudes and values and consider how you may need to challenge your tendencies to improve the way you work.
- This work relies on establishing solid, trusted relationships with the people you are supporting. It is also important to be clear about role boundaries so that you don’t set up unrealistic expectations.
- Depending on who you are working with, you may need to learn about and support participants to negotiate complexity. This can include managing supports across different government programs such a housing, employment, or health, interacting with the justice system, managing drug and alcohol dependency.
- There is increasing recognition of the role that people with lived experience can play as peer support workers. Support from a worker with firsthand experience can be highly encouraging and motivating.
- Support workers who provide psychosocial support may go on to work as a Recovery Coach. Recovery coaches do more advanced work and assist people with psychosocial support to manage their supports. This role shares similar capabilities with those needed for support coordination. So, if you are a support worker delivering psychosocial support, consider recovery coaching or more general support coordination roles.