Living with a mental health condition can create barriers to daily life that extend far beyond the condition itself. When those barriers become significant and persistent - affecting your ability to manage routines, maintain housing, connect with community, or live independently - this is known as psychosocial disability. And it is something the NDIS specifically funds.
Flourish Health provides psychosocial disability occupational therapy across Melbourne. Our AHPRA-registered occupational therapists work alongside people whose mental health conditions have created lasting functional impacts on daily life. We visit you at home, support you in the community, and provide assessments for NDIS access, housing, and ongoing living skills - wherever you are in your recovery journey.
Our approach is recovery-oriented. We do not treat psychosocial disability as a fixed state. We work with your strengths, at your pace, toward goals that are meaningful to you.
No referral is required, and we typically see new clients within one to two weeks. Flourish Health is an NDIS-aligned provider working with plan-managed and self-managed participants.
What Is Psychosocial Disability?
Psychosocial disability is not a diagnosis. It is a description of functional impact. A person can live with depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, or another mental health condition and not have a psychosocial disability - if the condition does not significantly impair their ability to function in daily life.
Psychosocial disability exists when a mental health condition creates substantial, long-term difficulty in areas such as:
- Self-care and personal hygiene
- Managing household tasks and daily routines
- Maintaining housing stability
- Participating in employment, education, or volunteering
- Managing finances and administrative tasks
- Connecting with family, friends, or the broader community
- Accessing healthcare and managing a condition
The NDIS recognises psychosocial disability as a valid ground for access, and supports are available across Capacity Building, Core, and Capital budgets depending on individual need.
What Does OT for Psychosocial Disability Look Like?
Occupational therapy for psychosocial disability is practical, goal-directed, and person-centred. It is not counselling or psychotherapy - it focuses on function and participation.
Our occupational therapists work with you on:
Daily Living and Self-Care
Building routines that are realistic given your current energy, motivation, and capacity. This might include strategies for managing personal hygiene on difficult days, breaking down household tasks into manageable steps, or developing simple systems that reduce cognitive load.
Housing and Home Management
For people living with psychosocial disability, housing instability is common. We can support you with functional assessments for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) or Supported Independent Living (SIL), provide evidence for housing-related funding decisions, and work with you on practical home management skills.
Community Access and Social Participation
Reengaging with the community after a period of social withdrawal can feel overwhelming. We work alongside you to identify barriers, build confidence, and develop practical strategies for accessing community spaces, social activities, and peer support.
Executive Function and Routine Building
Managing appointments, medication schedules, finances, and administrative tasks is hard when mental health is affecting concentration, memory, and motivation. We help build external systems - routines, prompts, checklists, tools - that reduce reliance on depleted internal resources.
Vocational Preparation
If employment or education is a goal, we can help you identify realistic steps, work on skills relevant to those settings, and provide evidence to support reasonable adjustments.
NDIS Functional Capacity Assessments
We provide Functional Capacity Assessments for NDIS access and plan reviews. These assessments document how psychosocial disability affects functional performance across life domains - providing the evidence the NDIS needs to make appropriate funding decisions.
How NDIS Funds OT for Psychosocial Disability
Occupational therapy for psychosocial disability can be funded under several NDIS budget categories:
- Capacity Building - Daily Activities - for therapy aimed at building skills and independence
- Capacity Building - Support Coordination - if your OT is working alongside a support coordinator
- Core - Assistance with Daily Life - in some circumstances where OT directly supports daily function
Our services are billed at the current NDIS standard allied health rate. As an NDIS-aligned (unregistered) provider, we work with plan-managed and self-managed participants.
If you are unsure what your plan includes, your plan manager or support coordinator can clarify. You are also welcome to contact us directly - we are happy to help you work out what is possible.
Getting Started
Contact us to make a referral or discuss whether we’re the right fit:
- Phone: (03) 7043 7778
- Email: admin@flourishhealth.com.au
- Referral form: Available online - no GP referral required
