In Australia, the conversation around psychosocial disability and recovery is changing, and it’s long overdue. For many people living with psychosocial disability, meaningful participation in work, community, and life remains limited not by capability, but by systemic barriers and stigma that often make essential supports hard to reach.
Understanding Psychosocial Disability
Psychosocial disability refers to the functional impact of living with a mental health condition, such as anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. It can affect daily activities, social participation, and employment, often fluctuating in severity.
Yet despite recognition under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), people with psychosocial disability remain under-represented. According to Mellifont et al. (2022), only around 7% of Australians living with severe mental ill-health were accessing NDIS supports, far below the expected numbers. Their research identified five interlocking barriers:
Social inequities such as homelessness and poverty,
Stigma and trauma linked to past service experiences,
Lack of information or advocacy,
Complexity of the system, and
Mental-health symptoms that exacerbate these challenges (Mellifont et al., 2022).
These findings illustrate why access alone is not enough, the way services are designed and delivered determines whether they are truly inclusive.
From Barriers to Belonging: The CHIME Framework
A recovery-oriented model known as CHIME provides a framework for what genuine psychosocial recovery can look like. It emphasises five pillars:
Connectedness – feeling part of supportive relationships and community.
Hope and optimism – believing change and growth are possible.
Identity – building a positive sense of self beyond illness.
Meaning – engaging in activities that bring purpose.
Empowerment – gaining confidence and control over one’s life.
This model, first developed by Leamy et al. (2011) and later extended to CHIME-D (van Weeghel et al., 2019), now underpins the NDIS Psychosocial Disability Recovery-Oriented Framework and informs many modern service approaches.
Recovery Coaching and the CHIME-D Model
Recent research by Elmes, Campain, Brown, and Wilson (2025) explored how psychosocial recovery coaching, introduced to the NDIS in 2020, aligns with CHIME-D principles. Their national study found that participants reported significant gains in:
Connectedness and social support (79% felt more valued and respected);
Meaning and purpose (74% found greater direction in life);
Empowerment and choice (73% improved confidence navigating the NDIS); and
Hope and resilience (57% reported better mental health outcomes).
Importantly, the study showed that these outcomes were most effective when coaches used lived experience to foster trust, consistency, and hope, qualities central to recovery (Elmes et al., 2025).
However, barriers persist. Many participants cited financial hardship, service shortages, and NDIS inflexibility as continuing obstacles to employment and long-term stability. These findings echo Mellifont et al.’s (2022) conclusion: that systemic redesign and co-production with people with lived experience are essential to ensure access and equity.
Employment and the Power of Opportunity
Employment remains one of the most significant pathways to recovery, offering structure, social inclusion, and purpose. Yet Elmes et al. (2025) found that 86% of participants reported no change in employment outcomes, highlighting the ongoing need for supported employment models that integrate recovery-oriented principles, confidence building, self-agency, and skill development, rather than focusing narrowly on job placement.
By embedding CHIME values into vocational support and NDIS planning, service providers can help participants move from surviving to thriving, rebuilding identity through meaningful work and community contribution.
Why This Matters for Service Design
Both studies underline a key truth: recovery is relational. It grows through connection, empowerment, and environments that see people not as clients, but as capable contributors. When CHIME principles guide practice, the outcomes extend beyond clinical improvement, they nurture belonging, confidence, and independence.
At Your Way, Your Wellness, we see these principles every day in practice. When people feel connected, hopeful, and empowered, new possibilities emerge, for work, for wellbeing, and for life.
References
Elmes, A., Campain, R., Brown, C., & Wilson, E. (2025). Psychosocial recovery coaching and the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Outcomes and their alignment with the CHIME-D recovery framework. Community Mental Health Journal, 61(6), 1390–1405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-025-01477-6
Leamy, M., Bird, V., Le Boutillier, C., Williams, J., & Slade, M. (2011). Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 199(6), 445–452. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.110.083733
Mellifont, D., Hancock, N., Scanlan, J. N., & Hamilton, D. (2023). Barriers to applying to the NDIS for Australians with psychosocial disability: A scoping review. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 58(2), 262–278. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.245
van Weeghel, J., van Zelst, C., Boertien, D., & Hasson-Ohayon, I. (2019). Conceptualizations, assessments, and implications of personal recovery in mental illness: A scoping review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 42(2), 169–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000356
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