If you have psychology support in your NDIS plan (or you’re exploring whether it should be), you might be wondering what that actually looks like in practice. Especially online.
Telehealth psychology can feel abstract until you’ve done it. And the truth is, what a session looks like depends a lot on who it’s for. A one-on-one appointment with an adult participant looks quite different from a session supporting a parent to co-regulate with their child… which looks different again from a parent working on their own capacity while their child is at school.
This post breaks it down by session type, so you can get a clearer picture of what to expect. And whether Telehealth psychology might be the right fit for where you’re at right now.
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First: What Is Telehealth Psychology in an NDIS Context?
Telehealth psychology support is psychology delivered via video or telephone call. It’s the same evidence-informed approaches, the same qualified psychologists, just without the commute. Under the NDIS, psychology support is funded under Capacity Building — Improved Daily Living when it’s directly linked to a participant’s disability and their plan goals. It’s not the same as Medicare-funded mental health support, which covers clinical psychology for general mental health concerns. The two systems fund psychology for different purposes. Your support coordinator or GP can help you work out which pathway is right for your situation.
For NDIS participants, Telehealth removes one of the most common barriers to accessing support: geography. Whether you’re in a regional area, managing a complex schedule, or supporting a child who finds new environments overwhelming, online appointments make it significantly easier to show up consistently — and consistency is what builds capacity over time.
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What Your Sessions Could Look Like
Because NDIS participants aren’t a single group, Telehealth psychology appointments aren’t one-size-fits-all either. Here’s what three common session types typically involve.
1. Adult Participant Sessions
If you’re an adult NDIS participant accessing psychology support for yourself, sessions are one-on-one — just you and your psychologist, via video call from wherever works for you. Home, your car, a private room at work…you choose!
The early appointments are usually about getting to know each other: understanding your NDIS goals, what’s getting in the way of daily functioning, and what you’d like to be able to do differently. From there, your psychologist will work with you on building the specific skills and strategies that connect to your plan goals — whether that’s managing sensory overwhelm, navigating social situations, building routines, or developing emotional regulation strategies that actually work for your nervous system.
Importantly, a good psychologist will work with you, not at you. You should leave sessions with something concrete — a strategy to try, a framework that makes sense of something you’ve been experiencing, or simply a better understanding of why certain things are hard. That clarity has functional value.
Sessions typically run for 50 minutes. You can join from any device with a reliable internet connection or mobile service. Most people find that a quiet, private space works best, but your psychologist will help you problem-solve if that’s not always possible.
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2. Sessions With a Child or Young Person (Parent Present)
When the NDIS participant is a child or young person, sessions often involve the parent or carer — particularly in the early stages. This isn’t just practical logistics. It’s actually central to how psychology support works for younger children.
Children don’t build emotional regulation skills in isolation. They build them through their relationships — especially with the adults they feel safest with. Research in co-regulation, including work by Dr Vanessa Lapointe and Maggie Dent, consistently shows that a child’s capacity to regulate their own emotions is developed through repeated experiences of being regulated alongside a calm, connected adult. Which means your nervous system matters as much as your child’s.
In practice, this might look like:
- Your child joining the call and doing some activities or talking with the psychologist directly, while you observe or participate
- The psychologist coaching you in real time on how to respond to your child’s behaviour or emotional state
- A debrief section with you alone (if your child steps away) to discuss what you observed and what to try at home
- Your child being the focus of the session while you and the psychologist problem-solve around a specific challenge together
For neurodivergent children especially, Telehealth can actually reduce the anxiety that comes with unfamiliar environments. There’s no waiting room, no new smells, no transition into a space that feels unpredictable. Your child is on their home turf — which can make a meaningful difference to how regulated they arrive at the session.
What your child’s sessions focus on will depend on their NDIS goals — but common areas include emotional regulation, communication skills, social understanding, coping strategies for anxiety, and building independence in daily tasks.
You might also like: 7 Tips for Co-Regulating with Your Kids
3. Parent and Carer Support Sessions
This one often surprises people: the NDIS participant doesn’t always have to be in the room.
Under some NDIS plans, psychology support can include appointments focused on building the parent or carer’s capacity to support their child’s functional goals. This is sometimes called Capacity Building for carers, and it recognises something that’s been well established in child development research: when you support the parent, you support the child.
These sessions are for you. Your psychologist can help you understand your child’s behaviour through a neurodivergent-affirming lens, develop strategies for the situations that keep derailing your week, work through the emotional load of navigating the NDIS and allied health systems, and build your own regulation toolkit so you have more capacity for the hard moments.
Carer sessions via Telehealth are particularly practical. You can schedule them during school hours, during a nap, or in whatever pocket of time you actually have. You don’t need to arrange childcare to get support for yourself.
It’s worth checking with your support coordinator whether your child’s plan includes capacity building for carers, or whether accessing support for yourself through a separate pathway (such as Medicare’s Better Access scheme) might be more appropriate for your situation. If you’re not sure, our team can help you think it through — get in touch here.
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Common Questions About Telehealth Psychology
Is Telehealth psychology as effective as in-person?
The short answer is yes, for most people, most of the time. Research consistently shows that Telehealth-delivered psychology produces outcomes comparable to in-person delivery. The therapeutic relationship (the single strongest predictor of outcomes in psychology) translates well to video. And for many participants, the reduced barriers to access mean they can actually show up consistently, which matters more than the medium.
There are situations where in-person support is more appropriate, and a good psychologist will be upfront about that. But for many NDIS participants, Telehealth removes enough barriers that they can actually access consistent support — and consistency matters more than the medium.
What do I need for a Telehealth appointment?
A device (phone, tablet, or laptop) with a reliable internet or mobile connection, and somewhere reasonably private. That’s genuinely it. Your psychologist will usually send through a link before your appointment (or call you). There’s no software to download and no complicated setup.
If you’re supporting a young child, it can help to have a couple of activities nearby in case they need something to do with their hands during the session. Your psychologist will guide you on this once they’ve had a chance to understand your child.
What if my child won’t sit still for a video call?
This is one of the most common concerns parents raise — and it’s a reasonable one. The good news is that experienced paediatric psychologists who work via Telehealth are very used to this. Sessions for younger children are often shorter, more activity-based, and deliberately paced to work with a child’s attention span rather than against it.
Movement is not a problem. A child who needs to walk around, fidget, or occasionally wander off camera isn’t failing at therapy. They’re being a child with a nervous system that works differently, and a skilled psychologist will adapt.
How to Get Started
If you have Capacity Building — Improved Daily Living funding in your NDIS plan, Telehealth psychology support may already be available to you. The first step is confirming with your support coordinator or plan manager that psychology is included in your plan and understanding how much funding is allocated.
From there, it’s simply a matter of finding a provider who’s a good fit. At Body & Mind, we offer Telehealth psychology support for NDIS participants across Australia (adults, children, and families) with no waitlist. Our network of psychologists also work alongside a broad allied health referral network. So, if you, your child or family needs wrap-around support, we can help connect the pieces.
All Body & Mind participants also receive complimentary access to Calm Premium (including sleep stories, guided meditations, breathing exercises, and mindful movement tools), as a resource to support regulation between appointments. It’s something you and your child can use at home, at school pickup, or at 2am when everything feels harder than it should.
If you’d like to find out whether Telehealth psychology is the right fit for you or your family, reach out to our friendly team — we’d love to help you work out the best next step.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice. NDIS funding eligibility and the availability of psychology support varies depending on your individual plan, goals, and circumstances. Body & Mind does not assist with applying for or managing NDIS plans. Please speak with your support coordinator, plan manager, or the NDIA directly to understand what support is available under your plan. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or your GP.