NDIS Counselling Melbourne for Self-Managed Plans
True Self Space provides NDIS counselling in Melbourne for participants with self-managed NDIS plans. We offer compassionate, trauma-informed psychotherapy for young people aged 12 and over, adults, and parents seeking support for their teenagers, working with anxiety, emotional regulation, identity, and the everyday challenges of living with a psychosocial disability or co-occurring mental health condition.
Sessions are available in-person at our Templestowe practice in Melbourne's north-east, and via secure telehealth across Victoria and Australia-wide.
Counselling for Self-Managed NDIS Plans
We currently support participants with self-managed NDIS plans. Self-management gives you direct choice and control over the practitioners you work with, the type of therapy you access, and how your funding is spent. For your sessions at True Self Space, you pay at the time of service and we provide a detailed tax invoice you can submit to the NDIS for reimbursement.
This model suits participants who want to choose a therapist based on therapeutic fit and specialised approach rather than being limited to a registered provider's panel. It also opens up access to counsellors and psychotherapists who work with deeper, longer-term modalities like Internal Family Systems and attachment-based therapy, which aren't always available through agency-managed providers.
We don't currently work with plan-managed or agency-managed NDIS participants
How NDIS Funding Works for Counselling
Counselling and psychotherapy are typically funded under the Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living category of your NDIS plan. This is the line item that covers allied health supports like psychology, counselling, occupational therapy, and other therapeutic services aimed at building your skills, independence, and capacity to participate in everyday life.
Before booking, it's worth reviewing your current plan to confirm you have funding available under Improved Daily Living, and that the amount is sufficient to cover the sessions you're hoping to access. If you're unsure about your funding allocation or how to interpret your plan, your support coordinator or Local Area Coordinator can help clarify this.
NDIS-funded counselling is goal-directed. The work we do together is linked back to the personal, social, or wellbeing goals in your NDIS plan, whether that's managing anxiety, building emotional regulation skills, strengthening relationships, increasing community participation, or developing a stronger sense of self.
Who Our NDIS Counsellor in Melbourne Supports
Our NDIS counselling services are designed for:
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Young people aged 12 and over with a diagnosis that allows them to access NDIS funding for counselling, including those experiencing anxiety, emotional dysregulation, social difficulties, or identity-related distress
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Parents seeking counselling for teenagers who have an NDIS plan and need a counsellor experienced in adolescent mental health
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Adults with self-managed NDIS plans seeking therapeutic support for mental health concerns, psychosocial disability, or the emotional impacts of living with disability
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Participants and families navigating new NDIS diagnoses where therapeutic fit and a strong, consistent relationship matter
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Melanie Pontikis is a PACFA and IFS registered psychotherapist with experience supporting teenagers, young adults, and adults through the kinds of emotional and relational difficulties that often sit alongside an NDIS plan.
What Our NDIS Therapy in Melbourne Can Help With
Sessions are tailored to your individual goals, but common areas of focus for NDIS-funded counselling at True Self Space include:
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Understanding and managing anxiety, including overthinking, constant worry, and feeling on edge
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Navigating social anxiety, friendship difficulties, fear of judgement, and the experience of feeling "not good enough"
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Building emotional regulation skills to handle overwhelm, shutdown, or intense feelings such as anger
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Reconnecting with your emotions and learning how to identify and safely express what you're feeling
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Recognising triggers and developing the capacity to respond rather than react
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Developing tools to soothe emotional intensity and feel more grounded in the body
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Reducing overwhelm, burnout, and the difficulty of starting or finishing daily tasks
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Navigating procrastination, avoidance, and all-or-nothing cycles
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Strengthening focus, motivation, and follow-through in a compassionate way
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Exploring self-worth, identity, and a stronger sense of self
The goal isn't symptom suppression. It's developing a deeper, more compassionate understanding of what's happening internally, and building skills and capacity that genuinely improve daily life. For participants whose primary concern is anxiety, our anxiety counselling approach integrates naturally into NDIS-funded therapeutic work.
Our Therapeutic Approach to NDIS Counselling
Our NDIS counselling draws on Internal Family Systems (IFS), attachment-based therapy, parts work, and trauma-informed practice. Rather than focusing only on surface symptoms, we explore the parts of you that carry difficult emotions and the patterns that have developed to protect you.
For young people in particular, a parts-based approach gives language to confusing internal experiences. Instead of being told their feelings are "too much" or labelled as a behavioural problem, teenagers learn to get curious about the different parts of themselves - the part that wants to fit in, the part that feels overwhelmed, the part that's scared of failing - and develop self-compassion in the process.
This approach pairs well with the kind of longer-term capacity-building work that NDIS counselling is designed to support. Real change to emotional regulation, self-worth, and the ability to participate in daily life happens through consistent, paced therapeutic work, not quick fixes.
NDIS Counselling Sessions - What to Expect
Your first session focuses on getting to know you (or your teenager), understanding the difficulties you're facing, and discussing the goals in your NDIS plan that relate to the counselling work. We'll talk about what's been tried previously, what's currently feeling hardest, and what you hope to get from therapy.
From there, sessions are collaborative and paced to your nervous system. Some sessions focus on a specific situation or relationship; others go deeper into emotional patterns or earlier experiences shaping current difficulties. Standard sessions run for 50 minutes.
For participants with self-managed NDIS funding, we send a detailed tax invoice after each session that you can submit to the NDIS for reimbursement.
Online and In-Person NDIS Counsellor in Templestowe
In-person sessions are available at our private practice in Templestowe, with easy access from Doncaster, Bulleen, Warrandyte, Eltham, Greensborough, Lower Plenty, Viewbank, Montmorency, and the wider north-east of Melbourne.
For NDIS participants who prefer telehealth, have mobility considerations, live in outer Melbourne or regional Victoria, or simply find online sessions more comfortable, we offer secure, encrypted video sessions from the comfort of your own home. Online counselling works particularly well for teenagers, who often open up more freely in their own space, and for participants for whom travelling to appointments is itself a barrier.
Online sessions follow the same 50-minute structure and use the same therapeutic approach as in-person work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use NDIS funding for counselling at True Self Space?
Yes, if you have a self-managed NDIS plan with funding allocated under Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living. We currently support self-managed participants only, not plan-managed or agency-managed.
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Does NDIS cover counselling for mental health conditions?
Counselling and psychotherapy can be funded under the NDIS when they support goals in your plan related to building capacity, managing daily living, or addressing the functional impacts of a psychosocial disability or co-occurring mental health condition. The specific funding sits under Improved Daily Living.
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What is NDIS counselling for self-managed plans?
NDIS counselling for self-managed plans means you choose your own counsellor, pay at the time of service, and submit invoices to the NDIS for reimbursement. This gives you maximum flexibility in choosing a therapist based on therapeutic fit and specialised approach.
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Can teenagers access NDIS counselling at True Self Space?
Yes. We work with young people aged 12 and over whose NDIS plan includes funding for counselling under Improved Daily Living. We're experienced in adolescent mental health and use approaches that suit teenagers who may not have engaged well with more directive forms of therapy.
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How many NDIS-funded counselling sessions can I have?
This depends on the amount of Improved Daily Living funding in your individual plan and how you choose to allocate it across different therapeutic services. Your support coordinator or Local Area Coordinator can help you understand your available funding.
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Do you provide reports or assessments for NDIS plan reviews?
Our focus is on providing therapeutic counselling rather than NDIS plan navigation, advocacy, applications, or assessments. We can provide standard tax invoices and progress letters relating to therapy where appropriate, but we don't write functional capacity assessments for plan reviews.
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Is NDIS counselling available via telehealth?
Yes. We offer secure online counselling sessions to NDIS participants across Australia, which is particularly useful for participants in regional areas, those with mobility considerations, or anyone who simply prefers the comfort of their own space.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consultation
If you have a self-managed NDIS plan and you're looking for compassionate, trauma-informed counselling in Melbourne, we'd love to talk.
Book a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your goals, ask questions, and see whether True Self Space is the right fit.