Types of workplace rehabilitation support after a NSW workers comp injury

SIRA's own approval framework splits workplace rehabilitation into distinct service streams, each built for a different situation. Here is what each one actually covers, and when it applies.

If you have been referred to a workplace rehabilitation provider (WRP), it can sound like one single service. It is not. SIRA's own approval framework requires providers to be separately approved for each type of support they deliver, called a service stream, and the stream that fits you depends on where your recovery is heading, not just what your injury is. Here is what SIRA's own framework says each stream is for. See what a workplace rehabilitation provider does for the WRP role generally, and how to choose or change your provider if the fit is not right.

Recover at work: staying with your employer

This is the stream most people picture when they hear "workplace rehabilitation": support to recover at, or return to, the job you already had. SIRA's framework says providers should use it when a workplace assessment is needed to identify and negotiate suitable duties, when a coordinated approach is needed to support the worker, employer and treating team together, and when a return to work plan needs designing, implementing and monitoring as your capacity changes. See the return to work process in NSW for how that plan typically develops over time.

Because your existing employer is part of the plan, this stream leans on getting the employer engaged early: SIRA's guidance for providers includes educating the employer on the health benefits of good work, and considering workplace, industrial relations and HR issues that could affect your return.

Return to work: a new employer

Sometimes going back to your old job or old employer is not realistic. This stream covers support to return to work with a different employer altogether. SIRA's framework describes using it when a worker's vocational capacity, transferable skills and options need identifying, when a job-seeking strategy and support is required, and when a potential new worksite needs assessing for suitability, including a work trial, assistive equipment or workplace modifications.

The practical work looks different to the same-employer stream too: vocational assessment and counselling, building capacity and job-ready skills, and facilitating a transitional or trial placement with a host employer before a full return.

Workplace facilitated discussion: when the relationship is the problem

Not every stall in a return to work plan is about capacity. Sometimes a strained relationship between a worker and their employer is the actual barrier, and SIRA has a narrower stream for exactly that. A facilitated workplace discussion is, in the framework's own words, "a brief intervention that enables a SIRA-approved workplace facilitator to provide recovery through work support to parties to address issues that may be impacting the recovery at work." It runs in two parts: a preparation stage, where the facilitator meets each party separately to understand the issues and identify available support, then a joint meeting, where the facilitator helps both sides reach a written, workable agreement.

This stream is deliberately narrow: providers seeking approval to deliver it can only offer the service where the worker's goal is to return to work with their same employer, not a new one.

Specialist job-seeking services: extra support for particular groups

The specialist job-seeking stream sits alongside the general new-employer stream, for workers whose job search benefits from support tailored to a specific circumstance. SIRA approves individual providers to deliver this for a named cohort of workers, and publishes the list: examples on that list include Advanced Personnel Management, approved for mature-aged and culturally and linguistically diverse workers; Konekt, approved for workers with a brain injury; and Rehabco, approved for workers with a psychological injury or illness including PTSD, among several other provider-and-cohort combinations.

SIRA updates this list as approvals change, so treat the examples above as a starting point and ask your case manager which provider currently holds an approval for your situation, rather than assuming a name on this page still applies.

Which stream will you get?

You do not choose a stream off a menu. Your case manager and the workplace rehabilitation provider work out which stream, or combination, fits your situation: your capacity, whether your pre-injury job is realistically available, and whether anything besides the injury itself is holding up your recovery. If you think the wrong kind of support has been put in place, for example a general recover-at-work referral when the real problem is a breakdown with your employer, raise it with your case manager; see how to choose or change your provider for how to ask for a different fit.

These service streams come from SIRA's Workplace Rehabilitation Provider Approval Framework, current when it was last checked; always confirm anything time-critical with your case manager or the source below.

Get matched