When to refer to a Clinical Social Worker? Social Work is a tertiary-qualified profession recognised nationally and internationally that supports individuals, families, groups and communities to improve their wellbeing. Clincial Social Workers in Australia require six or more years of training (including a master's degree or 4 year bachelor minimum plus 2 years supervised field experience to obtain AMHSW). There is huge overlap between psychology, occupational therapy and social work under the NDIS funding system. It can be difficult to know when to allocate funds to Social Work and or when to refer to a Social Worker. Here are the key differences: Psychologists address purely the psychological needs. Occupational therapists address the regulation needs in relation to daily activities (occupations). Clinical Social workers address the psychological needs providing the same therapies as psychologists (eg. CBT, EMDR, counselling, emotional regulation, understanding of development and disability), address the occupational needs using the same regulation strategies as an OT,  address the sensory needs through understanding and appropriate referrals for profiling support to access and adequately utilise the systems around them to fully participate in daily lifework with a person's support network to ensure that supports are adequately resourced. An NDIS participant should be referred to a Social Worker instead of an OT or psychologist when:  There are high levels of psycho-social complexity, hidden disabilities or challenges that are greater than just psychological or regulation needs. The person is having great difficulty in engaging with the systems around them due to their disability (eg. the person is losing opportunities because they cannot access or get a system to understand their disability needs). A psychologist or OT can refer to Social Work when feel out of their depth with a client and need further support.