Mental injuries
Find out how to manage a mental injury claim, including seeking treatment, recovery and returning to work.
Support for when life gets tough
When life gets hard – whether with financial stress, health concerns or personal struggles – there’s help and support available.
Start mental health treatment before your claim is decided
If you’ve experienced a mental injury at work, you might be able to access early treatment while we assess your claim.
Starting treatment early can help you recover sooner and may stop your symptoms from getting worse.
Accessing early treatment
We may be able to fund some mental health treatments while we assess your claim, including:
- mental health-related GP appointments
- counselling or psychology sessions
- psychiatry appointments
- reasonable travel costs to get to treatment
- medication, such as antidepressants.
We don’t fund:
- in-patient hospital costs
- costs related to a hospital stay, such as nursing or medications given to you in hospital
- lost wages while we assess your claim.
We can discuss the available treatment options after you lodge your claim.
We can also help with mediation services between you and your employer to resolve issues and support a safe return to work.
If we can’t accept your claim
We’ll stop paying for your treatment. You won’t have to pay anything back for the treatment you received.
If your claim isn’t accepted, or you decide not to make one, it’s still important to get support.
Most mental health treatments have fees. Ask your GP about accessing rebates to help with costs.
Learn more
- Read our Mental health treatment options guide (PDF, 09.93 MB) to help you find support.
- See our Mental Health Services Table of Costs to check what we may cover.
Making a claim
Visit our make a claim page to learn how to start your claim.
We can also help with mediation between you and your employer to resolve issues and support a safe return to work. We’ll talk about this with you after your claim is accepted.
What is a mental injury?
A work-related mental injury (also called a psychological or psychiatric injury) affects a person’s mood, feelings, thoughts or behaviour and is caused by their job.
Examples include:
- depression
- anxiety
- adjustment disorder
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What can cause a mental injury?
- Being involved in, or seeing, a traumatic event at work, such as violence or a serious accident.
- Exposure to psychosocial hazards over time, such as bullying, high job demands or low job demands.
Some mental injuries happen on their own – these are called primary mental injuries.
Others can develop after a physical injury – these are known as secondary mental injuries.
Mental injuries that aren’t covered
Not all work-related mental injuries are covered.
Sometimes, your employer needs to make decisions about things like:
- promotions
- transfers
- leave
- work methods
- organisational changes
- performance matters
- disciplinary action.
This is called management action. The things listed above are just some examples of management action – other actions may fall into this category too, depending on your individual work situation.
If your injury happened because of reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way, it might not be covered.
If your claim isn’t accepted because of this, we’ll let you know in writing.
To find out more, check out this guide from the Workers’ Compensation Regulatory Service.
Getting treatment
It might feel a bit scary, but getting support for your mental health is healthy and normal.
Starting treatment early can stop symptoms from getting worse and help you recover faster.
Talk to your doctor
Your GP is the best place to start. They can:
- do a mental health assessment
- talk to you about treatment options
- give you a work capacity certificate (you’ll need this to make a worker’s compensation claim)
- refer you to a mental health professional if needed
- recommend a professional who suits your needs, either in person or via telehealth.
Sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist
Ask your GP if this is right for you. They may provide a referral so you can access Medicare rebates for psychologist sessions.
You can also see a psychologist without a referral.
Find a psychologist or a psychiatrist online.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Many workplaces offer free, confidential counselling through an external provider.
Talk to your work’s Human Resources team to find out more.
The Workers’ Psychological Support Service (WPSS)
This free, independent and confidential service is available to any Queensland worker struggling with a work-related injury.
A WPSS social worker can also connect you to other support.
To get in touch
- Call 1800 370 732 (9am-5pm, Mon-Fri)
- Email info@wpss.org.au
- Visit the WPSS website
Important: WPSS is not a crisis service.
“The relief I had... was just amazing because I now had a plan of how to get better. I had a fantastic psychologist, brilliant psychiatrist, and then everyone at work was very supportive and WorkCover rang me every month to make sure everything was going okay.”
Dr Deborah Simmons, anaesthetist and rural generalist
Read Deborah's full story
Caring for someone with a mental injury
If you’re a relative or friend of someone with a mental injury, you may find yourself providing care – sometimes short-term while they recover, or on a long-term basis.
We know this can be challenging.
You may not think of yourself as a carer, but you play an important role.
You should also make sure you’re caring for yourself. Here are some resources to help:
- Australian Government Carer Gateway – call 1800 422 737 (8am-5pm, Mon-Fri)
- Lifeline Toolkit – Carers of people with mental illness
- Health Direct – Supporting someone with a mental illness
- Online forums – connect with other carers through SANE Australia, Carer Gateway and Mental Health Carers Australia
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