Overseen by Peter Saltamaras, Co-Founder and COO of Lanara · Last reviewed 15 October 2026

Lanara provides psychology-informed NDIS support for adults living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) across Sydney. We support self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants, as well as private clients. Our focus is steady, practical help with everyday life from a support worker you get to know.

Is borderline personality disorder covered by the NDIS?

BPD can be covered by the NDIS, but a diagnosis on its own does not decide it. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) makes each access decision based on the evidence you provide.

BPD is a mental health condition, so NDIS applications are usually considered under psychosocial disability. Psychosocial disability is one of the impairment types listed in the NDIA’s disability requirements.

To meet those requirements, the impairment needs to be likely permanent. It also needs to substantially reduce your ability to do everyday activities, in areas such as socialising, looking after yourself and managing your life. The NDIA usually looks at permanence after available and appropriate treatment options have been considered.

The NDIA says it understands that impact can go up and down and come in episodes. That matters for BPD, because many people have steadier periods and harder periods.

Evidence from your treating professionals about how BPD affects your daily life is important. A functional capacity assessment can help show this. From January 2028, eligibility for new applicants will be decided using a new standardised assessment of functional capacity (NDIA).

Our guide to psychosocial disability and the NDIS explains more.

How BPD can affect daily life

Everyone’s experience of BPD is different, and it can change over time. Some weeks feel manageable, while others feel much harder.

Strong emotions can arrive quickly and take a long time to settle. When that happens, ordinary tasks can slip: meals, sleep, showering, keeping the home in order or answering messages.

Relationships often carry the heaviest load. A cancelled plan or a short reply can feel like rejection, which makes friendships and family contact tiring.

Other common challenges include:

  • keeping a regular routine when your mood shifts
  • getting to appointments, including therapy sessions
  • managing money when urges to spend are hard to resist
  • holding onto work, study or volunteering
  • feeling empty or unsure of who you are, which can make goals hard to set
  • feeling lonely, or pulling away from people to avoid getting hurt

Stigma can add another layer. Project Air notes that people living with BPD are often wrongly seen as manipulative or attention seeking. In reality, they are usually in real emotional pain and trying to get their needs met in the ways they know. Project Air also says that with effective treatment, most people find their symptoms ease and many recover.

How our support can help

For many people living with BPD, how support is delivered matters as much as what we do.

We put a lot of care into consistency. We aim for the same support worker each time, with predictable session times and clear, kind boundaries. You know who is coming and when. If something needs to change, we tell you early and explain why.

Every Lanara support worker holds a university degree in psychology or a related discipline and has completed mental health and trauma-informed training. We take care with matching, so you can build a steady working relationship with someone who suits you.

Support can look like this:

  • Psychosocial support: building a weekly routine, preparing for tricky conversations, and practising the coping skills you’re learning in therapy in real situations.
  • Social and community participation: going to a class, gym or community group together until it feels easier to go alone.
  • Daily living assistance: keeping on top of shopping, cooking, cleaning and bills, so things don’t pile up during a rough patch.

SANE notes that tracking moods, eating well, exercise and good sleep can help people living with BPD. A support worker can make these easier to keep up.

Example: Jess rebuilds her week

Example from our work. Names and details are changed to protect people’s privacy.

Jess is 29 and lives in Redfern. She sees a psychologist for DBT. After a hard year, she had stopped seeing friends and was missing some of her sessions.

Jess was matched with a support worker, Mia, who visits every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. In the first few weeks they kept things simple: a walk, a coffee and a shared calendar for her appointments.

Over a few months, they added a Friday grocery shop and cooking one meal together. One day Jess felt overwhelmed on the way to a pottery class. Mia helped her use a grounding skill from her DBT group, and they went in for twenty minutes.

Some weeks still go sideways. But Jess now has a predictable rhythm and gets to most of her therapy. She knows Mia will turn up when she says she will.

Working alongside your treating team

Lanara is not a clinical service. We don’t provide therapy or diagnosis, and our support workers are not psychologists.

Healthdirect describes psychological therapy, such as dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), as the main treatment for BPD. These therapies are delivered by trained clinicians. Our role is to complement that work in everyday life, never to replace it.

We work alongside your GP, psychiatrist, psychologist, occupational therapist and support coordinator. With your consent, our team can share what your support worker notices day to day, which can help your clinicians see the bigger picture.

If you take medication, a support worker can remind you and sit with you while you take it. They never administer or handle medication.

Getting started

Call us on 1300 152 627 or contact us online. We’ll talk about what you’d like help with.

Next, we send you an intake form and a service agreement. Matching usually takes 3 days to 2 weeks, because we take care to find the right person.

Your first session is a meet-and-greet with your support worker. It runs for at least 2 hours and is paid like any other session. After that, regular sessions begin at times that suit you.

We support adults across six areas of Sydney. We support self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants, as well as private clients. We can’t support NDIA-managed plans.

If having someone new in your home feels daunting, this article on support worker nerves may help. You can also read about your NDIS journey with Lanara, or see other conditions we support.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Is BPD covered by the NDIS?

A: It can be. The NDIA decides based on whether the impairment is likely permanent and substantially reduces your ability to manage everyday life. A BPD diagnosis alone does not guarantee access.

Q: Is BPD a psychosocial disability?

A: BPD is a mental health condition. When it has a lasting, significant impact on daily life, NDIS applications are usually considered under psychosocial disability. Not everyone living with BPD will meet the NDIS disability requirements.

Q: Can a support worker help with DBT skills?

A: A support worker can’t teach or deliver DBT. With your agreement, they can help you practise skills from therapy in everyday places, like the shops.

Q: Will I see the same support worker each time?

A: That is our aim, and we match carefully with that in mind. If anything needs to change, we’ll let you know as early as we can.

Q: Do you support people without an NDIS plan?

A: Yes. We support private clients, as well as self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 000. For urgent mental health advice, call the NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 (24 hours, 7 days) or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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