When Recovery Stalls: The Hidden Systemic Risks Organisations Keep Missing
- Tenneile Manenti
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
Most organisations invest heavily in treatment, rehabilitation, and return-to-work planning — and rightly so.
Yet despite appropriate clinical care, engaged workers, and formal RTW processes, recovery still stalls far more often than it should.
Not because people aren’t trying.
Not because treatment is failing.
But because recovery does not happen in isolation — and the systems surrounding an injured worker are rarely supported.
This gap is costly. And it’s preventable.
Recovery at work is a systems issue, not just a clinical one
From a neuroscience and occupational health perspective, recovery depends on more than symptom management. It relies on whether the nervous system can shift out of sustained threat activation and regain a sense of predictability, safety, and coherence.
When injury occurs — particularly in the context of work — pressure doesn’t stay neatly contained in the therapy room. It shows up at home, in leadership conversations, in HR processes, and in everyday interactions that are well-intended but often misaligned.
Research into stress physiology and trauma recovery consistently shows that when uncertainty, mixed messages, or relational strain persist, the nervous system remains in a heightened state of vigilance. In that state:
energy fluctuates unpredictably
confidence and initiative reduce
emotional reactivity increases
capacity does not reliably rebuild
Insight alone doesn’t resolve this.
Compliance doesn’t either.
Recovery slows not because the person is “not ready”, but because the system around them is unintentionally keeping threat switched on.
The organisational blind spot: unintentional pressure during recovery
Most stalled recoveries share common system-level features:
families unsure how to support without pushing
leaders anxious about “saying the wrong thing”
inconsistent messaging across HR, RTW and supervisors
subtle pressure to demonstrate progress
None of this is malicious. In fact, it usually arises because people care.
But from a brain-based perspective, uncertainty and vigilance are interpreted as threat — even when intentions are positive. Over time, this can prolong recovery, increase the risk of secondary psychological injury, and quietly undermine otherwise sound return-to-work plans.
This is where many claims drift from “recovering” to “complicated”.
Why more treatment is not the answer
When recovery stalls, the instinctive response is often to add more:
more appointments, more check-ins, more oversight, more documentation.
Yet evidence from occupational rehabilitation and psychosocial risk research shows that the drivers of prolonged claims are frequently relational and systemic, not medical.
Family strain, leadership anxiety, and poorly defined boundaries are well-established risk factors for delayed recovery and failed RTW attempts — yet they are rarely addressed directly.
This is not a failure of clinical care.
It is a gap between treatment and lived reality.
Recovery Circle™: addressing psychosocial risk without crossing roles
Recovery Circle™ was developed precisely to address this gap.
It is a brief, preventative, non-clinical recovery support that strengthens the ecosystem around an injured worker — without replacing therapy, duplicating case management, or blurring ethical boundaries.
Recovery Circle™ works alongside existing treatment and rehabilitation and is delivered separately to two key groups:
Family / Loved One Briefing (30 minutes)
A structured psychoeducational session delivered to one nominated support person.
It focuses on:
understanding what recovery actually looks like
normalising emotional and behavioural changes
reducing unintentional pressure
supporting the supporter (because caregiver fatigue is real)
This is not counselling.
It is education, clarity, and boundaries.
Leader / Supervisor Briefing (30 minutes)
A structured leadership support session delivered to the worker’s direct supervisor or RTW coordinator.
It focuses on:
what leaders are responsible for — and what they are not
how to communicate safety without hovering or avoidance
managing modified duties without escalation
containing team narratives and reducing HR fallout
This is not therapy.
It is psychologically literate leadership under pressure.
Importantly:
sessions are non-clinical
no clinical information is shared
the injured worker remains the sole therapy client
written consent and clear scope are built in
From a governance and risk perspective, that separation matters.
The neuroscience behind the business case
From a brain-based lens, Recovery Circle™ works because it reduces load rather than adding more.
When families and leaders understand:
why recovery is non-linear
how language and expectations affect nervous system regulation
what helps versus what unintentionally harms
the nervous system receives consistent signals of predictability and safety. This reduces threat activation and frees up cognitive and emotional resources for healing and re-engagement.
At an organisational level, this translates into:
improved RTW engagement and sustainability
reduced escalation to secondary psychological injury
fewer breakdowns in communication
clearer role boundaries for leaders
demonstrable psychosocial risk mitigation
In short: better outcomes at a fraction of the cost of prolonged or derailed claims.
Alignment with WHS and psychosocial risk obligations
Australian WHS legislation increasingly recognises psychosocial risk as a core organisational responsibility. Family strain, leadership uncertainty, and poorly managed recovery communication are not “soft issues” — they are known psychosocial hazards that can reasonably be anticipated and mitigated.
Guidance such as ISO 45003 reinforces the need for proportionate, preventative controls that address how work systems affect psychological health.
Recovery Circle™ supports organisations to:
demonstrate proactive psychosocial risk management
support leaders without turning them into therapists
meet duty-of-care obligations without inflating cost or scope
This is not about doing more.
It’s about doing what actually works.
Recovery doesn’t only happen in therapy sessions
It happens at home.
In leadership conversations.
In the spaces between appointments.
When those spaces are unsupported, recovery slows — even with excellent care.
Recovery Circle™ exists to close that gap.
If you’re an organisation, insurer, or rehabilitation provider seeing recovery stall despite appropriate treatment, Recovery Circle™ offers a brief, ethically clean intervention that reduces system-level risk and supports sustainable return-to-work outcomes.
If this issue is showing up in your organisation or role, it’s rarely just an individual problem — it’s usually a systems one.
This is the work I do: supporting people and organisations under pressure with evidence-based, trauma-informed psychology. That includes individual telehealth support, workplace advisory, and programs like Recovery Circle™ that strengthen recovery at work.
Enquire via Mind Logistics – Psychology & Performance to discuss whether Recovery Circle™ or broader psychosocial support is the right fit.
This article forms part of the Good Work, Good Mental Health series — practical reflections on how work can be designed, led, and supported in ways that protect psychological health while still enabling people and organisations to perform. The focus is not on reducing expectations, but on understanding how good work is structured, communicated, and led so mental health is supported rather than quietly eroded.
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