What is habilitation and rehabilitation?
Habilitation is a collaboration between you, your family and professionals to provide support so that you can manage as well as possible on your own and enjoy a good life. Habilitation is often for people who were born with disabilities, or who suffered illness or injury as a child. Many people need follow-up and support throughout their lives.
Rehabilitation is collaboration in training your body and brain after illness or injury that you have suffered later in life. Rehabilitation often lasts for a shorter period of time, but many people will still need a lot of help and support after rehabilitation has ended.
What habilitation and rehabilitation have in common is that you can meet many different types of professionals who collaborate with you and with each other to help you. These professionals may have different ways of working.
Habilitation and rehabilitation can be about how your body and brain work and how you feel and think. They can also be about how you get on in your everyday life and with the people around you.
Who is responsible for habilitation and rehabilitation?
The municipality you live in is responsible for ensuring that you receive the follow-up you need. If you need follow-up over a longer period of time and several different services, the municipality will provide you with a coordinator and an individual plan.
When you need more specialised services than your municipality can provide, you can receive habilitation and rehabilitation in hospital. Then your municipality and the hospital must work together.
You can read more about the differences between habilitation and rehabilitation in the municipality and in hospitals on the Norwegian Directorate of Health's website:
- Services – Habilitation and rehabilitation services provided by the municipality (in Norwegian)
- Services – Habilitation and rehabilitation services provided by the specialist health service (in Norwegian)
Habilitation and rehabilitation must have clear goals and be planned
Habilitation and rehabilitation are a collaboration between professionals and individuals who need treatment and follow-up.
When you receive habilitation or rehabilitation, it is important that you and the various professionals you meet set goals. The goals should be based on what you feel is important to you in order to get better. For this reason, it is important that you are involved in deciding the goals.
You and the professionals should also make plans for the sequence and timing of what is to be done. The plans must describe who is responsible for what and how the goals are to be achieved.
ReHabilitation hotline 800 300 61
The ReHabilitation hotline provides you with information and guidance on habilitation and rehabilitation services and offerings in the health region in which you live.
You can call the hotline on 800 300 61 Monday to Friday 09.00–15.00.