diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/KubernetesDiscoveryClientReactiveAutoConfiguration.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/KubernetesDiscoveryClientReactiveAutoConfiguration.java
index 103aefd4..ec84d487 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/KubernetesDiscoveryClientReactiveAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/KubernetesDiscoveryClientReactiveAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ package org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.discovery;
 
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnMissingBean;
 import org.springframework.boot.context.properties.EnableConfigurationProperties;
-import org.springframework.cloud.client.discovery.event.InstanceRegisteredEvent;
 import org.springframework.cloud.client.discovery.health.DiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorProperties;
 import org.springframework.cloud.client.discovery.health.reactive.ReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator;
+import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.PodUtils;
 import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.discovery.ConditionalOnSpringCloudKubernetesReactiveDiscovery;
 import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.discovery.ConditionalOnSpringCloudKubernetesReactiveDiscoveryHealthInitializer;
-import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.discovery.KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer;
+import org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisher;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
 import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient;
@@ -50,16 +51,30 @@ class KubernetesDiscoveryClientReactiveAutoConfiguration {
 		return new KubernetesReactiveDiscoveryClient(webClientBuilder, properties);
 	}
 
+	@Bean
+	@ConditionalOnMissingBean
+	PodUtils<?> kubernetesDiscoveryPodUtils() {
+		return new KubernetesDiscoveryPodUtils();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Post an event so that health indicator is initialized.
+	 */
+	@Bean
+	@ConditionalOnSpringCloudKubernetesReactiveDiscoveryHealthInitializer
+	KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer reactiveIndicatorInitializer(
+			ApplicationEventPublisher applicationEventPublisher, PodUtils<?> podUtils) {
+		return new KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer(podUtils, applicationEventPublisher);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * unlike the blocking implementation, we need to register the health indicator.
+	 */
 	@Bean
 	@ConditionalOnSpringCloudKubernetesReactiveDiscoveryHealthInitializer
 	ReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator kubernetesReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator(
-			KubernetesReactiveDiscoveryClient client, DiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorProperties properties,
-			ApplicationContext applicationContext) {
-		ReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator healthIndicator = new ReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator(client,
-				properties);
-		InstanceRegisteredEvent event = new InstanceRegisteredEvent(applicationContext.getId(), null);
-		healthIndicator.onApplicationEvent(event);
-		return healthIndicator;
+			KubernetesReactiveDiscoveryClient client, DiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorProperties properties) {
+		return new ReactiveDiscoveryClientHealthIndicator(client, properties);
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e04cbca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/discovery/ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013-2023 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.discovery;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.ObjectProvider;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
+import org.springframework.boot.test.context.TestConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.cloud.client.discovery.event.InstanceRegisteredEvent;
+import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.discovery.KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer;
+import org.springframework.context.ApplicationListener;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
+
+/**
+ * test that asserts the type of published event for reactive discovery.
+ *
+ * @author wind57
+ */
+@SpringBootTest(
+		properties = { "spring.main.cloud-platform=kubernetes", "spring.cloud.config.enabled=false",
+				"spring.cloud.kubernetes.discovery.discovery-server-url=http://example",
+				// disable blocking implementation
+				"spring.cloud.discovery.blocking.enabled=false" },
+		classes = ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.HealthEventListenerConfiguration.class)
+class ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest {
+
+	private static boolean caught;
+
+	// blocking client is not present, as such the blocking auto-configuration was not
+	// picked up, therefor the health event comes from the reactive one.
+	@Autowired
+	private ObjectProvider<KubernetesDiscoveryClient> discoveryClients;
+
+	@Test
+	void test() {
+		Assertions.assertTrue(caught);
+		Assertions.assertNull(discoveryClients.getIfAvailable());
+	}
+
+	@TestConfiguration
+	static class HealthEventListenerConfiguration {
+
+		@Bean
+		ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.HealthEventListener healthEventListener() {
+			return new ReactiveDiscoveryHealthPublishedEventTest.HealthEventListener();
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	private static class HealthEventListener implements ApplicationListener<InstanceRegisteredEvent<?>> {
+
+		@Override
+		public void onApplicationEvent(InstanceRegisteredEvent<?> event) {
+			caught = true;
+			Assertions.assertTrue(event
+					.getSource() instanceof KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer.RegisteredEventSource);
+			KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer.RegisteredEventSource registeredEventSource = (KubernetesDiscoveryClientHealthIndicatorInitializer.RegisteredEventSource) event
+					.getSource();
+			Assertions.assertTrue(registeredEventSource.inside());
+			Assertions.assertNull(registeredEventSource.pod());
+			Assertions.assertEquals(registeredEventSource.cloudPlatform(), "kubernetes");
+		}
+
+	}
+
+}