You don’t need a referral to make an appointment. However, if you wish to claim Medicare rebates you will need to obtain a Mental Health Care Plan and referral from your GP. When making an appointment with your GP, notify them in advance that you are making an appointment to request a Mental Health Care Plan so they can schedule in a longer appointment.

An initial referral is for a maximum of six sessions. Your GP will assess your progress after the first six sessions and determine whether further sessions are needed.

After you have reached the maximum number of allowable sessions for the calendar year you will not be eligible for any further Medicare rebates for treatment you receive from a psychologist until the new calendar year.

If you have an existing Mental Health Care Plan and it is addressed to a different psychologist or clinic, this can still be used with another psychologist as long as you have not used up the maximum amount of sessions within the referral.

Some private health insurance policies cover psychological services. The amount of cover varies depending on the specific policy you hold. Please make sure to check if psychological services are covered under your health insurance policy.

You cannot use your private health insurance ancillary cover to top up the Medicare rebates.

You need to decide if you will use Medicare or your private health insurance ancillary cover to pay for any psychological services you receive. That is, you can either access rebates from Medicare by following the claiming process or claim where available on your insurer's ancillary benefits.

A standard session runs for 50 minutes and costs $220.

If you have a Mental Health Care Plan (see above), a Medicare rebate of $141.85 is available per session, for a total of 10 sessions per calendar year.

Concession rates are available for students, pensioners and health care card holders.

We like to have a brief chat on the phone prior to making a first appointment to make sure we are the right fit for one another :)

After scheduling a first appointment, you will receive an email with basic information regarding Hope Psychology and essential forms and documents to be completed by yourself prior to your first appointment.

The first session will be somewhat heavy on information gathering from the therapist. This is so that we can complete an in-depth assessment of your needs, relevant background, and identity tailored treatment goals. This may involve discussing any past therapy experiences, mental health history, family history, therapy goals as well as other relevant information. By the end of the first (sometimes second) session, initial treatment goals are identified however this will be reviewed ongoing.

This is also an important session for the therapist and client to get to know one another and assess the "fit" for one another. Not all clients and therapists may have compatible working styles, but just as it takes time to build any new relationship, we do encourage individuals to attend at least 2-3 sessions before making a judgement on the therapeutic relationship.

A standard session is 50 minutes in length.

All psychologists are legally required to be registered in Australia, which means your psychologist is registered with the Psychology Board of Australia. Your psychologist is also a member of the Australian Psychological Society, the largest professional organisation for psychologists in Australia. These safeguards mean that your psychologist is properly trained and ensures that you receive high quality, ethical service.

As a client of an APS psychologist, you have a right to expect that:

• You will be treated with respect at all times

• Your cultural background and language tradition will be respected

• You will be given a clear explanation of the services you will receive

• You will be asked to give your consent for any service provided by your psychologist prior to the service commencing and as it progresses

• You will receive an explanation about the confidentiality of the service and the exceptional situations where your confidentiality may not be protected

• You will receive a clear statement about fees for your psychologist’s services

• There will be a discussion about the estimated number of sessions required to achieve your goals

• You will receive skilled and professional services from your psychologist

• There will be clear goals that you and your psychologist are working toward

• You can ask any questions about the service you are receiving

If you have any concerns about the above matters, discuss them with your psychologist. If you have concerns about the conduct of your psychologist, you may call either the Psychology Board of Australia on 1300 419 495, or the Australian Psychological Society on (03) 8662 3300.