Frequently Asked Questions
Bookings
Please give at least 48 hours notice so that I can offer your appointment slot to another client. Cancellations made within 24 hours of the session will incur a full session charge. If we can find another session time within operating hours that week, no fee will be incurred.
See the online calendar for the available times that you can book.
You can also contact me if you’re struggling with the calendar or would like to discuss booking a time or booking series.
Mental Health Care Plan
A mental health care plan lets you claim a Medicare rebate on 10 individual psychologist sessions each calendar year. You can access one by visiting your GP.
Yes, mental health care plans do not expire until you use all 10 sessions. However, once you have used all 10 sessions you will have to wait until the start of the next year to receive a new plan.
Some GPs like to renew their patient’s mental health care plans every 6 to 12 months, especially if the severity or your circumstances may have changed.
Yes, you can get one anytime while working together, but your rebates can only be applied on or after the date of your mental health care plan.
After the first six sessions you will need to have an in-person or telehealth consultation with your GP to get access to the four remaining sessions on your plan.
Fees and Rebates
If you have a mental health care plan, Medicare will give a rebate for 10 sessions per year. I am a general psychologist, so this rebate is different to a clinical psychologist.
A mental health care plan can save you a significant sum of money on your psychologist sessions every year.
Yes, the system is set up to process your rebates. Once I receive payment, the system will process it alongside your receipt.
This will only occur after payment is successful.
My session fees are outlined on the fees page. Note that the cost of the initial session is higher due to the additional time that goes into treatment planning and behind the scenes work starting with you.
My fees are far below the $300.00 recommended by the Australian Psychological Society or the standard $230.00 to $300.00 for the greater Sydney area.
Many clients have been in a similar position. Please let me know and we can schedule larger gaps in between therapy sessions. Gaps longer than one month, however, may lead to a lower positive impact compared to fortnightly sessions or sessions every three weeks.
Spacing out sessions to every three weeks brings the weekly costs down significantly, especially with a mental health care plan. Many people find that cancelling a few subscriptions they have forgotten or buying slightly cheaper versions of the products they use allows them to afford psychology sessions. In some cases, Mental health issues can prevent us earning a wage that reflects our true potential so once you’re well you might be able to earn more in the long term.
I have also compiled a list of resources so you can read or watch about others’ experience with similar struggles and what helped them.
Through your work EAP, school or university you may be eligible for a rebate or low-cost services in between sessions. Alternatively, programs like, ‘This way up’ or ‘My Compass’ are free and may complement therapy
If you come from a disadvantaged background, exploring if there are any government subsidies or programs available for you may be an option.
Sorry, no we don’t bulk bill.
What to expect from sessions
The first session is about understanding you, your history and what brought you to the sessions. I will work to build a safe and warm environment while you respond to questions about your strengths, history, challenges, current working/life situation and relationships. The focus is on understanding you, what you’ve tried before and the strengths and goals you’re bringing to sessions.
It is very normal to feel nervous. Please feel free to let me know how you feel about talking to someone. There will be time for you to ask any questions you need, express what pace you’d like or anything else you need to feel safe and comfortable working together.
Sessions are a safe space to build your energy and wellbeing so you can break down the emotional or practical barriers to moving towards the life you want.
You will receive zero judgement. Even if you’re struggling in a slump to make progress or feel your thoughts could never be shared, you will be viewed through a lens of your greatest strengths and compassion.
You will have a space where your thoughts and inner experience are held gently and with care. No thought is too embarrassing or too shameful to share. In fact, these are often the ones that are most healing to be aired.
You can also expect a tailored therapy experience based on the goals you’ve selected, how you would like to work and who you are as a person.
You can also expect that you will receive evidence-based care to offer you the best opportunity to no longer need psychology services.
The answer is as unique as your personality, history, and environment. The research literature indicates that 10-20 sessions is a realistic estimate when addressing uncomplicated mood and anxiety disorders like depression, social anxiety disorder etc.
Some clients find improvements in as little as 4 sessions. Others, especially if you’re forced to remain in an unhealthy environment or have had years of ongoing difficulty may require more sessions.
Multiple diagnoses, substance use, self-harm, personality disorder diagnoses and suicidality often hint at a longer therapeutic process to support the safety of the client, resolve more complex trauma or challenges to their mental thriving.
Each client is unique, and your process may look more or less structured depending on what you need or how you like to work. Typically, sessions aim to help you enhance your self-awareness of your past, how this affects how you respond today and identify what values and life you want to build.
Sessions 1-3 may include:
- A review of your history, understanding your goals and important aspects of your life and what you’ve been trying already.
- Psychoeducation: what and why of the mental health difficulties you’re experiencing
- Evaluate how your past and present environmental factors maintain your stress. Often there is some low hanging fruit e.g. change of environment, adjustments that relieve some stress and access more energy to work on your mental wellbeing.
- Valued activities: rediscovering and addressing barriers to socializing or activities that used to lift your mood. This also provides energy to process the past and work on your goals.
Many clients report the process of being heard and clarifying their challenges as an immense relief. Often these distressing thoughts and stressors build up like tangled wool. When you’re supported to lay out the stress, thoughts and agony, some clients report it feeling like a weight lifted from their shoulders. It is very common to be hard on ourselves and stuck before we can lay out and organize the challenges before us. Only then do acceptance, direction and self-compassion take root for change.
Sessions 4-6+ may include:
- Identifying your triggers and refining your coping tools or where to seek support. Equipping ourselves to cope with the pain prevents the distress consuming us and our avoidance continuing. This also builds your confidence and mood to cope and try out new ideas.
- Safely and gradually exposing yourself to your triggers and coming away stronger. This often lowers immense stress if our triggers are necessary daily chores e.g. driving to work.
- Evaluating insights you’ve learned about yourself and investigating if your old beliefs about yourself are still helpful.
- Refining your process to maintain healthy habits, and what to do in the face of stressors increasing.
- Exploring how you’re living, your values and what keeps you motivated or blocked from achieving your goals.
Addressing the root of suffering
Our sessions aim to address the roots of mental suffering. One common root cause is when the type and intensity of the world’s demands exceed our coping or aren’t suited to our strengths. This can place us in a threat or alarm state which may lead to illness. Addressing these unmet needs may look like understanding how to build healthy relationships, reducing or changing the type of demands we place on ourselves e.g. perfectionism or finding a better suited job.
Reducing threat response
Once we have been struggling for a while this threat or alarm state can turn into anxiety and depression as our system becomes chronically overwhelmed. We may need to rebuild the positive feedback loop between you and the world (your relationships, daily life tasks, and goals). This may disrupt the pattern of scanning for threats/flaws in ourselves and withdrawing us from who and what we love.
Positive feedback loop
We can replace negative feedback loops with positive ones, e.g. developing healthy relationships. This opens us to feel the joy that gives life purpose and vitality again. This improved mood may give us energy to get distance from our anxious, depressive or obsessive thoughts. They can feel so real when we feel down and stressed. With this distance we can learn to observe them for what they are: simply thoughts that don’t have to have a stranglehold on us. We can build insight into why they came to be and when we don’t need to follow them.
Understanding the voice of anxiety and depression
We can also learn how this misguided protective voice developed to help us and separate it from ourselves. This awareness of an anxiety or depressive voice can enable us to be aware of how our mind works and prevent stress from turning into anxiety or self-doubt into depression in times of future stress.
Understanding our neurodiversity and how to set up a life that honours your nervous system
Many neurodivergent folk find it highly stressful operating in a neurotypical world. Setting up skills to advocate for yourself, seeking accomodations and understanding the strengths of how your mind works and undoing unhelpful messaging can create a more healthy, and less stressful life.
- Questions to understand your background, current challenges, your therapy goals/expectations, and type of psychologist you’re seeking.
- Empathy for your challenges and how confronting it can feel to seek help. You’ll also receive tact when gauging what you’re comfortable to share.
- Opportunity to ask questions about the process or practicalities of sessions e.g. mental health care plans.
We can have a 10–15-minute initial phone call to discuss your expectations, background, and needs. This may help you to see how you feel about working together and whether telehealth services would meet your specific needs.
- Writing down reflective notes on your phone when you have a spare minute e.g. while you’re boiling the kettle. You could bring these to sessions.
- Actively communicating your thoughts on what you feel works for you and what doesn’t.
- Being vulnerable and open in session. I can only help to the degree you’re willing to tell me what is really going on and at times work through uncomfortable feelings.
- Believing you’re worth the patience, care, and effort to have a better life.
- Being patient and aware that this process is not a quick fix.
- Ensure your sessions fall on dates/times that you have the energy to be present and eliminate distractions.
You may experience uncomfortable feelings that are normal and can be part of the growth process. These feelings could seem overwhelming and sometimes we may wish to escape, ignore them, or mechanically tick off a list of strategies. These are understandable responses to try to control and avoid the pain of difficult experiences.
During sessions, if you appear overwhelmed or unsure, you will not be pushed to a place you’re not ready to go. Instead, barriers to your growth will be met with compassion and curiosity so we can find a process and pace that resonates with you.
Your feedback is welcomed so that we can adjust the pace and delivery to fit your needs.
Sessions can be like personal training sessions at a gym. They can support you to grow in the direction you’d like and are an investment in your mental wellbeing.
However, when you’re feeling more motivated and feel equipped to face your original triggers or challenges you may choose to test coping on your own. This is a very personal and individual choice. It will depend on your history and the depth of healing or degree of difficulty of your goals.
Some clients have returned in times of high stress while other former clients have felt a strong benefit and continue it as part of their growth process. Should I feel that you might be ready to test coping on your own or could receive the same benefit from a lower-cost resource, I will always flag this with you, so you aren’t receiving unnecessary support.
Many of us feel overloaded in the fast-paced, information-laden, and individualistic world we live in. We are exposed to wars across the world, unrealistic expectations from social media, the doom of climate change and more choices than our minds can process.
Many of us are also exposed to productivity-obsessed work environments. Often, we are working more hours than ever, but are struggling to afford the basics of life with fewer people that we can turn to for support.
We are deeply social creatures and our needs for community, connection and autonomy is normal and needed for human health. Sadly, for these reasons and more, the modern world makes it very challenging to not just survive but get the connection, fulfillment and rest we need to thrive.
Telehealth
- Coviu (the telehealth platform I use) recommends a minimum internet speed of 0.35 mbps (megabits per second) to run a telehealth call, but ideally you will have at least 1 mbps for a video call.
- You can test your internet connection here.
- To see if your camera and microphone are working you can run a pre-test call here.
- Laptops from 2010 and onwards should have their own built-in microphone and camera.
- Google chrome or Microsoft edge is recommended for all devices other than iPhone and iPad, where the safari browser works best.
Use this link to join your online session. The link will stay the same.