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NOTE: Currently PsychSessions does not have any psychologists who see children or adolescents under the age of 15. 

PsychSessions provides psychological therapy and parental advice for children and adolescents with mental health conditions. This includes:

  • Anxiety
  • Behavioural disorders
  • Sleep problems
  • Trauma
  • Depression
  • School refusal

Unfortunately we currently do NOT have psychologists who can assist with:

Similarly, we are NOT able to provide:

  • Neurocognitive assessments
  • Educational assessments
  • Forensic reports (e.g. assessments for court proceedings in custody disputes)

Intake procedures

For children and adolescents 13 years and younger

(Currently not available)

Start by ringing our reception (see Contact Us). They will lead you through the process of obtaining a referral and GP Mental Health Care plan for medicare rebates if applicable, selecting an appropriate psychologist, and making an appointment for a 25 minute telephone consultation between the parent/s and/or guardian/s and the treating psychologist. The purpose of the phone consultation is to collect some basic information about the child and the family context. This saves time at the initial face-to-face appointment, and provides an opportunity to confirm that we are an appropriate service, and that the selected psychologist is an appropriate clinician. Payment for the phone consultation needs to be made, and a consent form needs to be completed and returned, before final confirmation of the telephone consultation. There are no Medicare rebates available for the phone consultation.

Please be aware that psychometric testing may be required beyond what is included in our standard fees.  The psychologist will determine whether this assessment is necessary. For example if the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) is appropriate, there is a fee of $114 for psychologists and $139 for clinical psychologists (2017 rates) for each CBCL conducted.  Typically at least one parent and one teacher would be required to complete the CBCL, and sometimes both parents (i.e. 2-3 CBCLs per child).

For adolescents 14 years and older

(Currently only available for 15+ years)

For adolescents 14 years and older we use the same intake procedures as we do for adults. This starts by ringing our reception (see Contact Us), who will lead you through the process of obtaining a referral and GP Mental Health Care plan for medicare rebates if applicable, selecting and appropriate psychologist, and all aspects of making the appointment.

Confidentiality

In Australia, children and adolescents of any age can be considered to be capable of making decisions about what they want to do and what personal information they want shared or kept private. In each situation the psychologist will make a determination whether the young person has the capacity to consent depending on whether the young person has sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed. If a young person has capacity to consent then they are able to engage and terminate psychological services as they choose, and are able to give or withhold consent regarding the sharing of personal information about themselves (including with regard to sharing that information with parents or not). When the young person does not have the capacity to consent their parent’s consent is sufficient, but the young person’s views are still taken into account.

All personal information gathered by the psychologist during the provision of the psychological service will remain confidential and secure except when:

  1. it is subpoenaed by a court
  2. failure to disclose the information would place the client or another person at risk
  3. the psychologist wishes to confidentially discuss your case with a supervisor or another PsychSessions’ psychologist as a normal part of maintaining professional standards and ongoing professional development
  4. prior approval has been obtained to:
    1. provide a written report to another professional or agency. e.g. a GP or a lawyer
    2. discuss the material with another person. e.g. a parent or employer.
  5. if the client is referred under Medicare, a brief report will be sent to the referring medical practitioner after the first, six, tenth, and/or final session. The psychologist’s reports to the referring medical practitioner will become part of the client’s medical record at the medical practice.

 

PsychSessions acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands upon which our clinicians practice, and pays respect to Elders past, present, and emerging.