FAQ
Q. can i claim on medicare?
A. Yes - all services can be claimed on Medicare with a Mental Health Care plan from your GP. The gap will be approx $100.
Q. can i claim the gap on my private health fund?
A. No, you may only claim from either Medicare or a private health fund for each session. Private health will not contribute towards the ‘gap’ between the Medicare rebate and the consultation fee. Your receipt will have a code specific to either Medicare or private health depending on your situation.
Some private health funds cover psychology sessions. This varies according to your cover. It is best to check with your provider beforehand.
Q. What about confidentiality?
A. All personal information gathered by a psychologist during the provision of the psychological services is kept confidential and secure except where:
It is subpoenaed by a court; or
Failure to disclose the information would place you or another person at serious and imminent risk; or
Your prior approval has been obtained to:
provide a written report to another professional or agency. eg. a GP or a lawyer
discuss the material with another person, eg. a parent or employer
if disclosure is otherwise required or authorised by law.
Notes that I take during therapy to help me identify themes and patterns are kept secure for seven years and then destroyed.
Q. Why do people do therapy?
A. Therapy can help you to see what behaviors were necessary at a given point in your life, but may no longer be working now. In fact, often the skills we develop to move on from a major distressing event in our life (the end of a relationship, issues in childhood, a lost dream), keep us stuck even though they may no longer be working in our current life.
Q. why engage a professional psychologist to help with my issue?
A. Problems are expensive. They take up time and mental energy, time that can better be spent furthering your career, enjoying friends and family, making your life good in other ways.
They also cost real money. Marrying the wrong person, staying in a job that goes nowhere, chronic people pleasing, repressing feelings through avoidance strategies such as shopping, drugs, alcohol, and over-eating can cost thousands of dollars.
And then there are the health costs – of substance use, junk food, partying too hard, busyness, lack of rest and relaxation. All the strategies human beings use to avoid facing problems will eventually come back to bite us in some way.
Finally, problems are boring. Fretting, ruminating, procrastinating, self-criticism, over-analysis and obsessing are no way to live. The cost of good therapy and coaching is small compared to the personal and financial costs of living with a chronic ongoing unresolved problem,
The only way out is through, not around.
What sort of problems do people bring along to therapy?
Here are some examples:
· I want to do something different with my career but I don’t know what.
· I have habitual patters of behavior that don’t work for me
· I have had a relationship experience that affects my new relationships and I can’t seem to change it.
· I want to be happier and stress less.
· I am too self critical.
· I have an ongoing conflict with a family member and it never seems to resolve itself.
· I want to find out what I want.