June 5, 2023

How to shop for a psych

The player is loading ...

Cass gets a lot of questions about accessing psychology services within Australia. It's not the most linear or straightforward of processes, between Medicare rebates, GP visits, and mental health plans... it can be quite confusing accessing the mental health services we need. Let alone knowing how do you find someone who is a good fit for you?So in this solo episode Cass answers all of these questions and more.
Connect with Cass:www.crappytohappypod.comhello@crappytohappypod.com
www.instagram.com/crappytohappypod www.tiktok.com/crappytohappypod
Join the free 7-day Happiness Challenge:www.cassdunn.com/happiness

Connect with Cass:

www.cassdunn.com
www.instagram.com/cassdunn_xo

Contact Crappy to Happy:

Email: hello@crappytohappypod.com
www.crappytohappypod.com
www.instagram.com/crappytohappypod
www.tiktok.com/@crappytohappypod

Are you a coach, therapist, service provider or solopreneur struggling with self-doubt and imposter syndrome? I'd love to talk to you! (for market research purposes only!)

Book a call with me to share your experience.

Want more great content and less ads?

Upgrade to Paid in the Spotify or Apple podcasts App to get immediate access to "Beyond Happy", the subscriber only podcast featuring bonus content, meditations and more!

Transcript

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:11.119
A listener production, Welcome to another solo episode of Crapy

2
00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:14.359
or Happy. Today, I'm answering a question that was put

3
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.199
to me recently, which is, how do you shop for

4
00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.920
a psychologist? And I thought, well, that's an interesting question,

5
00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.199
and I know many people probably wonder the same thing,

6
00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:25.679
and I thought this would be really easy. I'll be

7
00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.239
able to answer this really quickly, and then I realized

8
00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.480
it maybe there's kind of layers to the question. So

9
00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.240
what I want to share today is, I guess, first

10
00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.880
of all, if you're shopping for somebody to help you

11
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:41.079
with a mental health condition, if you're struggling, the difference

12
00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:46.520
between a psychologist and a counselor or a social worker.

13
00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.280
So just briefly, I will cover off that, and then

14
00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:54.479
how do you go about finding somebody who is a

15
00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:58.399
good fit for you? And what might be some of

16
00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:00.679
the things to look for when you're looking for a psychologist.

17
00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:03.520
I also will just run through quickly what the current

18
00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.359
process is for making an appointment and what is available

19
00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.280
in terms of Medicare rebates at the time of recording,

20
00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:16.040
this is May twenty twenty three. So first of all,

21
00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:18.120
a lot of people will ask what's the difference between

22
00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.280
a counselor or a psychologist, or even a psychiatrist or

23
00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:26.799
a social worker. Psychologists have a minimum of a four

24
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:32.519
year degree. They're trained in all aspects of mental health disorders,

25
00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.760
how the brain works, the biological basis, the history of

26
00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:41.400
psychology as a profession, some counseling skills, neuroscience, that kind

27
00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.400
of thing. Not all psychologists choose to do therapy. Some

28
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:50.280
psychologists contribute to research, like they choose to do research

29
00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:53.680
work or stay in academic work, or they might do

30
00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.920
organizational work. They don't necessarily go down that path of

31
00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.799
doing therapeutic work. Often they will also have an additional

32
00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:05.519
two year master's degree. Some now who have maybe been

33
00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:07.840
registered for a while don't have a two year masters

34
00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.360
but they may have done a two year period of supervision,

35
00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.520
so they've all had some kind of training for at

36
00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:18.280
least six years if they're working with clients. Generally, psychologists

37
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.000
are not medical doctors. They can't prescribe medication, so that

38
00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:26.039
is the key difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist.

39
00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:29.080
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has chosen to

40
00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:34.599
specialize in mental health. So a psychiatrist will also a

41
00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:37.599
sense and diagnose and treat mental health conditions, but they

42
00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.199
also can dispense medication, and as I mentioned in a

43
00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:44.520
previous episode, oftentimes if you're working with a therapist, for example,

44
00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.560
if you're working with a psychologist, they may refer you

45
00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:50.400
onto a psychiatrist for something that's a little more complex,

46
00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.000
or if you need to have your medication reviewed. Over

47
00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:57.960
the years, I've referred many of my clients in private

48
00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:03.080
psychology practice to a psychiatrist because they've had a hard

49
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.719
time adjusting to different types of medication, and sometimes a

50
00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:10.680
psychiatrist is best placed to really look into what's going

51
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:15.560
on there. So the difference between a psychologist who offers

52
00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:19.280
counseling services and somebody who is just called a counselor,

53
00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:22.680
is that a counselor can have, Like there can be

54
00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:26.080
loads of different pathways to becoming a counselor different types

55
00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:28.840
of courses they could have studied. I mean, I know

56
00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:32.520
people who've done twelve week kind of certificate course and

57
00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:37.360
are calling themselves some form of counselor. Other people have

58
00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:42.719
got really extensive training and qualifications. It's not as clear

59
00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:45.159
like you would have to look into what a particular

60
00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:49.159
counselor's qualifications are. I mean, even somebody in a church

61
00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:53.639
doing voluntary sort of pastoral care work can call themselves

62
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.759
a counselor. I mean usually these days, I think you'd

63
00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.520
probably have a minimum of some kind of basic training

64
00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:02.080
and a certificate level qualification. But it varies, is all

65
00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:06.240
I'm saying. It's not as cut and dried psychotherapy is.

66
00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.639
You know, there are psychologists who are trained in psychotherapy,

67
00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.479
or there are people who simply study kind of psychotherapy,

68
00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.279
and that's kind of a different approach to therapy, which

69
00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.720
is often very long, very intensive, often one or two

70
00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.600
sessions a week over several years. It's really like digging

71
00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:27.920
into your childhood and uncovering stuff from your subconscious, very

72
00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.720
kind of Freudian. Some people get a lot of value

73
00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:32.839
out of that if they can afford to do that,

74
00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:37.879
because that's a long, expensive process, whereas seeing a psychologist

75
00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:42.560
tends to be more of a relatively intended to be

76
00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:47.920
short sharp address a problem. Experiencing depression, you're experiencing anxiety,

77
00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.240
you're struggling with something. Maybe you have a diagnosis of

78
00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:54.560
something more complex, of bipolar disorder or some sort of

79
00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.439
personality issue or substance use, or even just relationship issues

80
00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:04.399
workplace stress, and you kind of referred for that particular problem,

81
00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.839
and there's a course of treatment over a number of

82
00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:12.279
sessions to specifically address that problem. Having said that, I

83
00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:15.680
have had clients of mine who I have continued to

84
00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:20.160
see for many, many years. There are limits to what

85
00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.600
medicare will pay for or what it will rebate, but

86
00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:27.079
once there is a relationship established, often that relationship can

87
00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.959
be quite long lasting if there is a good relationship formed.

88
00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:37.199
So a psychologist aims to assess, diagnose, provisionally, diagnose, and

89
00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:42.160
treat mental health disorders as listed in the DSM five,

90
00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:46.800
which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders.

91
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:51.480
Even under the umbrella of psychologists, there is a distinction

92
00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:57.639
between clinical psychologists and psychologists who have endorsements in other

93
00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:02.720
areas of psychology. Now this gets a little controversial because

94
00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:06.560
often the training is very similar, if not the same.

95
00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.079
There are people who have loads of experience and who

96
00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:14.279
are highly qualified, but who haven't necessarily studied gone down

97
00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:17.240
that path of doing a master's in clinical psychology, or

98
00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:19.920
who have chosen not to get an endorsement in that area,

99
00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.720
and there is a differential in the amount of Medicare

100
00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:27.720
rebate available between a clinical psychologist and other kinds of psychologists. Now,

101
00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.360
many would argue that there should not be a differential

102
00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:34.399
because the service being offered most of the time is

103
00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:38.839
the same. You can be a very effective practicing psychologist,

104
00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.240
and you might have an endorsement as a clinical psychologist,

105
00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.759
you might have a health psychologist some other educational psychologist,

106
00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:49.800
and your service that you offer and the treatment that

107
00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.639
you offer can be just as good as anybody with

108
00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.000
a clinical psychology master's degree, which is what I have.

109
00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.360
And to be completely transparent, the reason that I got

110
00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:03.720
a clinical master's degree when I actually originally enrolled in

111
00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:06.160
a health psychology masters and then I transferred at the

112
00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:09.240
first available opportunity into clinical because I knew that the

113
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.680
Medicare rebate was much higher and that that would be

114
00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:16.560
an incentive for people to choose me over potentially another psychologist.

115
00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.199
And I'm lucky that I had that option available to me.

116
00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:22.000
And I'm not saying it's fair or it's right, but

117
00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:24.800
when lots of other psychologists have got the same level

118
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.959
of training and experience and qualification, but that is the

119
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.800
way it is currently under the Medicare system in Australia.

120
00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:35.519
So as my background is psychology, then I am going

121
00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:37.920
to talk to well, how do you find a psychologist?

122
00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.600
If you're shopping around for a psychologist, how do you

123
00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:45.959
go about that? It's a tricky one because what have

124
00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:49.040
you got? You've got Google, It's really hard to know

125
00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:52.240
what it is you're looking for. I mean, obviously the

126
00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:55.279
first issues that people look for are accessibility, like who's

127
00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:59.920
close by to me? And what do people charge and

128
00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.199
what do they specialize in. Generally speaking, any privately practicing

129
00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:07.120
psychologists will usually be able to deal with like the

130
00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.160
broad spectrum of the typical things that present in a

131
00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.800
private practice. So you know, it's often said anxiety and

132
00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.920
depression are the bread and butter of privately practicing psychologists.

133
00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:23.240
Workplace stress, relationship issues, addiction issues when I say addiction

134
00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:28.199
in a substance misuse kind of issues, parenting struggles, all

135
00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:31.720
of the general sort of psychological and emotional issues that

136
00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.799
we frequently deal with that we all experience from time

137
00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:39.399
to time. Most psychologists will be trained to help you

138
00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:43.120
with those things, and their approach might be a little different.

139
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.240
So I'm going to talk about that just in a second.

140
00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:50.519
Oftentimes your GP will have a list or will have

141
00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:54.120
somebody that they refer to. But having said that, oftentimes

142
00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:57.679
a GP won't have a list. They will say to you,

143
00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:00.679
you find somebody and you bring me name, and I'll

144
00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:04.600
write the referral. What I found in my experience is

145
00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:09.639
that when a GP referred to me, even if they'd

146
00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:12.639
never heard of me, say a patient specifically asked to

147
00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.480
see me, or because they had a recommendation by a friend,

148
00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:18.120
Like as soon as I was able to establish a

149
00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:22.200
relationship with that GP and provide them with reports and

150
00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:24.559
feedback and the patient was able to go back and

151
00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.120
offer some good, positive feedback about what we were working

152
00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:28.960
on and how it was going for them, then often

153
00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.639
that GP would then continue to refer to me. So

154
00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.679
it just says to me that when they find somebody,

155
00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:37.000
when they develop that relationship and they know that they

156
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.559
can reliably refer to somebody who's going to provide a

157
00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:41.919
good service, and they will often just continue to refer

158
00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:46.440
to that person. So your GP may well have relationships

159
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:50.879
with psychologists. Some GP practices also have a psychologist in

160
00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:54.559
the practice, so it makes it very easy and very accessible.

161
00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.639
The reason I'm talking about getting a referral from a

162
00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.639
GP is that is currently the only way that you

163
00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:05.519
can gain a Medicare rebate for your sessions with a

164
00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:10.960
psychologist and social workers. You can submit claims to Medicare

165
00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:15.159
and get a rebate on some of your fee, reducing

166
00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.320
your out of pocket expenses. I think it's really important

167
00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.080
to make the point here because this is something that

168
00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.200
is so often misunderstood. If you have a referral from

169
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.399
a GP to see a psychologist, if you have a

170
00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.240
mental health care plan from your GP, it doesn't mean

171
00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:36.600
the psychology is free. It is a rebate. So some psychologists,

172
00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:41.039
just like some gps, may give you the opportunity to

173
00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:44.120
bulk bill, particularly if you're having a hard time financially.

174
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.600
They might have certain criteria where they will simply accept

175
00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:51.639
the Medicare component so the Medicare rebate and you don't

176
00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:56.960
have to pay any gap. Most psychologists can't afford to

177
00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:01.039
do that. Most psychologists will normally need to charge something

178
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:04.799
on top of the Medicare component, and that is your

179
00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.320
out of pocket expense. For example, currently the Medicare rebate

180
00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:11.720
for a clinical psychologist it's just been recently increased to

181
00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.600
one hundred and thirty one dollars and sixty five cents,

182
00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:18.679
so that psychologist may be charging you one eighty two

183
00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.600
hundred to twenty to fifty. They'll set their own fee.

184
00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.559
You pay them the fee you submit the claim to Medicare,

185
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:29.120
and Medicare will rebate you will reimburse you one hundred

186
00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.200
and thirty one dollars and sixty five cents. If the

187
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.360
psychologist that you're seeing is a generally registered psychologist, so

188
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.440
then not clinical, they don't have a clinical endorsement, then

189
00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:41.000
the Medicare rebate currently available is eighty nine dollars and

190
00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:44.399
sixty five cents, So again their fee might be one fifty, one,

191
00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:46.879
eighty two hundred, whatever. The amount that you can climb

192
00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:49.840
back from Medicare is eighty nine dollars and sixty five cents,

193
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:52.639
and you can claim back seventy nine dollars and five

194
00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.759
cents for a session with a social worker. I'm not

195
00:11:55.799 --> 00:11:58.159
a social worker, so I can't speak to that profession,

196
00:11:58.159 --> 00:11:59.519
but I can tell you that you can claim a

197
00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:04.120
Medicare depending on their endorsements and their qualifications. There is

198
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.279
also a limit to how many sessions you can claim

199
00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.679
the Medicare rebate for, so currently it's ten sessions per

200
00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.840
calendar year. Now, most people would argue that that's not

201
00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:19.840
really enough. Unfortunately, when psychology services were first included in

202
00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:23.879
the Medicare scheme under the Better Access Program, there were

203
00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:27.960
twelve sessions available per calendar year, with the option to

204
00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.639
then put in a request for an additional six under

205
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.519
exceptional circumstances. So there were eighteen sessions available. Long story short,

206
00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.360
over time, it's been cut, and it's been cut, and

207
00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:41.279
it's back to ten and there are no exceptional circumstances.

208
00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:46.000
During COVID, they temporarily increased it to twenty sessions, so

209
00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:48.720
you could claim a Medicare rebate for twenty sessions per

210
00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.720
calendar year. In twenty twenty three, that has been scaled

211
00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:55.159
back again to ten, so that is per calendar year.

212
00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:56.960
This means that if you get a referral from your

213
00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:00.679
GP to see a psychologist and it's February, you've got

214
00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:05.080
ten sessions that you can claim a rebate for through

215
00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:08.279
until the end of December that year. If you get

216
00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.240
your and then your ten starts again from January the

217
00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.720
following year, that referral stays valid and you can start

218
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.200
again with another ten sessions the next calendar year. If

219
00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.360
you get your referral in October, then lucky you, you

220
00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:22.559
only have to use up those ten sessions by December

221
00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:25.960
and again. Then in the new calendar year, your ten

222
00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:30.519
available sessions starts again. In order to claim a Medicare rebate,

223
00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.200
you must have a referral from your GP and a

224
00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:37.279
mental health care plan. It's simply a treatment plan put

225
00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.879
together between you and your GP where you agree that

226
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.440
you're going to see a psychologist and the psychologist is

227
00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:44.919
going to report back to the GP about your progress.

228
00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:47.320
If you have a mental health care plan from a GP,

229
00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.559
you are eligible for a Medicare rebate. There is nothing

230
00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:53.480
to stop you from calling up any psychologist in private

231
00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:57.360
practice and making an appointment directly if you choose not

232
00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.480
to see your GP, and if you're happy to pay

233
00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:02.279
the full fe and not claim a Medicare rebate, and

234
00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:05.320
some people, for privacy reasons, will choose to do that,

235
00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.240
and you are within your right to just call up

236
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:12.440
and make an appointment. In many cases, private health funds

237
00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:17.399
will also cover some of your fees. You cannot claim

238
00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:21.919
a private health fund rebate and a Medicare rebate for

239
00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.759
the same session. But what has happened with some of

240
00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:27.799
my patients in the past, my clients is that after

241
00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:32.440
they've exhausted their ten Medicare rebateable sessions, then they will say, well,

242
00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.879
I've also got private health insurance and can I use those?

243
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.519
And certainly you can. And every private health fund, and

244
00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.639
depending on your level of cover, will have a different

245
00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:45.159
cap will have a different amount that it reimburses you

246
00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.200
for those sessions. So you can kind of extend a

247
00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:51.559
little bit if you've got Medicare first of all, and

248
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.600
then you're able to use whatever you've got available to

249
00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.440
you with your private health fund. Again, if you choose

250
00:14:57.480 --> 00:14:58.960
to pay out of pocket and you don't want to rebate,

251
00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:00.679
you can just go and pay of pocket and that

252
00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:05.440
is completely fine. When you see your GP and you

253
00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:08.279
ask for a mental health care plan, you ask for

254
00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.440
a referral to a psychologist, then you will initially be

255
00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:17.960
allocated six sessions, and after six sessions, then the psychologist's

256
00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.840
job is to report back to the GP on your progress.

257
00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:23.279
You need to go back to the GP, and the

258
00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:30.080
GP provides a top up basically of the additional four sessions. Now, look,

259
00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.440
I don't know why you've got to go back to

260
00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.200
the GP. I didn't make the rule. I would have

261
00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.320
thought you could just get a referral for ten sessions,

262
00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:40.759
then report how you're going, report back to the GP

263
00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.240
the six sessions, and then the extension is a hangover

264
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.240
from the early days when it was six plus six

265
00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.720
and then an additional six and exceptional circumstances. Now that

266
00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.039
at six plus four this process is still in place

267
00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:56.960
that after six you have to go back and get

268
00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.600
your GP to endorse an additional four sessions. I feel like,

269
00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:03.840
and you probably recognize that this just puts a lot

270
00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.159
of barriers in the way to people accessing treatment. First

271
00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:08.679
of all, you've got to wait for an appointment with

272
00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:10.679
your GP. You've got to make a long appointment. You've

273
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.279
got to take time out of your day to go

274
00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.279
and see the GP. Then when you've got that, you've

275
00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.919
got to shop around for a psychologist or you take

276
00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:19.759
your referral, and then you've got to wait to see

277
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.279
the psychologist. Usually I've had to tell your whole story

278
00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:24.399
to the GP in order to get the referral in

279
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:25.960
the first place. Then you have to go to the

280
00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:29.200
psychologist tell them your whole story. And then after six sessions,

281
00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:31.759
when you just feel like you're getting some momentum, you've

282
00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:34.440
got to go back to the GP, make another appointment,

283
00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:37.360
probably pay out of pocket for that as well, before

284
00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.080
you can come back and see the psychologist. Like I said,

285
00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:42.679
I don't make the rules. I can completely see though,

286
00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:45.960
why many people would avoid this whole process, like having

287
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.159
to tell your story over and over and make all

288
00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:52.720
of this time out of your busy schedule to have

289
00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:56.799
all of these additional appointments. This is where, thankfully, one

290
00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.399
positive benefit that came out of COVID is the of telehealth.

291
00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:06.559
So you now can claim a Medicare rebate for telehealth

292
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:10.799
appointments with a psychologist, so you can have an appointment

293
00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:14.799
over the over a video call, and it's the same

294
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.319
number of sessions. It's ten sessions per calendar year. So

295
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.200
again the history of that is that prior to COVID,

296
00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:25.599
they introduced telehealth for psychology in around twenty seventeen, but

297
00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.920
there were really strict rules about who could access that.

298
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.000
You had to prove that you were a certain number

299
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.000
of kilometers away from the closest available psychologist. It was

300
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:37.640
really for people in remote areas. There was no consideration

301
00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:40.759
of other factors that might impact a person's ability to

302
00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:45.279
get into physically attend an office. But with COVID, they

303
00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:48.839
recognized that we needed to make mental health services available

304
00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:52.240
and accessible when people were in lockdown, and so they

305
00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.279
extended Medicare to cover telehealth for psychology. Lo and behold,

306
00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.519
it works a treat. People really love it. It's very effective.

307
00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:06.039
Thankfully they have continued telehealth to now they have anyway,

308
00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.119
I'm actually I'm not too sure if that the plan

309
00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:10.880
is just to continue that indefinitely, but my understanding is

310
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:15.400
that that has remained so at least now you can

311
00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:19.440
avoid a trip into somebody's offers. You can actually have

312
00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:23.599
these appointments remotely, no matter where you live, and you

313
00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:34.480
can submit your Medicare claim and have it rebated. So

314
00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:37.720
this brings me to the whole shopping for a psychologist

315
00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:39.279
and how do you pick a good one or how

316
00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:43.559
do you find someone one? Now, there are websites that

317
00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:49.839
are completely set up to provide telehealth, to provide virtual therapy,

318
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.799
I mean actual therapists. We're not talking about AI, actual therapists.

319
00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.079
One that I came across, and I don't want to

320
00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:02.119
promote any particular organization, but just when I was looking online,

321
00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.759
there was a there's an organization called Talked t a

322
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.279
l k ed talked dot com dot au, which is

323
00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.519
a hub for psychologists and for people looking for psychology

324
00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.200
where people can, you know, scroll through, look for who

325
00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.440
they like, look at what people's rates are, look at

326
00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:25.359
people's ratings and reviews. This is very interesting because as psychologists,

327
00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:30.160
our ethical standards always said that we could not accept testimonials.

328
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:33.200
We can't post testimonials on your website or anything like that.

329
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:37.079
But this website has got all of these patient reviews

330
00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.160
and ratings, so that's kind of interesting. Even scroll through

331
00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:41.720
and see if you can find somebody in there, and

332
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.920
it will tell you if they're medicare rebatable or if

333
00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:47.279
they're not, if they're a psychologists, some other kind of

334
00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.839
counselor or therapists, and their what their fees are, and

335
00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:56.680
what their specialty is. So that's lovely. If you are

336
00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.960
looking for somebody to see in person, then often EAT

337
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:03.079
is about looking for somebody who you think is going

338
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.519
to be able to address the issues that are pertinent

339
00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:11.000
to you. And oftentimes psychologists will put on their website

340
00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:13.880
what their particular focus is, the kinds of issues that

341
00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.680
they tend to specialize in. Even when we're practicing in

342
00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:20.799
private practice, and we can deal with a lot of issues.

343
00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:25.799
Most of us will have particular interest and particular experience

344
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.279
in certain types of issues. So, for example, I've often

345
00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:32.880
spoken about the fact that seventy percent or more of

346
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:37.119
my private practice for years was women going through pregnancy

347
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.599
or post natally. I did a master's degree where I

348
00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.680
focused on mindfulness for the perinatal period and how that

349
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:47.680
helped to reduce women's post natal anxiety and depression. It

350
00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:50.400
was what I was really interested in, and I really

351
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:52.359
focused on that, and therefore I got a lot of

352
00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.440
experience working with that particular group of people. So gps

353
00:20:56.920 --> 00:20:59.319
learned that that was what I specialized in, and they

354
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.599
referred many women to me. Another GP that I worked

355
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.960
closely with had a case load with a lot of

356
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.680
young women, so women in their late teens, early twenties,

357
00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.839
in that sort of university age group, and she was

358
00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:13.920
a young GP, and so they really resonated with her.

359
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.200
She had a great relationship with her patients, and so

360
00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:19.680
when she started referring to me and I was able

361
00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:23.200
to develop rapport with those young women, then again she

362
00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:25.960
started to refer more and more of those patients to me.

363
00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:28.400
So this is what happens over time when we build

364
00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.640
these professional relationships with other practitioners. So it will be

365
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:36.960
ideally the case that your GP should go down that path,

366
00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.440
will have a network, We'll be able to recommend somebody

367
00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:45.559
for you. Oftentimes a friend might have a recommendation. If

368
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:48.799
you know somebody has seen a psychologist, then you can

369
00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:51.920
ask them whether they would recommend that person. I have

370
00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:55.720
certainly had referrals come to me based on existing clients

371
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.039
referring other people that they know. And the other thing

372
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:03.359
that you might do is if you know a psychologist,

373
00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:08.039
you can ask them who they'd recommend. Now caveat on that.

374
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:11.559
I get asked all the time. People ask me because

375
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.960
I have a bit of a public profile, and because

376
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:16.759
I have a Facebook and an Instagram page and a podcast,

377
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:18.680
people will often say to me, I know you're not

378
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.440
seeing clients, but can you recommend somebody? It is really hard.

379
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:26.680
Psychologists are changing jobs, going out of private practice, going

380
00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.079
into public health, going into coaching. It is really hard.

381
00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:33.759
So I will where I can refer to somebody that

382
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.839
I know who might have a similar approach to me,

383
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:40.440
But often it's really I'm just going by somebody else's

384
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.920
recommendation as well. So personal recommendations, your GP is a

385
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:48.559
good place to start. Otherwise, it's really just a case

386
00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:54.200
of getting online and looking at different practices, prices, approaches,

387
00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:58.039
whether you particularly prefer a male or a female. If

388
00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:01.319
you're dealing with something that is very pcific, like for example,

389
00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.519
an ADHD diagnosis, or you've got a teenage child that's

390
00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:08.519
causing issues or a relationship issue, then you look for

391
00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:12.119
somebody who specializes in that area, because oftentimes psychologists will

392
00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:16.000
very much have an area of specialization. Otherwise, it's a

393
00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:18.720
case of just going along and finding out what they

394
00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.440
can do to help. When psychologists start talking about the

395
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.599
kind of therapy that they do, like they do CBT,

396
00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:25.440

How to shop for a psych

New to Crappy to Happy?

How to cultivate unshakeable self-confidence

Do you have an "Upper Limit Problem"?

Reclaiming Happiness: Why Every Woman Needs a Passion Project

Dispelling Myths About Menopause and HRT with Dr Louise Newson (Part …