Psychologist Melbourne

We all experience and make sense of life in our own unique way. The challenges that life presents may negatively affect a person’s mental health in a variety of ways.

It can be helpful to see a psychologist if you are:

• Having difficulty coping or feeling overwhelmed
• Troubled by a traumatic experience
• Struggling with low mood
• Worrying excessively or experiencing panic attacks
• Having difficulty sleeping
• Frequently irritable or angry
• Feeling isolated and avoiding social activities
• Struggling with parenting and relationships

Many people are uncertain about what a clinical psychologist does and how their role differs from other mental health professionals.

A clinical psychologist is a university-trained professional who is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Clinical psychologists require eight years of training. They require four years of undergraduate university training, a minimum of two years of postgraduate training, and a further two years of supervised practice through a registrar program.

Yes, to practice as a clinical psychologist, your therapist must adhere to strict confidentiality policies in accordance with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency’s (AHPRA) Code of Conduct, and the Australian Privacy Guidelines. What is disclosed in therapy sessions, as well as any correspondence relating to your sessions, remains confidential, unless you consent to it being shared with someone. On rare occasions, a psychologist may be obligated to disclose information to a third party if someone's safety is at risk, they may seek the opinion of a supervisor to assist with treatment planning or if a document is subpoenaed. These details are outlined in the Centre for Clinical Psychology Consent Form. We also adhere to strict protocols around maintaining the security of our data. Please ask for a copy of our Privacy Policy if you require any further details.

Should it be required, we can write psychological reports if you are a client undergoing treatment for instances such as TAC, WorkCover, and court proceedings. These reports are charged separately, in addition to our psychological consultations.

In the first session, your psychologist will focus on trying to understand your difficulties and how they can work with you to address them. This will involve an assessment process, where the psychologist will ask a series of questions and you will have the opportunity to reflect upon your experience. Your responses will assist your clinical psychologist gain an understanding of your current situation. Similarly, you may be asked to fill out psychometric questionnaires.

Your clinical psychologist will then discuss treatment options with you, including what kind of evidence-based therapy is known to work for what you have described to them. Subsequent sessions are usually on a regular basis and typically become less frequent as your difficulties are resolv

You always retain the choice regarding how many sessions you have, and you are not obliged to attend a minimum number. You are also free to decide the frequency of your counselling sessions; however, it is advisable to make these decisions in consultation with your clinical psychologist, who can discuss with you and make recommendations based on their experience and with an understanding of what the evidence suggests.

If you have a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP, this will entitle you to Medicare rebates for up to 10 sessions. If you use all 10 sessions, you may continue to see your psychologist at the private fee rates.

We understand that not everyone can come to see us during business hours. This is why our professional psychologists offer a number of 6pm appointments and we are also open Saturday, 9am – 5pm. We also provide telehealth services if people are working from home and have some flexibility to see a psychologist within their working hours.

You can find an outline of our fees on our fees page. Click here.

You are free to stop seeing your therapist at any time, just as you are free to start seeing your therapist again at any time.

As a professional, your clinical psychologist will be open to your feedback and discuss with you why you may wish to end the therapy. They may discuss ideas with you and discuss why they recommend you continue. In an ideal situation, this feedback can also become part of the therapeutic work and may lead to important progress. We encourage you to have these discussions with your psychologist, rather than just dropping out of therapy.

At the Centre for Clinical Psychology, we are also aware of the need for a good fit between you and the psychologist you are seeing. We are willing to assist you with this, even if it means transferring to another psychologist or even an external referral. Your care is our priority.

How frequently someone books in with their psychologist varies from person to person and may change over the course of treatment. Some clients attend twice per week, some once per week, some fortnightly, and some monthly. This will depend on each person’s individual needs and circumstances, but it is also important to consider what the evidence shows is the most likely to lead to the best outcomes.

The evidence shows that clients who attend more regularly (particularly at the beginning of treatment) have the greatest improvements (Bruijniks et al., 2020; Tiemans et al., 2019). We initially recommend booking two sessions per week for the best therapeutic outcomes.

If you are attending for depression, the research shows that twice-weekly sessions are more effective than weekly sessions for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT; Bruijniks et al., 2015).

Erekson et al. (2015) reported that for university students attending therapy for adjustment, anxiety, or depression related problems, clinically significant gains were achieved faster for those attending weekly sessions compared with fortnightly sessions.

If you are receiving Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for trauma or PTSD, attending twice per week is highly recommended. A study has found that attending CPT sessions more frequently with fewer gaps between each appointment leads to significantly greater PTSD symptom reduction (Gutner et al., 2016). Attending twice per week also allows you to complete the entire 12 sessions of treatment in less than two months. If you cannot attend twice a week, CPT requires at least once a week attendance for the best outcomes.

For personality disorder sessions twice a week have been associated with improvement (Giesen-Bloo, 2006).

The total number of sessions that someone needs with their psychologist will differ for each client. This can depend on various factors, including the type of issue you are attending to and the therapeutic approach being used. We recommend discussing this with your psychologist in the first session to get a better idea of how many sessions may be required, but we have also provided some suggestions below as a guide.

• Depression may often be addressed in 12 to 20 sessions (Ijaz et al. 2018), or around 20 sessions (Kazantzis,et.al. 2017)
• Anxiety is often addressed in eight sessions, with greater benefit (when treated with CBT) when more than eight sessions are used Hunot, et. al (2007).
• PTSD and trauma are most often addressed in approximately 12 to 20 sessions, but sometimes it may be fewer than this.
• Personality disorders are often best addressed with a longer period of treatment, often with treatment occurring across a span of up to three years (Giesen-Bloo, 2006).

References

Bruijniks, S. J., Bosmans, J., Peeters, F. P., Hollon, S. D., van Oppen, P., van den Boogaard, M., Dingemanse, P., Cuijpers, P., Arntz, A., Franx, G., & Huibers, M. J. (2015). Frequency and change mechanisms of psychotherapy among depressed patients: study protocol for a multicenter randomized trial comparing twice-weekly versus once-weekly sessions of CBT and IPT. BMC psychiatry, 15, 137. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0532-8

Bruijniks, S. J. E., Lemmens, L. H. J. M., Hollon, S. D., Peeters, F. P. M. L., Cuijpers, P., Arntz, A., Dingemanse, P., Willems, L., van Oppen, P., Twisk, J. W. R., van den Boogaard, M., Spijker, J., Bosmans, J., & Huibers, M. J. H. (2020). The effects of once- versus twice-weekly sessions on psychotherapy outcomes in depressed patients. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 216(4), 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2019.265

Erekson, D. M., Lambert, M. J., & Eggett, D. L. (2015). The relationship between session frequency and psychotherapy outcome in a naturalistic setting. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 83(6), 1097–1107. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039774

Giesen-Bloo, J., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., van Tilburg, W., Dirksen, C., van Asselt, T., Kremers, I., Nadort, M., & Arntz, A. (2006). Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: randomized trial of schema-focused therapy vs transference-focused psychotherapy. Archives of general psychiatry, 63(6), 649–658. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.63.6.649

Gutner, C. A., Suvak, M. K., Sloan, D. M., & Resick, P. A. (2016). Does timing matter? Examining the impact of session timing on outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(12), 1108–1115. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000120

Hunot, V., Churchill, R., Teixeira, V., & Lima, M. S. de. (2007). Psychological therapies for generalised anxiety disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 1.https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001848.pub4

Ijaz, S., Davies, P., Williams, C. J., Kessler, D., Lewis, G., & Wiles, N. (2018). Psychological therapies for treatment‐resistant depression in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 5. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010558.pub2

Kazantzis, N., Dattilio, F. M., & Dobson, K. S. (2017). The therapeutic relationship in cognitive-behavioral therapy: A clinician’s guide (pp. xvi, 288). Guilford Press.

Tiemens, B., Kloos, M., Spijker, J., Ingenhoven, T., Kampman, M., & Hendriks, G. (2019). Lower versus higher frequency of sessions in starting outpatient mental health care and the risk of a chronic course: A naturalistic cohort study. BMC Psychiatry 19, 228. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2214-4

Evidence-based therapy differs from counselling in that it uses specific techniques, strategies, and processes designed to help people address issues and concerns that may be affecting them emotionally or mentally. These techniques and strategies have been evaluated scientifically.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that may develop following traumatic experiences (such as threatened or actual death, a serious accident, or serious sexual violation).

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Perinatal mental health encompasses the health and emotional well-being of parents with infants up to one or three years of age. It also includes the emotional well-being of infants. Increasingly, fathers and their emotional health and well-being, are receiving the attention they deserve.

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Infant mental health is concerned with the wellbeing of infants from birth to three years of age. Infant mental health practitioners are interested in understanding the social and emotional worlds of infants, specifically their ability to form close and secure relationships, as well as the infant’s ability to experience, express and regulate their emotions. Infant mental health practitioners are also interested in the infant’s ability to relate to the world with curiosity and thus explore and learn.

Relationships are at the centre of infant mental health. This because he infant and child are heavily reliant upon support from caregivers. The quality of these relationships and the experience of receiving care can shape the infant’s capacity for relating, learning, behaviour and emotional health, across a lifetime.

Infants are active participants in their world and their relationships:

Infants are born with the capacity to communicate their internal states and seek a response from their environment. Infants have the capacity to adapt to their environment; they are not passive recipients of care but active agents capable of influencing their environment and caregivers. From birth they are active participants in relationships. The caregiving environment includes family, but also community and culture.

Infant Mental Health Matters

Infant mental health matters because the window of opportunity is both powerful and finite. The first 1,000 days represent the most rapid period of brain growth in a person’s lifetime.

When infant mental health is nurtured, children are more likely to develop resilience, empathy, and the capacity to form healthy relationships. When it is disrupted — by trauma, neglect, parental stress, or inconsistent caregiving — the effects can be long lasting, increasing the risk of anxiety, developmental delays, and difficulties in school and relationships. Secure attachment can set infants upon a path towards good mental health in adolescence and into adulthood.

Supporting Parents

Insights from infant mental health can help parents understand the unique capacities of their baby and infant communication. Such understanding may enable parents to respond to their baby with greater confidence, which may in turn strengthen the relationship between parents and their baby.

At the Centre for Clinical Psychology, we aim to support families with young children, whether this is effective mental health treatment, support with concerns of early parenting or parental relationships. We know that this benefits everyone, but particularly the baby.