Psychologist Abbotsford

Everyone experiences and interprets life in their own unique way, and the challenges that life presents may affect a person's mental health in a variety of ways.

You may benefit from seeing a psychologist if you are:

• Struggling to cope or feeling overwhelmed by daily life
• Distressed by a traumatic experience
• Struggling with low mood
• Worrying excessively or experiencing panic attacks
• Experiencing difficulty sleeping
• Frequently irritable or angry
• Feeling isolated and avoiding social activities
• Finding parenting or relationships challenging

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 registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, requiring eight years of training.

This training consists of four years of undergraduate university education, a minimum of two years of postgraduate study, and a further two years of supervised practice completed through a registrar program.

Yes, as part of their professional obligations, clinical psychologists 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 discussed in therapy sessions, along with any related correspondence, remains confidential unless you consent to it being shared.

There are rare occasions on which a psychologist may be obligated to disclose information to a third party, including when someone's safety is at risk, when seeking supervisory guidance to assist with treatment planning, or when a document is subpoenaed. Full 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.

When required, our clinical psychologists can prepare psychological reports for clients undergoing treatment related to TAC, WorkCover, and court proceedings. Please be aware that such reports are charged separately from 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 resolved.

The number of sessions you attend is always your choice, and you are not required to commit to a minimum number. You are also free to decide how frequently you attend; however, it is recommended that these decisions be made in consultation with your clinical psychologist, who can offer guidance based on their experience and the available evidence.

If your GP has provided you with a Mental Health Care Plan, this will entitle you to Medicare rebates for up to 10 sessions. Once all 10 sessions have been used, you may continue to attend at our private fee rates.

We understand that attending appointments during standard business hours is not always possible. For this reason, our psychologists offer a number of 6pm appointments, and our clinic is also open on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.

We also offer telehealth services for those who are working from home and have some flexibility to attend a session within their working hours.

A full outline of our fees is available on our fees page. Click here to find out more.

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.

The team at the Centre for Clinical Psychology understands the importance of finding the right fit between you and your psychologist. We are willing to support you in this, whether that involves a transfer to another psychologist within our practice or an external referral. Your well-being is our priority.

Attendance frequency varies from person to person and may change over the course of treatment. Some clients attend twice per week, while others attend once per week, fortnightly, or monthly.

Frequency will depend on each person's unique needs and circumstances, but it is also worth considering what the evidence indicates is most likely to support the best possible outcomes.

Available evidence indicates that clients who attend more regularly, particularly in the early stages of treatment, tend to experience the greatest improvements (Bruijniks et al., 2020; Tiemens et al., 2019). We therefore initially recommend booking two sessions per week to support the best possible outcomes.

For those attending for depression, research indicates that twice-weekly sessions may produce better outcomes 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.

For clients receiving Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for trauma or PTSD, attending twice per week is highly recommended. Research has indicated that more frequent attendance with fewer gaps between CPT sessions may be associated with significantly greater PTSD symptom reduction (Gutner et al., 2016).

Attending twice per week also means you may be able to complete all 12 sessions of treatment in under two months. If twice-weekly attendance is not possible, CPT requires a minimum of once-weekly attendance to support the best possible outcomes.

For those attending for personality disorders, twice-weekly sessions have been associated with improvement (Giesen-Bloo, 2006).

Unlike counselling, evidence-based therapy utilises specific techniques, strategies, and processes that are designed to assist people in addressing issues and concerns that may be affecting them emotionally or mentally. These approaches have been evaluated through scientific research.

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 refers to the health and emotional well-being of parents with infants up to one or three years of age, as well as the emotional well-being of infants themselves. Increasingly, the emotional health and well-being of fathers is also receiving the attention it deserves.

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Infant mental health is concerned with the well-being 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.

Practitioners in this field are also interested in the infant's capacity to engage with the world with curiosity, and in doing so, to explore and learn.

Relationships sit at the heart of infant mental health, given that infants and young children are heavily dependent upon the support of their caregivers. The quality of these relationships and the care received may shape the infant's capacity for relating, learning, behaviour, and emotional well-being across a lifetime.

Infants are born with the capacity to communicate their internal states and seek responses from their environment. Rather than being passive recipients of care, infants are active agents with the capacity to adapt to their environment and influence both their surroundings and their caregivers.

From birth, they are active participants in relationships. The caregiving environment includes family, but also community and culture.

Infant mental health is important because the window of opportunity is both powerful and limited. The first 1,000 days of life represent the most rapid period of brain development in a person's lifetime.

When infant mental health is supported and 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 may be long-lasting, potentially increasing the risk of anxiety, developmental delays, and difficulties in school and relationships.

The development of secure attachment may help set infants on a path towards good mental health as they progress through adolescence and into adulthood.

Insights drawn from infant mental health research may assist parents in better understanding the unique ways their babies and infants communicate. Such understanding may enable parents to respond with greater confidence, which may in turn help to strengthen the bond between parents and their baby.

At the Centre for Clinical Psychology, we aim to support families with young children, whether through evidence-based mental health treatment, support with early parenting concerns, or assistance with parental relationships. We recognise that this support may benefit everyone involved, but particularly the baby.

We serve residents across Melbourne suburbs including:

• Brunswick
• Clifton Hill
• Collingwood
• Docklands
• Fitzroy
• Flemington
• Kensington
• Kew
• North Melbourne
• Northcote
• Parkville
• Princes Hill
• Richmond
• Southbank

And more!