Flemington Psychologists

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
• Troubled by a traumatic experience
• Struggling with low mood
• Experiencing excessive worry or panic attacks
• Having difficulty sleeping
• Struggling with frequent feelings of irritability or anger
• Feeling isolated and avoiding social activities
• Struggling with parenting and relationships

Many people are unclear about the role of a clinical psychologist and how it differs from other mental health professionals.

Clinical psychologists are university-trained professionals registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and their training spans a minimum of eight years.

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, practising clinical psychologists are required to follow strict confidentiality policies in accordance with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency's (AHPRA) Code of Conduct and the Australian Privacy Guidelines. Information shared in therapy sessions, as well as any correspondence relating to your sessions, remains confidential unless you have given consent for it to be shared.

In rare circumstances, a psychologist may be obligated to disclose information to a third party, such as when someone's safety is at risk, when seeking a supervisor's opinion to assist with treatment planning, or if a document is subpoenaed. These details are outlined in the Centre for Clinical Psychology Consent Form.

Our practice also adheres to strict data security protocols. Should you require further details, please ask for a copy of our Privacy Policy.

Where required, our clinical psychologists are able to prepare psychological reports for clients undergoing treatment for matters such as TAC, WorkCover, and court proceedings. Please note that these reports are charged separately, in addition to our psychological consultations.

In your first session, your psychologist will aim to develop an understanding of your difficulties and explore how they may work with you to address them. This process will involve an assessment, during which your psychologist will ask a series of questions and you will have the opportunity to reflect on your experience.

Your responses will help your clinical psychologist build a clearer picture of your current situation. In addition, you may be asked to complete 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.

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 hold a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP, you will be entitled to Medicare rebates for up to 10 sessions. Should you utilise all 10 sessions, you may continue to see your psychologist at 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 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 always free to stop seeing your therapist, just as you are free to recommence seeing them at any time.

As a professional, your clinical psychologist will be open to receiving your feedback and will discuss with you any reasons you may have for considering ending therapy. They may also share their thoughts and explain why they may recommend that you continue.

Ideally, this feedback may become an integral part of the therapeutic process and could lead to meaningful progress. We encourage you to have these conversations with your psychologist, rather than simply withdrawing from therapy.

At the Centre for Clinical Psychology, we recognise the importance of a good therapeutic fit between you and your psychologist. We are happy to assist you in finding the right match, even if this means arranging a transfer to another psychologist or providing an external referral. Your care is always our priority.

The frequency with which someone attends psychology sessions varies from person to person and may change throughout the course of treatment. Some clients attend twice per week, others once per week, fortnightly, or monthly.

This will depend on each individual's needs and circumstances; however, it is also important to take into account what the evidence suggests is most likely to lead to the best 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.

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).

Research by Erekson et al. (2015) found that university students attending therapy for adjustment, anxiety, or depression-related concerns achieved clinically significant gains more rapidly when attending weekly sessions compared with fortnightly sessions.

If you are undertaking Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for trauma or PTSD, twice-weekly attendance is strongly recommended. A study found that more frequent CPT sessions with fewer gaps between appointments may be associated with significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms (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.

Research suggests that for personality disorders, attending twice per week has been associated with improvement (Giesen-Bloo, 2006).

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

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).

Read More

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.

Those working in infant mental health are also interested in the infant's ability to engage with the world with a sense of curiosity, enabling them to explore and learn.

Relationships are at the centre of infant mental health. This is because the infant and child are heavily reliant upon support from caregivers. The quality of these relationships and the experience of receiving care may shape the infant's capacity for relating, learning, behaviour and emotional health, 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, infants actively participate in their relationships, and the caregiving environment that shapes their development includes not only 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 nurtured and supported, children are more likely to develop resilience, empathy, and the capacity to form healthy relationships. Disruptions to infant mental health, such as trauma, neglect, parental stress, or inconsistent caregiving, may have long-lasting effects, including an increased 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.

An understanding of infant mental health may help parents appreciate the unique communicative capacities of their babies and infants. This knowledge may enable parents to respond with greater confidence, potentially strengthening the relationship between parents and their baby.

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

We serve residents across Melbourne suburbs including:

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

And more!