Southbank Psychologists

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.

You may benefit from seeing a psychologist if you are:

• Struggling to cope or feeling overwhelmed by daily life
• Distressed by a traumatic experience
• Finding it difficult to manage low mood
• Troubled by excessive worry or panic attacks
• Experiencing difficulty sleeping
• Struggling with frequent feelings of irritability or anger
• Feeling socially isolated or withdrawing from activities
• Experiencing difficulties with parenting or your relationships

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

A clinical psychologist is a university-educated professional who is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and is required to complete 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, clinical psychologists are required to adhere to strict confidentiality policies in accordance with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency's (AHPRA) Code of Conduct and the Australian Privacy Guidelines. All information disclosed in therapy sessions, as well as any correspondence relating to your sessions, remains confidential unless you provide consent for it to be shared.

On rare occasions, a psychologist may be required to disclose information to a third party, for example, when someone's safety is at risk, when seeking a supervisor's input to assist with treatment planning, or if a document is subpoenaed. These circumstances are outlined in the Centre for Clinical Psychology Consent Form.

We also follow strict protocols to maintain the security of all client data. Please request a copy of our Privacy Policy if you require further information.

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 assist your clinical psychologist in developing a clearer understanding of your current situation. You may also 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 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 recognise that not everyone is able to attend appointments during regular business hours. To accommodate this, our psychologists offer a number of 6pm appointments, and we are also open on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.

We also provide telehealth appointments for those who work from home and have the flexibility to see a psychologist within their working hours.

For a complete overview of our fees, please visit our fees page. Click here for details.

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 the best of circumstances, such feedback can become a constructive part of the therapeutic work and may contribute to meaningful progress. We encourage you to discuss these concerns openly with your psychologist, rather than discontinuing therapy without notice.

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 often someone sees their psychologist varies considerably from person to person and may change as treatment progresses. Some clients attend twice per week, while others attend once per week, fortnightly, or monthly.

The appropriate frequency will depend on each person's individual needs and circumstances, though it is equally important to consider what the available evidence suggests may lead to the most favourable 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).

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).

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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, and also includes the emotional well-being of infants. The emotional health and well-being of fathers is increasingly receiving the recognition and attention it deserves.

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Infant mental health focuses on the well-being of infants from birth to three years of age. Practitioners in this area are interested in understanding the social and emotional worlds of infants, particularly their ability to form close and secure relationships, as well as their capacity 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 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 the moment of birth, infants are active participants in their relationships. The caregiving environment includes not only family, but also the broader community and culture.

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 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 are dedicated to supporting families with young children, offering assistance with mental health concerns, early parenting challenges, and parental relationships. We recognise that this support may be of benefit to everyone in the family, and most importantly, to the baby.

We serve residents across Melbourne suburbs including:

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

And more!