Counselling - Families, Couples and Individuals

What you can expect:The first appointment

• When you come to the first appointment, we'll want to know what concerns you the most and ask you how you would like the meeting to help you.
• We will negotiate with you the idea of inviting other members of your family to this first meeting. This is to help us get a broad picture of the problem , to  explore how the problem is effecting everyone , and to explore how each individual is responding to the problem.
• If there are other helpers involved, we may ask your permission to talk with them. If you are in agreement, we may also invite them to the first meeting.
• The meetings are confidential and this will only be broken if we believe you are at at risk or if someone else is.  In this  case, we will talk about this , and negotiate what action can be taken to protect you or the other person.
• You can expect change to come about either from the  new perspectives generated from our conversation and /or experimenting with different behaviours and ideas in between meetings.
• We are always interested in your feedback on the therapy - whether it is  "on track" for you and your family.
• Meetings are of one hour duration.

Fees:Systemic Consultation Centre
Fees and Medicare Rebates 2014
 
Fees
Each counselling session is approximately 50 minutes in duration and the fee per session is $150. This fee applies to all individual, couple and family sessions.  Please note that accounts must be paid on the day of your session.
 
Appointment Cancellations
We require 1 working days notice if you are unable to attend a scheduled appointment. If you do not provide 1 working days notice, you will be charged a cancellation fee, which is 100% of the usual session fee.
 
Payment of accounts
Accounts are payable on the day of your session. Our practice offers the Medicare HICAPS service, which allows clients to claim their Medicare rebate via our EFTPOS terminal. If you wish to utilise this service, please bring your current Medicare and EFTPOS cards to each session.
 
Claims from Medicare
As part of the federal government's Better Access to Mental Health Care initiative eligible clients can receive a rebate from Medicare for psychological services.
 
In order to obtain a rebate from Medicare, your General Practitioner must complete a Mental Health Treatment Plan with you.  Referral letters from psychiatrists and paediatricians are also welcomed. Please bring the referral letter from your doctor to your appointment.
 
Number of sessions Medicare will rebate
You are eligible to claim a Medicare rebate for up to 10 sessions per calendar year. You must visit your referring doctor after attending 6 counselling sessions, to ascertain whether further sessions are appropriate and if so, you may be referred for a further 4 sessions.
You will not be able to claim any rebate from Medicare unless your doctor has completed a Mental Health Treatment Plan prior to your counselling appointment.