Frequently Asked Questions
Our team here at The ACT of Living will be glad to be of assistance helping you find ways to successfully deal with your concerns. We understand that you may have questions about what our approach is and what psychology services we offer. Below we have provided a list of frequently asked questions to help you know what to expect when seeing a psychologist at our clinic. If your question is not listed below, or you would like more information, feel free to email or call our clinic.
Yes! If you have a referral from your GP or psychiatrist for a mental health treatment plan you will be eligible to receive a Medicare rebate of $93.35. You will still need to pay the gap fee – this varies depending on the practitioner, but most practitioners charge $260 so the gap will then be the difference between $260 and the above rebate.
Please note – you cannot receive a Medicare rebate if you are seeing one of our counsellors or provisional psychologists. However, their fees reflect this and are about the same as the gap fee you would be paying if you saw a psychologist with a referral.
How many sessions do I get?
Your GP will refer you for a certain number of initial sessions (usually 6). Once you have used these sessions, you can discuss with your psychologist about whether further sessions are required. You will then need to speak with your GP to get a re-referral for additional sessions. You are eligible for up to 10 sessions per calendar year. Of course, you are welcome to continue after the Medicare sessions have been used up.
I don’t have a referral, how do I get one?
– Book in to see your GP for a 30 minute appointment
– They will assess whether you are eligible for a mental health treatment plan and send our clinic a referral letter
IMPORTANT: Please tell our clinic if you already have a mental health treatment plan and already received rebates when seeing a psychologist this calendar year.
Can ACT of Living claim the rebate for me?
- there are sufficient funds in your credit card to make the payment
- that Medicare has up-to-date bank details for you linked to your Medicare card. You can do this through your My Gov account (login here).
Rural telehealth appointments
Non-Medicare sessions
There is no set rule for when someone should seek counselling. People seek counselling for many different reasons and at different points in their life. Common reasons are to help manage symptoms of a mental illness such as anxiety or depression, to provide clarity, support or motivation. Counselling provides an opportunity for you to talk freely with an empathetic and non-judgmental professional that can help you work through your everyday experiences and issues. For more information on how our practitioners can help you click on the ‘our team’ tab to see our different practitioners. Alternatively, you are welcome to call or email the clinic.
Counselling is the professional service psychologists offer that is designed to help individuals deal with issues and concerns in life that may be affecting them emotionally or mentally. Unlike simply giving advice, counselling allows psychologists to apply particular techniques and strategies that are specifically designed to deal with concerns of mental and emotional health.
Yes, over 80% of people who see a counsellor experience improvement, and generally fewer than 10% will be worse off after effective counselling. At The ACT of Living we measure the outcome achieved for each client and publish our aggregate effectiveness. In fact we’ve been certified as effective by the Center for Clinical Informatics.
All counselling sessions at the Act of Living are private and exclusive only to you and to your psychologist. As our psychologists and therapists are accredited and licensed, we make sure all correspondence during sessions are kept confidential. The only exception to this is if your information is specifically requested by the courts, or if you request this data yourself.
The term “psychologist” refers to a person professionally-trained and certified to provide psychological assistance to clients ailed by a wide variety of conditions that range from mild to more severe issues. The psychologists at Act of Living are university-trained and have professional training and skills allow them to deal effectively with various psychological issues.
That depends on many factors. Most people achieve a significant benefit by around 6-10 sessions. The average client who achieves any improvement with us does so in around nine sessions. This varies a lot though from one client to the next.
To understand more about our approach to counselling and therapy email or call us today!
See the fee and rebate details for each practitioner by clicking on the ‘Practitioners’ menu above and choosing the practitioner you’re interested in.
For information about Medicare rebates, see ‘Can I receive a Medicare rebate for seeing a psychologist?’
What you need
Making a Telehealth appointment
Security and privacy
Yes if you wish. We are now seeing clients either via telehealth sessions (via videoconference or phone) or face-to-face at 203 High St, Northcote.
What we are doing to prevent COVID-19 transmission
Our staff have been instructed to follow these safety measures to reduce contamination:
- Ceased physical contact between staff and between staff and clients
- Increased cleaning schedules for all rooms
- Routinely using disinfectant spray and wipes to clean pens, pencils, whiteboard markers, tissue boxes, light switches and tables and desks.
- Ask clients not to touch any door handles or light switches
- Converted tasks such as completion of forms, payment and assessment to be completely contactless (read more about how our contactless payment system works here – after your first payment, you don’t even need to have your credit card with you).
- Run airconditioning continuously and keep rooms open outside sessions to maximise air circulation
- Staggering client and practitioner arrival and departure times to reduce contact opportunities
The number of people coming through our premises is quite low – about 20 per day, so safer than many other places you might routinely visit such as shops, cafés and most workplaces. Our maximum occupancy, including one reception person and up to 3 practitioners is 10. For this reason, you may not be able to bring another person to wait in the waiting room for you, and you may be asked to wait outside if we are at or near capacity.
What you can do to keep you and us safe
You can help to keep you, us and the community safe by following the government recommendations on social distancing, hand-washing, avoiding touching your face and sneezing or coughing into a tissue that you immediately dispose of.
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cancelling your appointment if you are unwell, and especially if you have early symptoms of cold or flu such as:
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high temperature
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shortness of breath
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cough
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runny or blocked nose
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sore throat
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likewise cancelling if someone in your household or with whom you come into regular or prolonged contact shows these signs or has recently returned from or through a country experiencing a COVID-19 epidemic, or if that person is being tested or has been tested for COVID-19, or is self-isolating. Cancellation fees will be waived in these situations during the crisis.
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not touching door handles, light switches or any devices or objects that you don’t absolutely need to
Please go to our contact form to arrange an in-person or telehealth consultation.
We mainly use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, but we are trained in other methods such as humanistic and existential counselling, cognitive-behavior therapy, solution-focused therapy, functional analytic psychotherapy, positive psychology, motivational interviewing and more.
For your first session, you can expect this to be something that will help you and your therapist zero in on your particular concern or issue. This means your psychologist will more or less begin the session by asking you about things that are happening in your life and about your particular issue. How much you open up about your issue is up to you. From this session, your psychologist should be able to plot out a basic overview of the approach they will take throughout the course of your sessions together, in order to get your desired result. Your first session is important as it allows both you and your therapist to identify aspects of the problem that need focus. It also marks the beginning of the therapeutic relationship and will allow you to feel more comfortable when discussing issues with your therapist.
As much as we’d feel sad seeing you go, you are allowed to cancel your sessions with our team and your psychologist. Do clarify with our customer service representatives regarding the specifics of your cancellation of our service. However, remember that our team will always be here should you want to start seeing us again, as we understand that our customers also tend to exit their sessions because of a wide variety of reasons. Our doors will always be open to accommodate you and help you find the best solutions in order to solve your particular concerns.
GET IN TOUCH
If you have any questions, please call our Intake Staff on 0493 753 641 or complete the form below and we can call you back.