You can access up to 10 medicare sessions per calendar year under a Mental Health Plan. Your first referral/mental health care plan will usually be for 6 sessions, after which you will have to return to your GP to have your mental health plan reviewed, and to be referred for another 4 sessions. If you still have sessions left at the end of the year, you can use them as part of your 10 sessions in the next calendar year.

If you run out of medicare subsidised sessions, there are several options. You can continue to see your psychologist without a rebate, or if you have private health insurance, they may be able to rebate some of the fees. Please check with your private health provider whether your level of coverage includes psychology sessions.

Each psychologist has capacity for a certain number of concession / bulk-bill clients. If you need psychological treatment but are unable to afford the full-fee, speak about it with your psychologist at the first session and they may be able to arrange for future sessions to be concession or bulk bill.

At Terapia Psychology, we know that finding the right therapist is one of the most important aspects of psychological treatment. If you feel that your therapist isn’t a good fit for you, no matter how many sessions you have attended, you can let either the therapist or our friendly admin staff know and we can transition you to one of our other therapists. Staying at the same practice means that the transition will be smooth, and that any insight gained with the inital therapist can be easily passed over to your new therapist, with your permission of course.

Yes, we can accept old mental health plans (as long as you haven’t claimed all the sessions on it yet), and referral letters addressed to other psychologists. If you have previously claimed sessions on the referral letter you provide us, or if you have attended psychological treatment elsewhere during the current calendar year, please let us know!

When you call us to book your first appointment, our friendly admin staff will ask you some questions including a short intake assessment. They will simply ask you to give a short (1-2 sentence) description of what you are hoping to address in therapy, so that they can book you in with the right therapist who has expertise in your specific problems, and so that your therapist can prepare ahead of your first session. They will also ask for details like your name, email, and availability - so have your calendar handy!

Cancellations within 24 hours will incur the full fee, while cancellations made between 48 and 24 hours before the appointment will incur half the price of the full fee. If we can fill the appointment that you have cancelled, the cancellation fee will be waived.

If you are are not able to attend in person last-minute but can attend via telehealth (e.g. if you wake up unwell on the day), we can arrange a telehealth appointment at any time. If it is very last minute (e.g. you forgot your appointment but are in a space where you can do the session via telehealth), we advise that you call reception at (03) 9964 3755 or 0426 088 875 rather than emailing to ensure we get your message quickly.

Unfortunately, cancellation fees are not able to be claimed on medicare.

Our fees differ depending on the type of therapist and the time of day of the appointment. Ordinary Hours are for appointments that start at 9:00am or later and before 4:00pm. Any appointment outside those time (e.g., starting at 8:30am, e.g., starting at 4:00pm) are after hours (AH). Our fees are as follows:

Clinical Psychologist: $300 per session; $320 per session (AH)

General Psychologist: $260 per session; $280 per session (AH)

Provisional Psychologist: $140 per session; $150 per session (AH).

Medicare Rebates are available for Clinical and General Psychologists, for 10 sessions per calendar year (subject to your ability to get a referral from a GP). Medicare rebates are $96.65 for General Psychologists and $141.85 per session for Clinical Psychologists.

We also have report writing fees. If you need a report, you can speak to your clinician about this. The fees for report writing start from $120. The invoice must be paid prior to the report being released.