Our reception hours are 8.45am – 5.00pm, Monday – Friday. We also have a 24 hour answering service so you can leave a voice message and our receptionists will respond during opening hours. You are also welcome to send us an email during or after hours to: admin@mindhealthcare.com.au
Every referral to Mind Health Care is carefully evaluated by our principal clinical psychologist, Dr. Brendan Meagher, in order to assess your needs and advise on which psychologists are best suited with the expertise in the area you require. You will complete a quick online questionnaire which allows you to provide information that will help Dr. Brendan Meagher recommend the psychologists who best suit your needs. You can then look at the online profiles of these recommended psychologists to make an informed decision about who you want to work with. There is a one-off charge of $30 for this process and it has been found to provide a better therapeutic alliance between you and your psychologist.
We do not offer after hours appointments and clients should expect to attend our service between 9am – 5pm on varying days between Monday – Friday.
To access a Medicare rebate for sessions you will need a referral AND a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP. For Work Cover or TAC clients, you will just need a referral letter. Any client wishing to attend privately, does not need to provide a referral, although this can be helpful to support a collaborative approach to your care.
A Mental Health Care Plan is completed by your GP and allows you to access a maximum of 10 Medicare rebated psychology appointments within a calendar year (January – December). You work with your GP to prepare this plan that will outline your current mental health issue. It also helps identify what kind of care you are looking for, as well as the goals you are aiming to achieve by using this plan to access mental health services such as Mind Health Care.
Your appointment will be approximately 50 minutes to an hour. We do ask that if you are running late for your appointment, you give us a call to let us know.
You may be a little nervous before your first appointment and that is totally normal, tell your psychologist this when you sit down. Your psychologist will be a little nervous too (this is a good thing) because your mental health is as important to them as it is to you and they want to do their very best to help. Some people feel pressure to describe their situation clearly and thoroughly in this first session, which is easier said than done. At this appointment, your psychologist will work through a set of semi-structured questions that will help them to understand your situation. Towards the end of the session, you will work together in setting some goals to achieve over the course of your appointments.
You are not required to bring anything to your first appointment. We do ask that you please arrive 5-10 minutes prior to your appointment time and check in with our friendly reception staff before settling into our waiting room. This will help you to not feel rushed and add to that initial appointment nervousness.
Yes, we do. Our psychologists are not paid if you do not attend a scheduled appointment or cancel without providing 24 hours’ notice. This policy is in place to protect our psychologists who are unable to fill appointments that are cancelled at late notice or not attended. You can read more about this policy on our “Fees” page.
Yes, we do. However, only some of our psychologists are available to accept Work Cover or TAC clients. We require a referral from your GP outlining which organisation you are with to get started. Please note, we do not bill directly to your insurer. On the day of your appointment, clients pay privately and seek reimbursement from their funding body themselves.
Yes, Mind Health Care is an experienced provider of psychology services to NDIS participants and has supported participants since the scheme commenced in 2013. Support Coordinators or participants need to ensure funding for psychology is available and can contact us directly to get started.
Yes, we do have psychologists available to see DVA clients. We require a DVA referral from your GP to get started, which will allow you access to this fully funded service.
We have a very limited capacity for clients under the age of 18. You can speak to reception about our current capacity to accept anyone under the age of 18, as this can vary.
Our psychologists are limited in their ability to provide you with any required reports. You need to be up front during our intake process if you are attending for the sole purpose of being provided with a report for any matters. This helps us to let you know before beginning if we are able to assist with this, saving both you and the psychologist time and money.
Unfortunately our psychologists do not have expertise in this specialised work. We encourage you to speak with DHS child protection about psychologists they would recommend who do have expertise in this area.
Unfortunately our psychologists do not have expertise in forensic psychology and therefore we do not accept these.
We do not see clients for the primary purpose of completing a DSP application.
We ask that you do not bring your children to your appointment. It is generally not appropriate for children to attend sessions and children are not able to remain unsupervised in our waiting room.
Yes, we have limited off street parking available that is accessed from Wilsons Road.
We have wheelchair friendly access to our building and wheelchair friendly toilet facilities.