Therapy, or counselling, is a confidential and professional service that assists a person to become more self-aware and emotionally healthy. Counselling involves talking with a person in a way that helps that person solve a problem or helps to create conditions that will cause the person to gain a greater understanding of themselves, their behaviours, their character, their values, and their life circumstances. Individuals, couples and families seek counselling for a range of issues within their personal or work lives. Often counselling is sought out at times of change or crisis; however, counselling can be useful and helpful at any time in our life. Depending on your needs and the psychologist you work with, different styles of counselling and therapy may be used. Commonly used therapies at Vitalise include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychoeducation, Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). Clients usually find counselling a very liberating and empowering experience. That is not to say they don’t feel nervous when first entering therapy. However, the process and the feeling afterwards, are usually very positive and beneficial.

Firstly, your psychologist will provide you with a consent form which will outline the professional conditions they abide by as set out by the Australian Psychological Society, including your rights of confidentiality. The first question your psychologist will tend to ask you is “What brings you here today?” You will then have the opportunity to tell them why you have come, what you would like to work on and to ask any questions. Together, you will discuss any history that is relevant to the situation and come up with a plan, including a discussion about what changes you might expect to see, and how often you should attend. You may then discuss the first steps and strategies you can take to start making a positive emotional change in your life. It should be noted that psychologists may work in different ways, so the above may vary depending on who you see and how they work. One thing you can be guaranteed of is that your psychologist will provide a safe, non-judgmental and caring environment.

The counselling process is different for every individual, and consequently the number of sessions you need will depend upon your own unique circumstances. Some people see changes in a small number of sessions, while others may take longer. Some clients also prefer to work on their emotional development on a longer term basis, which is perfectly fine.

There is no limit to the number of sessions you may choose to have with your psychologist. However, the maximum number of sessions covered by Medicare in one calendar year is 10. For some issues, you might not need to attend this many sessions, but for others you might find it helpful to continue past 10 sessions. If you do see a psychologist through the Medicare Better Access initiative, your psychologist will remain in contact with your GP to discuss your treatment and progress (with your permission), and most mental health treatment plans involve a review with your GP after 6 sessions. Through the Medicare Better Access initiative you are also eligible for 10 rebated group sessions per calendar year in addition to your individual sessions.

Privacy and confidentiality are vitally important in therapy; however, there are some limits to confidentiality. Everything said in counselling is confidential, meaning that unless you give verbal or written permission, we won’t discuss your information with others, including family members, except in special circumstances, detailed below. If you have a doctor’s referral, we are obliged to provide a brief report to that doctor after 6 and 10 sessions, or earlier, when necessary. There may be other times when information is provided to other professionals in order to protect you or others from harm; we are bound by law to do this. The specific types of situations are a) if a client is likely to harm themselves or others and b) if there is a child at risk of harm, and c) if the courts subpoena information. Please feel free to email or call us with any questions you still have.

Vitalise is committed to supplying affordable psychological care to its clients. Below is our standard fee and our low income/bulk billing fee. We also offer a reduce rate to those in need; please call to discuss.

Standard Fee – Clinical Psychologist

• With Medicare Rebate: $103.65 out of pocket
• Without Medicare Rebate: $240.00

General Psychologist

• With Medicare Rebate: $117.10 out of pocket
• Without Medicare Rebate: $210.00
  Couples Fee
• $260.00 (private health rebate may be accessible)

Fees are due on the day of your appointment and you may pay by cash, EFTPOS, or credit card. Eligible Medicare Rebates are processed on the same day with the funds transferred directly into your bank account.

Some private health insurance policies cover psychological therapies. For any single session, you can only claim a rebate through Medicare or private health, not both. Vitalise can provide you with a receipt following the session for you to lodge with your private health provider.

Yes, all of our psychologists are able to provide services for TAC and Worksafe clients.

Yes, all of our psychologists can see NDIS clients, provided they are Plan Managed or Self-Managed. 

Positive Psychology emerged late in the 20th century, and was borne out of an observation made by Martin Seligman, the then president of the American Psychological Association, regarding the apparent imbalance of focus within the field of psychology. Seligman recognised that psychology had focused almost exclusively on illness and pathology. This discrepancy can be highlighted by doing a simple search on any one of the main academic search engines using the words “sadness” vs “happiness”. Chances are you will find a ratio of around 100:1 in favour of sadness. Psychology had been ignoring the upper end of the human experience – wellbeing and thriving – and had instead been focusing on surviving.

In reaction to this discrepancy, Seligman advocated for research into “positive emotions, character traits & enabling institutions” (Seligman & Cziksentmihalyi, 2000). Since the taboo has been lifted on research relating to the positive aspects of human existence, an abundance of research interest has been generated, resulting in significant scientific advancements in a relatively short period of time.​

Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It is a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. So why should you invest time, effort, or money in optimising your own wellbeing? Many believe that wellbeing and happiness are inherently valuable – meaning that feeling happy is worthwhile as an end in itself. However others take more convincing. So is there any pay off for investing in wellbeing beyond the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with happiness? Until more recently, this question had been relatively ignored as far as scientific research is concerned. However, since the inception of Positive Psychology, an abundance of research investigating the benefits of happiness and wellbeing has emerged. This has resulted in the identification of numerous psychological, social, physical health, and productivity benefits of happiness and wellbeing.​

Jon Kabat-Zinn, often heralded as the founder of contemporary mindfulness, defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: (1) on purpose, (2) in the present moment, and (3) nonjudgmentally”. Essentially, mindfulness is about making a conscious effort to fully connect with the present moment. Although this may sound simple, it is astounding just how much time we all spend worrying about the future, or ruminating about the past. This lack of contact with the present moment can lead to much suffering, and can also be responsible for inefficiency and dissatisfaction with one’s life.

Mindfulness has historic links to Buddhism, however has more recently been secularized and integrated into contemporary psychology because of its, now well established, healing potential. Mindfulness is now regularly and successfully used as a treatment for a range of both physical and psychological ailments, and has also been applied in a variety of performance and sports psychology settings (see this article for a review of the vast benefits associated with mindfulness).

Mindfulness also has qualities beyond purposeful present moment awareness, in that it requires us to adopt a nonjudgemental stance. This means just noticing whatever occurs in the present moment, instead of evaluating or judging what occurs. For example, many people would evaluate a flushed face as negative, because it may be associated with feelings of anxiety, however, mindfulness would encourage you to just notice this phenomenon (e.g. “I am aware that my face is feeling hot” instead of “my face is flushed, this is awful! Something bad is about to happen!”). The nonjudgmental aspect of mindfulness also encourages us to have self-compassion in regards to our mindfulness practice. This can be particularly difficult for many of us, as we all have a desire to do everything “right” and “well”, and are used to berating ourselves for doing something “wrong” or “poorly”. However, when we practice mindfulness it is important to do so with a strong undertone of self-compassion and gentleness. Once you try to practice mindfulness you will begin to fully appreciate just how important a nunjudgmental attitude is, as despite our strongest desires and attempts to remain in contact with the present moment, the minds wandering ways continually undermine this, which can lead to a sense of failure. To assist you in remaining nonjudgmental when practicing, please just try to remember, the mind wanders…. that is just what it does…. and all you have to do is notice when the mind wanders and bring your attention back to the present moment. Also remind yourself that every time you notice that your mind has wandered is itself a mindful moment!

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a relatively new psychological intervention that has recently gained much support and respect​. ACT is now widely used to address a variety of psychological and physical complaints, and as a therapeutic approach, is quite distinct from the more traditional treatment methods. ACT proposes that much human suffering is actually related to our attempts to control and/or avoid difficult internal experiences, such as emotions, thoughts, or physical sensations (referred to in ACT as ‘private events’). This perspective differs greatly from many other therapies which actually try to teach clients ways to control private events. Although the reason why we attempt to avoid or control difficult private events is clear (who wants to feel miserable right?), ACT suggests that, paradoxically, these attempts lead to more suffering and to the development of long term negative outcomes.

Perhaps an example will more clearly illustrate this point. Consider a person who begins feeling nervous and anxious in relation to their work performance. Perhaps they initially try and control this anxiety by telling themselves to “just calm down!” or to “stop being so stupid”. When these attempts fail, their anxiety is further intensified as they begin to feel like they’re not in control. They then try numbing the anxiety with drugs or alcohol; however soon find the anxiety returns. Eventually they may decide to quit to escape the anxiety, despite the job being something they truly value. Although they have escaped the anxiety temporarily, next time they are in a similar situation they will inevitably experience similar difficulties, and will probably employ similar coping strategies (i.e. dropping out of life). This situation is a classic example of how control and avoidance of difficult private events can lead to their intensification.

The counselling process is different for every individual, and consequently the number of sessions you need will depend upon your own unique circumstances. Some people see changes in a small number of sessions, while others may take longer. Some clients also prefer to work on their emotional development on a longer term basis, which is perfectly fine.

There is no limit to the number of sessions you may choose to have with your psychologist. However, the maximum number of sessions covered by Medicare in one calendar year is 10. For some issues, you might not need to attend this many sessions, but for others you might find it helpful to continue past 10 sessions. If you do see a psychologist through the Medicare Better Access initiative, your psychologist will remain in contact with your GP to discuss your treatment and progress (with your permission), and most mental health treatment plans involve a review with your GP after 6 sessions. Through the Medicare Better Access initiative you are also eligible for 10 rebated group sessions per calendar year in addition to your individual sessions.

Vitalise is committed to supplying affordable psychological care to its clients. Our fees vary depending on which psychologist you see, and whether you have a GP referral or private health insurance. Please contact us to establish what your fee will be.

Eligible Medicare Rebates are processed on the same day with the funds transferred directly into your bank account.

Some private health insurance policies cover psychological therapies. For any single session, you can only claim a rebate through Medicare or private health, not both. Vitalise can provide you with a receipt following the session for you to lodge with your private health provider.

Yes, all of our psychologists are able to provide services for TAC and Worksafe clients.

Yes, all of our psychologists can see NDIS clients, provided they are Plan Managed or Self-Managed. 

Yes, we see both Mental Health Care Plan and EPC clients. In fact majority of the clients we see decide to get a GP referral and mental health care plan so that they can access a Medicare rebate for their session.