FAQ

Free Parking is available on surrounding streets and for up to two hours in the nearby Royal Randwick Shopping Centre as shown on the location map.

If you have a referral from a Doctor, that should include a telephone number for directly contacting the therapist to schedule an initial appointment. If not, visit the therapists page on this website.  Browse the profiles or use the ‘Find the Right Therapist for You’ tool to search for therapists via their specialization and choose from the search results. Once you have selected a therapist, simply call the number provided next to their name.

No. Randwick Psychology Centre is two sets of professional consulting rooms provided for a range of independent therapists in private practice. There is no central reception and clients deal directly with their therapist or the therapists own reception service. As a result, each therapist sets their own schedule of fees, cancellation policies and so on. The information below is general only and your therapist will provide further details as required.

Each therapist at the Centre sets their own rates and you should discuss this with them at the time of making your first appointment. The recommended fee from 1 July 2015 until 30 June 2016 for a standard psychological consultation of 45-60 minutes is $238.00. Discounted rates, medicare rebates and health insurance rebates may be available to you. Medicare rebates are available for psychological treatment by registered psychologists under the Australian Government’s Better Access to Mental Health Care initiative. To access the rebates you must be referred by your GP, your psychiatrist or paediatrician. Your GP will need to complete a detailed mental health assessment and prepare a Mental Health Treatment Plan before referring you to a psychologist. You should book a longer session with your GP to enable time for this.

Please note if you are not requiring assistance form Medicare you can arrange an appointment with a psychologist without a referral from a GP. Eligible people can receive up to 10 individual sessions in a calendar year (1 January – 31 December). Your referring doctor will assess your progress after the first six sessions. After you have reached the maximum number of allowable session for the calendar year you will not be eligible for any further Medicare rebates for treatment you receive from a psychologist until the new calendar year. For further information on the Better Access to Mental Health Care scheme please visit http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-ba

The Centre has a credit card and EFTPOS facility, as well the capacity to provide instant medicare and health fund rebates, but not all our therapists are set up to use it.  Please check availability when making your appointment.  Cash payments are otherwise accepted, and some therapists will accept payment by cheque or direct deposit. Each therapist will provide you details of their payment requirements when making your first appointment.  All our therapists require that you pay the amount due at the end of each session, unless a prior arrangement has already been made such as billing your employer or workers compensation insurer.

Each therapist has their own cancellation policy. Please ensure you understand it prior to your first appointment as insufficient notice of cancellation, or simply failing to turn up for an appointment may see the full fee being payable for that appointment.

In most instances, psychological counselling is not subject to GST.  If, however, your counselling is being paid for by your employer, or is work related (such as when you intend to claim it as a work related tax deduction) then GST will need to be added, but only if your therapist is registered for GST.  If your counselling is work related, or being paid for by your employer, please advise your therapist when making an appointment so they can determine if GST will apply.

If your counselling relates to work related issues such as stress, employment issues etc. you may be entitled to claim a deduction.  Please contact a taxation professional to determine if this is the case.  If you intend claiming a deduction, please inform your therapist, as they may need to add GST to the normal fee.  You cannot claim a tax deduction for counselling that is also subject to a Medicare rebate claim.

Your therapist will make a diagnosis during your first few sessions and discuss this issue with you.  If you need longer term counseling than allowed for in the Medicare scheme this may require that your ten rebated sessions are spaced out across the year, or that non-rebated sessions are scheduled. In this case you may be able to access health insurance rebates for the non-medicare sessions.

This will be determined in discussion with your therapist during the first session.

Psychology is a field where the therapist and the client work together to improve the client’s mental wellbeing.  This may require tasks and activities for you to do between sessions to get the most out of your course of therapy. Your therapist will discuss expectations and the approach they wish to take in your treatment during your first session.

Of course. Confidentiality is a key element of the psychological counseling process. Your therapist will not discuss any aspect of your counselling with anyone without your permission, except in very specific circumstances as set out in guidelines provided by the Australian Psychological Society and the NSW Psychologists Registration Board, where required by law and in discussion with your GP if you have been referred with a GPs Treatment Plan. If your employer is providing access to your therapist, then their own policies will also set out what is confidential, and what information might be provided to them by the therapist. Please discuss this with both your employer and the therapist prior to your first session.

Due to heritage constraints on the building access for people with reduced mobility to our top floor suite in Randwick is not currently available. Some of out therapists do offer an outreach service and will visit you in your home or in another location should accessibility issues prevent you from visiting the centre. Search for ‘home visits’ on the therapists page to identify these practitioners. Otherwise most of our practitioners can provide remote counselling using skype, zoom or similar services

While the Centre is not a telephone counselling facility, our therapists may choose to arrange a session with established or mobility impaired clients or to those isolating due to Covid19 or other issues, using the telphone or via a vieo service such as Zoom, Skype, Teams or others . Telephone sessions are charged in line with their usual rates. Please make individual inquiries with your psychologist about telephone and telehealth counseling options.

If the cost of your counselling is being paid by an Insurance company under a workers compensation claim, then the Insurance Company must approve the therapist it will pay to see you.  Some of the therapists at the Centre are registered with Insurance companies for this kind of work and are experienced in workers compensation cases.  Use the ‘Find the Right Therapist for You’ tool on the therapists page to see details of these practitioners.  You should contact the relevant insurer prior to making an appointment.  Some therapists prefer not to take on Worker’s Compensation cases so please advise them if your counselling will be subject to a claim