Most clients start to feel improvements after the first couple of sessions, and feel better equipped to independently navigate life in new ways after about 6-8 sessions. Most people feel ready to stop or reduce counselling with me within about 10-12 sessions.

That said, I do have many clients who continue to see me for “tune ups” a couple of times a year, just to stay on track or when significant life challenges might pop up. You’re always welcome!

My style of counselling is quite specialised to help you better navigate ADHD and AuDHD and to support you to work through the shame, self-blame, and mental health challenges that come with living in primarily neurotypical settings, and PMDD and hormonal changes.

Together, you and I explore how your fabulous brain and body work, and we develop strategies and use tools to respond to your natural rhythms and patterns.

I tend to find that my clients get the best results with attending fortnightly sessions, at least for the first 6-8 sessions. This gives you a chance to step back and catch your breath after each session to process what we have covered and perhaps practice a new skill.

Many clients feel better equipped after 6-8 sessions to extend the session frequency out to every 3-4 weeks after that, sometimes scheduling the session in line with PMDD or hormonal cycles.

Given that I work in part-time private practice, I am unable to offer intensive mental health support and/or appropriate risk management to women who require sessions multiple times a week, those who are navigating current domestic/family violence (DFV) matters, or who those who are in current acute mental health crisis.

I feel you will be better supported by a mental health or DFV service who can provide you with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary wraparound service to support you to manage safety/risk, emotional difficulties, and any legal matters.

Given the context, the most appropriate service or practitioner needs to be able to respond to risk or any escalation that I am unable to offer in part time private practice. 

A dedicated service would be available to you more frequently and they would be able to holistically support you across the right staff with the right experience and knowledge across the entire service.

I know this might be disappointing. I do have an obligation to do no harm and prioritise your wellbeing. I also have to work within my scope of practice and competence.

After you’ve been able to work with a specialist to navigate through the challenging time, if you’d then like to get in touch with me to to work on better navigating ADHD/AuDHD, I’d love to hear from you!

These counselling sessions are not currently eligible for rebate under Medicare or a private health fund.

I understand that when you are seeking a counselling service, an economical approach is most desirable. Therefore, I always ensure that my session fee is less than the out-of-pocket gap amount that you would need to pay after receiving the current Medicare benefit, if you were accessing my sessions with a Mental Health Care Plan.

Some of the benefits of receiving counselling in private pay (also called self-pay) settings include:

Flexibility in who you see

• You are not obligated to choose from counsellors preferred or referred by your GP or private health fund.

• You are able to choose the practitioner that best suits your needs, location and personal preference.

• Diagnosis/es will not be shared without your consent or placed on shared medical records.

• You have more flexibility with the type of counselling you receive.

• You and your counsellor are able to choose when counselling is effective and/or terminated.

Confidentiality

• Your privacy will remain intact without the possibility of Medicare or a private health insurer requesting needed information regarding your diagnosis, service, plan, or progress.

• There is no limit to the number of sessions that you can receive when you pay privately. Medicare and insurance companies may limit the number of sessions that you can receive depending on your plan, diagnosis, or other factors.

If you are need of mental health services, it is important that you have the freedom to choose services with or without Medicare/private health rebates. Therefore, if you wish to see a different practitioner whom you can claim the Medicare/private health rebate with, I am more than happy to provide the names of alternative clinics who might be able to assist.

Yes! You can access counselling services with me under the NDIS. To do this, you must have the item ‘Improved Daily Living’ in your plan. Improved Daily Living provides funds to access an allied health professional and is generally flexible across other therapeutic services.

Yes! I am a registered NSW Victims Services Counsellor and you can use your approved NSW Victims Services counselling hours with me under The Victims Support Scheme.

If you have been injured by a violent crime or modern slavery in NSW, the Victims Support Scheme offers up to 22 hours of paid counselling to help you recover from the psychological and emotional impacts. 

To access this, you must have received approval from NSW Victims Services for an allocation of counselling hours. Please provide me with your full name and Victims Services reference number when you submit your booking request.

You can find out more here: https://victimsservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/how-can-we-help-you/victims-support-scheme/counselling.html