Our counselling sessions and group sessions (or classes) are supported by Medicare when you have a referral, in the form of a Mental Health Care Plan, from your GP, psychiatrist or paediatrician. From March 1, 2012 eligible people can receive:

• 16 individual counselling sessions in a calendar year. Your referring doctor will asses your progress after the first 6 sessions.
• 10 group therapy sessions in a calendar year.

To get a referral you will need to make an appointment with your GP to complete a Mental Health Care Plan. It is important to tell the doctor's receptionist that you are requesting a referral to a psychologist as the GP needs approximately 30 minutes to discuss the plan with you and fill in the required paperwork.

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During your initial session, one of our senior psychologists will:

• Discuss your concerns and select the most suitable psychologist for you.
• Explain how counselling works and answer your concerns
• Advise which educational classes would improve the effectiveness of counselling
• Help you set goals that you would like to achieve from counselling
• Encourage you to come back to resolve any concerns you may have during your counselling

People seek counselling for a variety of reasons, and at different stages in their lives. There is no rule or set structure for when someone should speak with a psychologist. Some of the most common reasons are for treatment of depression, anxiety, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, low self esteem or lowered motivation. However some of the clients at Psychology Melbourne use counselling as part of a mental fitness program. They find their sessions with a psychologist help them to maintain healthy mental functioning so that they can respond better to unpredictable life stressors. People can attend counselling alone, with their partners (relationship counselling) or with their families (family counselling).

Ongoing sessions run for just under one hour.

Psychology Melbourne has appointments during the day, in the evening and on Saturdays at two clinics. Please speak with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it regarding what time would be most suitable for you.

After your initial intake session, we book you in for six appointments to ensure you have a regular place. At your third or fourth appointment, you and your psychologist will review your progress and discuss future plans.

The therapeutic process differs between individuals and the complexity of the issues presented. It is dependent on factors such as previous counselling, support networks, and coping strategies.

The cost of consultations varies with the type of consultation and it is best to discuss the fees with one of our senior psychologists during your initial intake session. You may be eligible for a Medicare rebate, which will reduce your personal cost.

Yes, some private health insurance funds will provide rebates for psychological services, however it is advisable to check with your specific fund as to whether your 'extras cover' includes psychological services and the amount that this covers.

If you are eligible, you can choose to use either your private health insurance or Medicare to pay for psychological services you receive. However, you can only use one form of rebate.

We offer small classes for between six to 10 participants, which are run by qualified psychologists. Think of our classes as a Pilates course for mental fitness, where you will learn and practise new skills and exercises.

See our classes page for what's on this month.

Depression is a mental illness that affects a person's family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. Depressed people may be preoccupied with, or ruminate over, thoughts and feelings of worthlessness, inappropriate guilt or regret, helplessness, hopelessness, and self hatred. They may also blame themselves for negative events.

Other symptoms include poor concentration and memory, withdrawal from social situations and activities, reduced sex drive and thoughts of death or suicide.  The person may report multiple physical symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, or digestive problems.

Mindfulness is a mental state, characterised by concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations.

Mindfulness is an activity that can be done at any time; it does not require sitting, or even focusing on the breath, but rather is done by bringing the mind to focus on what is happening in the present moment, while simply noticing the mind's usual "commentary".

One learns to become aware of the mind's commentary: e.g." I wish washing dishes wasn't so boring", etc. Once we have noticed the mind's running commentary, we can stop identifying with it: we can see that washing dishes does not have to be judged as "boring” and enjoy the task more. Any activity done mindfully is a form of meditation, and mindfulness is possible practically all the time.

Our classes teach exercises that develop mindfulness awareness on a daily basis. Only five minutes, twice a day are initially required. This approach is particularly helpful when it is difficult to establish a regular meditation practice.

Although mindfulness has its origins in Buddhism, it is attracting increasing interest in Western psychology and psychiatry. Mindfulness meditation has been clinically shown to be effective for the management of stress, anxiety and panic, chronic pain, depression, obsessive thinking, strong emotional reactivity, and a wide array of medical and mental health related conditions.

Assertiveness is the direct and honest communication of your thoughts and feelings in a way that does not infringe on the personal rights of others. It involves stating your own rights, while acknowledging the rights of others, and working towards a win-win solution.

Assertiveness can help you improve your communication skills, self-esteem, and decision-making ability. It can help you overcome shyness and anger. Feelings and ideas can be expressed in an honest way, allowing relationships to become much more genuine.

The respect you show for other people can lead to others respecting you more. Assertiveness also gives you more control over your environment, reducing anxiety in difficult situations.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (or CBT) is an approach that aims to identify negative emotions, behaviours and thoughts (cognitions) and find ways to transcend them. It has been shown to be effective in more than 400 outcome studies in the treatment of depression, general anxiety disorders, panic, anger, eating disorders and marital distress. It has also been shown to be effective in the treatment of medical conditions such as chronic pain, hypertension, and fibromyalgia.

The therapist and client work together as a team to identify and solve problems, and therapists help clients to overcome their difficulties through changing their thinking, behavior, and emotional response.

Time Magazine (01/20/03) has stated that Cognitive Therapy is "...quick, practical, goal oriented."

At Psychology Melbourne, we use CBT in individual therapy as well as group settings. It plays a major part in our weight management program.

In our Managing Negative Thoughts classes, the objective is to identify and monitor thoughts, assumptions, beliefs and behaviours that are related to debilitating negative emotions and to identify those which are dysfunctional, inaccurate, or simply unhelpful. This allows us to replace or transcend them with more realistic and useful ones.

CBT was primarily developed through a merging of behaviour therapy with cognitive therapy. While rooted in rather different theories, these two traditions found common ground in focusing on the "here and now" and symptom removal.

The particular therapeutic techniques vary, but may include keeping a diary of significant events and associated feelings, thoughts and behaviors; questioning and testing cognitions, assumptions, evaluations and beliefs that might be unhelpful and unrealistic; gradually facing activities which may have been avoided; and trying out new ways of behaving and reacting.

Self-sabotage is a combination of thoughts, feelings, and actions that actually block our success by working against our own self-interests. It involves an over focus on our negative aspects and our failures.

People tend to operate from a set of core beliefs that drive our attitudes and perceptions of ourselves. Some of our core beliefs create and re-create situations and experiences that perpetuate a negative view of ourselves and lower our self-esteem.

The awareness of the irrationality of these thoughts can be frustrating as the individual wishes to stop them but cannot. They may blame themselves for negative events, believe that such events are unavoidable, and let such events affect many aspects of their lives.

Our Preventing Self-Sabotage Classes teach people to identify and change the core beliefs driving them and stop repeating negative outcomes.

Self-sabotage, including self-hatred and self-punishment, can lead to depression and a variety of mental disorders as well as physical illnesses.

Over-analysing a situation while trying to make personal decisions can often lead to what is called ‘analysis paralysis’.

When the decision-maker over-analyses the circumstances with which he or she is faced, the sheer volume of thoughts is so overwhelming that it is impossible to come to a rational conclusion. Such a circumstance is known as ‘cognitive distortion’.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy views cognitive distortions as inaccurate thoughts or ideas that maintain negative thinking and negative emotions. Eliminating these distortions can improve mood and alleviate such mental health disorders as depression and chronic anxiety. Our Stop Over-Analysing class will teach you how to challenge these negative thoughts, using a process called ‘cognitive restructuring’.

Analysis paralysis can actually occur at any time, regarding any issue in typical conversation, with the over-analysis of a specific issue to the point where that issue can no longer be recognised, and the subject of the conversation is lost.

This can be defined as an individual's relatively consistent inclinations and preferences in relationships, social situations, at work and leisure. It includes your attitudes, way of thinking, feelings, strivings, actions, responses to opportunity and stress and how you interact with others.

Your style is your organising principle. It propels you on your life path. It is the distinctive pattern of your psychological functioning — the way you think, feel, and behave — what makes you distinctly you.

It is sometimes hard to understand when your partner is acting or thinking quite differently to you. By discovering your personal style you can value your  strengths and preferences, and find a new way to accept and value difference in others.

You learn your relationship model within the family that you grew up in – your parents and siblings. It can also be learned from grandparents or other relatives who lived with you during part of your childhood. These people have a strong influence on who you have become.

In relationships we discover that our partner has also been influenced by his or her unique family patterns and has different ways of doing things. For instance, you may have come from a family that values a fanatically clean, neat house. Your partner, on the other hand, is very relaxed about clutter.

There are a million of these differences, many minor, some more significant. Anyone in a relationship can and will argue about some of them, insisting that their particular way is the "right" way. It helps to pause and be aware of how both of you have been modelled by the past.  Once you become aware of these family patterns you can change them.

Exploring what you learned about life, love, and differences in your family can help you understand how these influence your current relationships – for better and for worse.