Services

Individual therapy is the most common intervention  provided by Psychologists. It allows you to form a better therapeutic relationship and interventions can be tailored to your individual needs. Common problems that your Psychologist can help you with include:

Anxiety
Low mood 
Self-worth
Relationships
Work-related issues or injuries
Chronic pain
Grief and loss
PTSD and trauma
Sleep 
Peri-natal and postnatal issues 

Funding Options

To access individual counselling you will need a referral from your GP. The number of sessions available to you will depend on what scheme you are using to access counselling:

Medicare: Medicare provides rebates for up to 10 psychology sessions per calendar year under the Better Access to Mental Health Care. Please see the fees page for more information on the rebate available.

Workers Compensation: If you have an accepted workers compensation claim you will need to provide your claim number and contact details for your insurer so that approval can be sought. 

DVA: You will need to have an accepted psychological condition on either a white or gold health care card and bring your card with you.

You can also be referred through EAP, Defence, Comcare or private health insurance.

What to Expect

Sessions run for approximately 45-50 minutes and most people attend therapy either weekly or fortnightly depending on their needs. The first appointment is an initial assessment of your needs and you will be asked about your reasons for coming to counselling and about your psychological history. 

It is common to be nervous and not know where to start but remember that the Psychologist will guide you with questions. 

Therapy is supposed to be collaborative which means that you work together with your Psychologist to form a common understanding and plan to address your psychological needs.

Felicity has extensive experience in delivering psycho-education to groups of people on various topics. Group education programs have the benefit of affordability and improving social connections, but don’t offer the same depth of intervention as individual therapy.

Group Education sessions will require a GP referral and Mental Health Care Plan. The groups will run depending on enrollment numbers, where there needs to be a minimum of 6 participants to run.

At present there are only two group topics offered; Anxiety and Mood, however this will be expanded depending on demand.

The groups will provide you with the same education and brief interventions that would normally be delivered in the first few sessions of individual therapy. The benefits of group-based sessions are that clients will have access to the social support of others who may share similar experiences as well as a more cost-effective way of accessing quality mental health care that can be followed up with individual sessions if required.

Each group will consist of 4 x hourly sessions. We are currently taking names of interested clients so please get in touch if you would like to participate by calling 0478045617.

STEPP is a specialised program for those experiencing chronic pain conditions. The program is multidisciplinary meaning you will be treated with individual therapy from both a physical (Physiotherapist Rowena Field) and psychological aspect (either Felicity Slevin or Jocelyn Barnett, Psychologists). For more information visit www.stepp.com.au

Pain is a normal part of life. We all experience it from time to time and in varying degrees. Pain is necessary for survival. What is important to understand is the difference between acute pain and chronic or persistent pain. The purpose, causes and management of the two are vastly different – and treating chronic pain as if it were acute can be futile or even worsen the problem.

The crux of the STEPP program is education. There are no silver bullets or magic fixes – but there is solid evidence to show that understanding ‘why’ we hurt will also help treat your pain. It will be hard work on your part and require patience and perseverance.

Our psychology plays an important role in how our nervous system functions, and that is because the brain is the headquarters for both mental and physical health. When we hurt emotionally, we hurt physically too, and the opposite is also true. At STEPP we use proven psychological interventions to help you reduce and recover from the emotional components of chronic pain which helps the nervous system to calm and realise safety. When our nervous system feels safe again, then it has less need to over-protect which is most often what is driving persistent pain.