Got questions?
We’ve got answers
Frequently asked questions
Fees, rebates and referrals
-
If you have a referral from your GP the out of pocket cost will be $98.15 after the medicare rebate. A full session fee is $240.
We accept DVA, Open Arms, ADF, EAP and NDIS referrals, which have no out of pocket cost to you. -
A valid referral from your GP provides you eligibility for up to 10 medicare rebated psychology sessions per calendar year. This is often known as a Mental Health Care Plan.
We will process your medicare rebate following your appointment and this will be automatically transferred into your bank account between 24-48 hours. -
No, you don’t need a referral to book or attend a session, however we suggest clients get a Mental Health Care Plan or referral from their GP before they attend their first session, so they can access a Medicare rebate.
-
The Medicare Safety Net provides extra financial support if you have high out-of-pocket medical costs. Once you reach the threshold for the medicare safety net, medicare will cover up to 80% of any further out-of-hospital medical services in addition to the normal rebate, this includes psychology services.
-
Private insurance rebates vary by provider. We do not complete claims under private insurance, but you can submit your invoice to your insurer. Private insurance and medicare rebates cannot be applied to the same appointment.
-
If you need to cancel, please provide at least 2 business days' notice to avoid incurring the full session fee, as short notice limits our ability to fill appointments.
We encourage you to book only when you’re confident you can attend. Appointment reminders are sent prior to your appointment as a courtesy.
Therapy
-
Our therapists provide a type of emotion focussed, evidence-based therapy called Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). Here’s what that means and how it can help:
Emotion drives behaviour: Unconscious processes and emotions drive our behaviours. When situations or triggers occur, our emotion system is the first thing to react. Our conscious understanding is not the same as the underlying unconscious nervous system response.
Focus on emotions: Unlike therapies that with thoughts (such as CBT), we start with emotions and the nervous system. Many people have an intellectual insight into their difficulties, but don’t know how to actually shift things on an emotional level.
Understanding unconscious feelings: This therapy helps you become aware of emotions you might not even realise are affecting you, giving you insight into they way your body may be responding in terms of unconscious anxiety, emotions and behaviour.
Addressing the root cause: In addition to helping you with your symptoms, ISTDP aims to get to the core of your difficulties. Our aim is deep and long lasting change.
Tools for managing emotions: ISTDP is designed to help you regulate anxiety and process challenging emotions so that you can handle them better over time.
More than Symptom Relief: Our goal is to help you fully experience and process your emotions so they no longer cause anxiety, overwhelm or avoidance.
This approach is supportive and focused on helping you find real, meaningful change.
-
Our Clinical Psychologists have training and experience for wide-range of psychological difficulties:
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma and PTSD
Addiction
Personality disorders
Relationship problems and breakdowns
Eating disorders
Somatic problems and medically unexplained pain
If your difficulties are driven by emotions, emotional avoidance or avoidance of emotional vulnerability, we can help.
If you are unsure if we can help, send us a message.
-
Clinical Psychologists:
Have advanced training (Master’s or Doctorate) in clinical psychology.
Training focused on diagnosing and treating complex mental health conditions.
Trained to provide evidence-based therapies for a wide range of mental health issues through post-graduate education and internship experiences in higher complexity mental health settings.
Patients can access a higher Medicare Rebate when seeing a clinical psychologist
Registered Psychologists:
Complete a general four-year psychology degree plus a supervised internship.
Provide mental health support that matches the competencies gained in their internship experience. May have less experience with complex difficulties.
Both are approved psychologists with the AHPRA.
-
We are a team of endorsed Clinical Psychologists. This means that each therapist at Lacuna Clinical Psychology has completed an accredited Masters, Doctorate or PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Your visit
-
You can book online at any time, or call us during business hours on 02 4003 4804 or send us a message.
-
We are located at 36 Crebert St, Mayfield in Newcastle, NSW. There is free, untimed street parking nearby.
-
Yes we do. Wherever possible we suggest in person appointments, but when that is not possible we can happily arrange to see you online and all fees and rebates remain the same.
-
The first appointment is primarily dedicated to developing an understanding of the difficulties you are experiencing and developing a collaborative plan for how to address those difficulties in therapy.
-
We specialise in adults, we don’t see children. The youngest we will see is 16 years old.
