Absolutely! Just be sure to bring a copy of your Mental Health Care Plan with you to your first appointment or ask your GP to send it through to the Child Development Network prior to your appointment.

No, you are more than welcome to self-refer. However, if you wish to receive Medicare rebates a referral from your GP would be needed.

This is something that is decided on a case by case basis depending on the severity of your circumstances, your financial situation, and current appointment availability. If you are anxious to have appointments at a certain frequency please contact me via the Child Development Network.

However, generally speaking appointments will start on a fortnightly basis with a break between them that will lengthen over time as your situation improves.

I see anyone between the ages of 6 and 25.

50 minutes.

After your 50 minute appointment is over, a minimum of 10 minutes is needed to record notes from your appointment, plan your next session, and send any necessary progress letters to your GP. Effectively this means that an hour is always spent on your appointments with 50 minutes of direct face time and 10 minutes of relevant administration to keep your sessions running smoothly.

While psychologists and psychiatrists are both health practitioners, their training and consequent treatment focuses differ.

A psychiatrist is a health professional with a medical degree. This allows psychiatrists to prescribe medication to treat mental health issues.

Psychologists are health professionals with a science degree in psychology. This means that Psychologists cannot prescribe medication and instead focus on behavioural interventions.

Current research into mental health recommends a joint pharmacological and behavioural intervention approach for the best outcomes.

Confidential in sessions is important not only for adults but also for children and adolescents. As such if a child requests that I do not disclose information to their parents I will honour this request provided that it does not interfere with their safety or the safety of another person.

Maintaining these boundaries is important for your child as it will help your child to feel safe to express their true thoughts and feelings in session; something that is necessary for effective therapy.

However, whilst I may not be able to talk about the specifics at times, I will always inform parents of the therapy process and ways in which the family can continue supporting the child at home. Please be assured though that if it is believed that there are any risks to the safety of your child or another person, that this will be disclosed.

Provided it is relevant to treatment and within the scope of my profession, absolutely! However, please note that all additional tasks requested of myself outside of face-to-face sessions will be billed for the amount of time that they take.

In some circumstances, it is useful for me to have contact with your child’s school. This may be relevant in situations where:

• I wish to understand how your child’s issue may be impacting their behaviours or performance at school

• Your child’s issues are directly related to the school environment and I wish to discuss appropriate adjustments with the school

• I am looking to assess behavioural outcomes that may be observed at school

Please note that in situations where contact with a school is relevant, permission would first be sought from the parent.

In 2024, I will not be conducting cognitive assessments.