Frequently Asked Questions

No. You can book directly with us without a referral for any service, including ADHD and ASD assessments. If you want to access a Medicare rebate on therapy sessions, you will need a valid Mental Health Care Plan from your GP, but you can begin seeing a psychologist before you have one and arrange it at your next GP appointment. Our admin team can walk you through the options before you book so you know exactly what to expect. Because no referral is required, most new clients can be booked in within one to two weeks of first contacting us, and this applies to ADHD and ASD assessments as well as ongoing therapy, where GP referrals are not accepted as part of the assessment process in any case.

We do not offer bulk billing. Session fees range from $100 to $300 depending on the clinician and appointment time. Registered psychologists charge $260.30 before 4pm and $270.45 at or after 4pm. Provisional psychologist Bridget Kosmas charges $100 before 4pm and $110 after. If you hold a valid Mental Health Care Plan from your GP, a Medicare rebate of $101.55 applies per therapy session, up to 10 sessions per calendar year. We process the rebate on the spot so you pay the gap only. ADHD and ASD assessment fees are self-funded and are not covered by Medicare. Payment is taken on the day by card, and where a valid Mental Health Care Plan is in place we process the Medicare rebate electronically at the time of your appointment, so you only pay the gap amount rather than the full session fee upfront and waiting on a reimbursement.

A Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) is a document prepared by your GP that enables Medicare rebates for psychology sessions. With a valid MHCP you receive a rebate of $101.55 per session for up to 10 sessions per calendar year. You book a longer GP appointment, your GP assesses your mental health needs and writes the plan, and then you bring it to your psychology appointment. We process the rebate directly, meaning you pay the gap on the day. A MHCP is not required to book and is not applicable to ADHD or ASD assessments.

Your first session is largely about your psychologist understanding you. They will ask about what has brought you in, your background and history, your current circumstances, and what you are hoping to get from the process. It is also a chance for you to ask questions and get a sense of how your psychologist works. You do not need to prepare anything in advance. Most clients find that the first session feels more like a conversation than anything clinical. At the end of the session your psychologist will share their initial thoughts and discuss how they suggest you work together. Before your first appointment we will send you a short intake form to complete online, which gives your psychologist some background before you meet so less of the session needs to be spent on paperwork. Sessions run for 50 minutes, the same length as ongoing appointments.

When you contact us, our admin team will speak with you to understand your needs, preferences, and goals before suggesting a match. We consider your presenting concerns, preferred appointment times, whether you want in-person or telehealth, and any preferences around the psychologist's experience or approach. After your first session we check in to make sure the match felt right. If it did not, we can arrange a different clinician within the team at no extra cost. Getting the fit right matters more than getting started quickly.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors with specialist training in psychiatry. They can prescribe medication and manage complex or treatment-resistant presentations. Psychologists hold postgraduate qualifications, typically a master's or doctoral degree, in psychological assessment and therapy. They do not prescribe medication but provide evidence-based psychological treatment. Many clients work with both: a psychiatrist for medication management and a psychologist for therapy. If medication is appropriate following an ADHD assessment, we can refer you to a prescriber and continue to provide psychological support alongside that.

Yes. All of our psychologists offer telehealth appointments via a secure video platform. Telehealth sessions are available to clients anywhere in Australia. In-person appointments are available at our St Kilda clinic at G06-G07/22 St Kilda Road. Many clients use a combination of in-person and telehealth depending on the week. ADHD and ASD assessments require at least one in-person session for psychometric testing, though parts of the process can be completed online. Telehealth sessions run for the same 50 minutes and follow the same structure as an in-person appointment, so you are not getting a reduced version of therapy by choosing video over in-person. You can switch between the two from one booking to the next without needing to change psychologist or go through a separate booking process, which is useful if your week or location changes.

There is no fixed length. Some people come for a focused short-term piece of work, six to twelve sessions, while others engage in longer-term therapy over many months. It depends on what you are working on, how long the difficulty has been present, and what you want to achieve. Your psychologist will discuss this with you in the early sessions and revisit it as you progress. Under a Mental Health Care Plan you can access up to 10 rebated sessions per calendar year, after which you can continue at the standard fee or return to your GP to discuss your options.

Our psychologists draw from a range of evidence-based approaches, tailoring the method to the person rather than applying a single framework to everyone. Approaches used across the team include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based approaches, and trauma-informed frameworks. For couples work, Lucy Adlard is Gottman Level 2 certified. For ADHD and ASD presentations, our psychologists take a neuroaffirming approach alongside structured psychometric assessment.

An assessment may be worth considering if you are seeking clarity about whether you have ADHD or autism, have been told by a GP or psychiatrist that an assessment would be useful, or want a formal diagnostic report to access support at work, university, or through the NDIS. Assessment is not required before accessing therapy. If you are unsure whether an assessment is the right starting point, our admin team can help you think through this before you book. We can often guide you toward the most useful first step.

You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from psychology. People seek support for many reasons: a specific episode of anxiety or low mood, longer-standing patterns they want to understand and change, relationship difficulties, a significant life transition, or simply a desire for more self-awareness. Therapy provides a structured, confidential space to work through what is getting in the way and build skills you can use outside of sessions. While we cannot guarantee specific outcomes, many clients find that it meaningfully improves their day-to-day functioning and quality of life.

Previous unhelpful therapy experience is common and does not mean that psychological support cannot work for you. The most frequent reasons therapy does not help include a poor fit with the therapist, an approach that was not well-matched to the presenting concern, or timing that was not right. When you contact us, we encourage you to share what did and did not work previously. This helps us match you more carefully and approach the work in a way more likely to be useful. A different psychologist and a different approach can produce a very different result.

The name reflects our approach: grounded in current scientific evidence, responsive to the way people actually live, and open to integrating across different therapeutic frameworks rather than taking a rigid or dogmatic approach. Contemporary psychology as a discipline draws on neuroscience, cognitive science, social science, and clinical research to understand and support human wellbeing. We believe that effective psychological care should keep pace with that evidence and remain connected to the real circumstances of each client's life.