PRACTICALITIES
Once you have made a decision to enter counselling or psychotherapy, what happens next?
If you wish to contact Carol Deppe,
· telephone: 08 9368 2045
· e-mail: caroldeppe@westnet.com.au
If you wish to make an appointment to see me, please telephone me on (08) 9381 6653 and leave your name and a telephone number and a time at which I can contact you. Uninterrupted time with a client is important, so I do not answer the telephone while in a session. I will contact you as soon as I have a gap in my timetable.
Should you need to cancel or change the appointment, please give at least two working days notice, in advance, of the change. All changes should be notified by telephone.
Please note that if a change or cancellation is made with less than two days notice, and I am unable to arrange for someone else to take the cancelled appointment, the full fee will be charged for the appointment. Your health insurance fund or Medicare will not reimburse missed appointments or late cancellations.
You will receive a letter confirming the date of the appointment, together with other relevant information (address, parking arrangements, statement of fees, arrangements for making and changing appointments, your privacy rights etc.)
The initial appointment is an opportunity to talk over what brings you into therapy and what you are seeking from it and to assess how we will approach the process. Sometimes, if the problem is particularly complex or a lot of material has to be covered, up to three sessions may be devoted to assessment.
In this first visit I take your name, address, telephone numbers, and other relevant details and hear what the issue is that you wish to work through. We then explore the issue together, gathering information which we will use, if possible at the end of the first session, but if needs be after several sessions, to get a sense of direction and a formulate a therapeutic plan. At the end of this assessing process we also decide on a fixed number of visits or whether to allow an open-ended therapeutic process. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have about myself, my approach and the process of counselling and psychotherapy.
Fees for consultations during 2009
A discount of $25 - $35 applies if the fee is paid at the time of the consultation.
I operate a sliding scale fee structure for students, unwaged persons, single supporting parents, pensioners and others on low incomes.
Fees may be paid by cash or cheque. There are no facilities for credit card or eftpos payments.
The Australian Psychological Society recommends a fee of $185 for an individual session of one hour’s duration.
Most Health Benefit Funds offer a rebate on Clinical Psychologist’s fees. Please check with your Health Benefit Fund whether you are eligible for a rebate. The rebates offered vary but usually range from a third to a half of the fee.
Under the Health Insurance Commission Enhanced Primary Care Program, GPs may refer clients with chronic health problems to a Clinical Psychologist for a maximum of five sessions. You may claim a rebate of approximately $48 on each session. Please discuss this option with your GP.
Under the 2006 Budget measure “Better Mental Health Services for Australia” Medicare will fund mental health services by psychologists. Details of eligibility, limits to service provision and rebate are not yet available. As further details become available, details will be posted on this web site.
Whatever is said in the therapy session is confidential and I am bound by the ethics of my profession and by the legal requirements of the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000, to respect your privacy.
In the first session I will collect identifying data such as name, address, phone numbers etc. This information is kept on a closed computer system and in a notebook only accessible to myself. Any notes made in a session are similarly stored. You may inspect these notes (if any) upon request, allowing a delay of 1 week to provide this information. Information about you is only kept for a limited period of time.
If you are entering psychotherapy/counselling with a referral from your GP and a management plan under the Medicare Enhanced Primary Care Program, I am obliged by my registration with Medicare to provide a report to the referring GP after the first and the fifth session. I will discuss this report with you before sending it to your GP.
It is a commonly accepted courtesy between health professionals to send a report and an acknowledgement of the referral to the referring doctor or agency after the first assessment and a final report at the conclusion of the psychotherapy/counselling. I will discuss this with you and obtain your written consent to the report.
If another professional or agency e.g. your GP, a lawyer or a social service/government agency, requests information about you, I will discuss this with you and obtain your written consent. If failure to disclose information would place you or another person at risk of harm, I will inform you of the situation before disclosing the information. In exceptional circumstances, notes and records may be subpoenaed by the Court.
If you are concerned about your privacy and the security of data concerning you, please discuss this with me. The National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Amendment (2002) outlines your rights.
Making the first appointment
If you wish to contact Carol Deppe,
· telephone: 08 9368 2045
· e-mail: caroldeppe@westnet.com.au
If you wish to make an appointment to see me, please telephone me on (08) 9381 6653 and leave your name and a telephone number and a time at which I can contact you. Uninterrupted time with a client is important, so I do not answer the telephone while in a session. I will contact you as soon as I have a gap in my timetable.
All consultations are by appointment only and can only be made by telephone.
Appointments cannot be made by e-mail.
Should you need to cancel or change the appointment, please give at least two working days notice, in advance, of the change. All changes should be notified by telephone.
Please note that if a change or cancellation is made with less than two days notice, and I am unable to arrange for someone else to take the cancelled appointment, the full fee will be charged for the appointment. Your health insurance fund or Medicare will not reimburse missed appointments or late cancellations.
What happens at the first appointment?
You will receive a letter confirming the date of the appointment, together with other relevant information (address, parking arrangements, statement of fees, arrangements for making and changing appointments, your privacy rights etc.)
The initial appointment is an opportunity to talk over what brings you into therapy and what you are seeking from it and to assess how we will approach the process. Sometimes, if the problem is particularly complex or a lot of material has to be covered, up to three sessions may be devoted to assessment.
In this first visit I take your name, address, telephone numbers, and other relevant details and hear what the issue is that you wish to work through. We then explore the issue together, gathering information which we will use, if possible at the end of the first session, but if needs be after several sessions, to get a sense of direction and a formulate a therapeutic plan. At the end of this assessing process we also decide on a fixed number of visits or whether to allow an open-ended therapeutic process. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have about myself, my approach and the process of counselling and psychotherapy.
FEES
Fees for consultations during 2009
A discount of $25 - $35 applies if the fee is paid at the time of the consultation.
| Individual consultations: | $155.00 per session $130.00 per session if paid at the appointment |
| Couples consultations: | $185.00 per session $150.00 per session if paid at the appointment |
| Family consultations: | $185.00 per session $150.00 per session if paid at the appointment |
| Professional supervision: | Fee negotiated individually |
I operate a sliding scale fee structure for students, unwaged persons, single supporting parents, pensioners and others on low incomes.
Fees may be paid by cash or cheque. There are no facilities for credit card or eftpos payments.
The Australian Psychological Society recommends a fee of $185 for an individual session of one hour’s duration.
REBATES
Most Health Benefit Funds offer a rebate on Clinical Psychologist’s fees. Please check with your Health Benefit Fund whether you are eligible for a rebate. The rebates offered vary but usually range from a third to a half of the fee.
Under the Health Insurance Commission Enhanced Primary Care Program, GPs may refer clients with chronic health problems to a Clinical Psychologist for a maximum of five sessions. You may claim a rebate of approximately $48 on each session. Please discuss this option with your GP.
Under the 2006 Budget measure “Better Mental Health Services for Australia” Medicare will fund mental health services by psychologists. Details of eligibility, limits to service provision and rebate are not yet available. As further details become available, details will be posted on this web site.
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Whatever is said in the therapy session is confidential and I am bound by the ethics of my profession and by the legal requirements of the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000, to respect your privacy.
In the first session I will collect identifying data such as name, address, phone numbers etc. This information is kept on a closed computer system and in a notebook only accessible to myself. Any notes made in a session are similarly stored. You may inspect these notes (if any) upon request, allowing a delay of 1 week to provide this information. Information about you is only kept for a limited period of time.
If you are entering psychotherapy/counselling with a referral from your GP and a management plan under the Medicare Enhanced Primary Care Program, I am obliged by my registration with Medicare to provide a report to the referring GP after the first and the fifth session. I will discuss this report with you before sending it to your GP.
It is a commonly accepted courtesy between health professionals to send a report and an acknowledgement of the referral to the referring doctor or agency after the first assessment and a final report at the conclusion of the psychotherapy/counselling. I will discuss this with you and obtain your written consent to the report.
If another professional or agency e.g. your GP, a lawyer or a social service/government agency, requests information about you, I will discuss this with you and obtain your written consent. If failure to disclose information would place you or another person at risk of harm, I will inform you of the situation before disclosing the information. In exceptional circumstances, notes and records may be subpoenaed by the Court.
If you are concerned about your privacy and the security of data concerning you, please discuss this with me. The National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Amendment (2002) outlines your rights.