Telehealth Counselling - Are you seeking counselling that is a little more flexible?
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Do you live outside the metropolitan area and find it hard to find appropriate services?
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Do you have a job that takes you away from home for extended periods of time?
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Do you have personal circumstances which makes travelling to an office difficult?
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Do you want a quality service but live too far away?
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Do you seek a highly confidential method of counselling?
We know that it is not always easy for clients to attend face to face counselling. Bridges Counselling offers telehealth psychological service as an option for individuals who find it difficult to access them without travelling a significant distance.
Telehealth video counselling involves the communication between you and your therapist using both a video and audio connection. Many of our psychologists and marriage counsellors offer telehealth services for individuals and couples.
Benefits of Telehealth Counselling
- Reduces barriers to access psychological services, particularly those with physical, medical, or mobility impairments, and limited access to transport.
- Increased opportunity of finding the right therapist without having your choices limited to those practicing in your geographic area
- Increased access to specialist care by a therapist who specialises in the area of concern
- Increased comfort and convenience
- Increased likelihood of continued care
Issues that can be covered via telehealth counselling
- trauma
- grief
- depression
- anxiety
- postnatal issues
- women’s issues
- men’s issues
- stress
- couples issues
- affairs
- marriage issues
- anger management
- sex therapy
- supervision
Medicare rebates
- Have an eligible mental health condition and a referral from a GP, psychiatrist or paediatrician
- Live in an eligible rural, remote or very remote location
- Be located at least 15 kilometres by road from the mental health professional
- Not be a patient of an emergency department or admitted to hospital at the time of the service
Telehealth services are also open to individuals facing issues that can be covered via telehealth without a referral. In this case, the therapist’s standard fee will apply.
Your GP and mental health provider will be able to talk to you about whether telehealth psychologist services will be appropriate and suitable for you.
Common questions about Telehealth
- if you are in crisis
- under 18 years of age
- domestic violence – emotional, physical or sexual
- self-harm
- drug or alcohol dependence
- severe or uncontrolled mental illness
- psychosis
- personality disorders
- bi-polar disorder
- clinical depression
- self-harm
- eating disorders
If you are in need of urgent intervention, please contact the 24 hour crisis counselling service Lifeline on 13 11 14.
To download Zoom, go to the Zoom website and download the Zoom client for meeting program to your computer. This will guide you through the process of signing up, setting a username and managing your audio and video connections.
A Zoom link will be provided to you via email. When the link is clicked, it would open the Zoom program on your device to access your sessions with your therapist.
For further support, go to Zoom how-to videos.
FaceTime is very easy to use. Simply accept our call from your OS device after we have received your contact information. Note that to use FaceTime, your OS device must have a built-in camera.
For further support go to How to use FaceTime.
If you use an Android device, visit this helpful website for alternatives to FaceTime for Android.
To download Skype, go to the Skype website and download the program to your computer. This will then guide you through the process to set up a username and check your audio and (or) video connections. To use Skype on your Apple or Android device, download the application to your device from your app store.
We will send you a contact request on Skype, using your Skype username. After the request has been accepted, simply answer the call in the application.