FAQ

A counsellor is a mental health professional who can help you overcome difficulties in your life. They can help solve problems and develop problem-solving skills by listening and assisting you to clarify issues and explore your options.

Counselling is a talking therapy. Your counsellor will ask questions and listen in a non-judgmental, safe and confidential way. You will be an active participant in the sessions.

Counsellors don’t diagnose issues, but they work with you to improve your mental health, help you understand yourself better and help you develop strategies and work towards goals. Counselling often helps you gain new insight into situations and improve your resilience.

A counsellor will help if you are struggling with stress, feeling overwhelmed, having distressing thoughts, loss of self-confidence, conflict, and many other problems. They can help you see solutions you didn’t know existed by discussing your concerns. They can also help you find ways to cope better and move on in life.

As a private service provider, Glenda Irving Counselling Services offers a standard exchange and a concession exchange for those with a current health care card, pension card, or full-time student card (and not living at home). Medicare rebates are unavailable through this counselling service due to government restrictions and the exclusion of Counsellors/Psychotherapists from the Better Access to Mental Health Policy.

The exchanges below are per session and will be paid by direct deposit or online card payments.

Standard, EAP, & Self Managed NDIS Exchange

• $90 for 60 minutes
• $110 for 75 minutes

Concession Exchange (Health Care Card, F/T Independent Students, i.e. not living at home, and Pensioners)

Concession exchanges will be approved case-by-case and must be requested before the initial session.

• $70 for 60 minutes
• $85 for 75 minutes

*100% of your standard fee is usually payable if you give a cancellation notice of less than 24 hours.

It is difficult to answer this question before an initial assessment of the outcomes you want and the concerns you may be facing. Counselling is a very individualised process and can range from brief solutions-focused therapy to more intense longer-term psychotherapy.

During your initial consultation, timeframes and personal goals can be discussed, and your counsellor will give a recommendation.

All appointments are attended through a private and secure Telehealth platform that you can attend on most devices from anywhere you have internet access. You should carefully choose where you locate yourself for confidentiality purposes. Consider your privacy and if anyone is in hearing range.

Confidentiality and its limitations will be explained to you. There may be some questions to clarify your responses on the confidential information form that you will have already completed.

During your first session, we will primarily focus on getting to know you and the challenges you are facing. We will also be discussing what the most important outcomes are going to be for you as we move forward through the process.

For individual therapy, you can expect a 60-minute appointment. A 75-minute appointment is the minimum first session time for sessions including more than one person. After the first appointment, session lengths can be negotiated to fit your needs (60, 75, or 90 minutes).