Referrals
How do I obtain a referral?
Patients can obtain a Mental Health Care plan from their GP, Psychiatrist, or Paediatrician under the Better Access to Mental Health Care initiative. This entitles you to a rebate towards 20 of your sessions, each calendar year. Your GP/Specialist will complete a detailed mental health assessment and prepare a Mental Health Care Plan before referring you to one of our Psychologists. You should book a longer session with your GP to enable time for this.
All Mindspace Psychology practitioners are registered with Medicare. This practice is committed to providing affordable quality comprehensive mental health services to South-East Melbourne. Medicare rebates can vary depending upon client circumstances, length of session and the type of service provided by the Psychologist.
Our Fees
Payments are required at the time of booking your first appointment and then 48-hours prior for subsequent appointments. Please note that as our admin team operate Monday to Friday, all payments are automatically processed 2-business days prior to your scheduled appointments. All appointments cancelled with less than 2-business days notice will incur a full cancellation fee as we require a minimum of 48-hours notice (in business days), to avoid a cancellation fee. All payments are made via our secure online system and are processed automatically in line with our cancellation and payment policy. Mindspace Psychology also has Medicare online claiming facilities available, which allows us to process your rebate following your completed appointment. Our process has been simplified to maximise your time spent in the session with your Psychologist and also to avoid any hassle with needing to make your own claims via Medicare as this is taken care of for you by our supportive administrative team.
Rebates
Under the Medicare Better Access to Mental Health Initiative, those with a Mental Health Care Plan receive rebates for up to ten psychological consultations per calendar year. The current rebate for a General Psychologist is $87.40 per session.
Many private health care funds also provide rebates. Please contact your fund for further information.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you may choose to see a Psychologist without seeing your doctor first. If you have private health insurance, you can claim through them directly instead or you can simply pay the full fees without any rebates. Keep in mind that private health fund rebates for Psychological therapy can vary widely and rebates are often not as high as the equivalent Medicare rebates.
At Mindspace Psychology we understand the importance of being seen as soon as possible. For urgent cases, we do our best to fit clients in within 1-2 weeks of first contact, however typical wait times could extend to 2-4 weeks particularly during busy periods. If your case is urgent, please advise our receptionist and ask to be placed on our Waiting List and you will be prioritised in the event of another patient cancelling/changing their appointment.
Should you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please contact Mindspace Psychology as soon as possible, to ensure that your appointment time can be offered to someone else. Please note that we require a minimum of 24 hours notice, to avoid a cancellation fee. Missed appointments and cancellations within 24 hours notice incur a full cancellation fee because the time that has been set aside for you often cannot be filled within this short timeframe. Please note that this cancellation fee needs to be settled before another appointment may be offered and this fee cannot be claimed through Medicare or your health fund, even with a GP Management Plan. Whilst Mindspace Psychology does offer a SMS reminder service for all appointments, this should not be relied upon if needing to reschedule or cancel your appointment. We thankyou for your understanding on this and should you have any queries please contact reception.
