The Clear Health Psychology Referral Process: Getting Connected

Author: Dr Maxine Hawkins

Starting therapy is a significant step towards improving your mental health, but the process of finding a Clinical Psychologist or Psychologist can be daunting.  12 years ago Dr Maxine Hawkins (Clinical Psychologists) established Clear Health Psychology.  Within a short time her books were closed. It was was not acceptable to her to have waiting lists of 6-8 weeks.  So she approached other clinical psychologists she had trained and Clear Health Psychology began.  Dr Hawkins still recruits all her Psychologists and now she has over 185 Clinical Psychologists and Psychologists in the team.  Dr Hawkins has many quality measures in place to ensure her team is delivering the best clinical care for every referral.  Clear Health Psychology is a clinician lead private psychology practise who prides itself on having fully registered Psychologist and Clinical Psychologists who are passionate about excellence in clinical care.  They are highly capable to meet private practice expectations and clinical goals of those presenting.  Every referral is important and every referrer is important.

Clear Health Psychology has 18 practices and sees over 2,200 clients each week. They have psychologists who provide psychological assessment and treatment across the lifespan (children, adolescents, adults and couples).  They have a desire to listen to the needs of their clients and referrers.  They have met National Mental Health Standards Accreditation and strive to be your clinical partner caring for your patients. Clear Health stay in front of their recruitment to ensure they offer immediate availability for face-to-face or tele-health psychology appointments.  They use evidence based therapy to not only help people live their lives well but to thrive.

Clear Health Psychology has a unique advantage in their booking and matching processes.  Understanding the referral and intakes process can help ease some of the uncertainty when considering a clinical appointment. At Clear Health Psychology the difficulty of sifting through hundreds of psychologist profiles is removed. Our dedicated Intakes Team matches patients for therapeutic fit. With over 185+ registered and clinical psychologists and over 18 locations across metro and South West WA, we are able to ensure you have the right fit for your therapy goals. Alternatively people can see each psychologist’s profile, filter for areas of interest and book their preferred psychologists online via our website and live calendar. WA psychologists are often a perfect choice for Eastern States clients and referrers given the time zone differences.  In this blog post, we’ll explain what to expect when you’re referred to a Clear Health Psychology practice (face-to-face or telehealth) and what happens during the Intake process.

 

Referral Process

The first step in starting therapy is the referral process, and at Clear Health Psychology there are a few common ways clients are referred to us:

GP Referral: Each week over 350 GPs trust us with their clients and send us a referral (mainly linked to a GP Mental Health Care Plan).  GPs can make the referral out to their preferred psychologist or to Clear Health Psychology and allow the client to either call our Intakes Team or chose their own via our website.  Whilst patients are often good at selecting the right psychologist for themselves each online booking is also double checked for a successful match.  Medicare offers rebates for up to 10 sessions in a calendar year (6 initial sessions plus 4 following a re-referral letter) with an eligible Mental Health Care Plan.  The current Medicare rebates for a Psychologist ($96.65) and Clinical Psychologist ($141.85).

Insurance/Workers Comp: If you have an approved insurance claim with Workers Compensation or a Motor Vehicle Accident, you may be eligible for sessions covered by your insurer. We’ll require written approval from your insurer to bill them under your claim and we welcome supporting these patients.  We work within the WorkCover Clinical Framework for the Delivery of Health Service and strongly believe that work is good for people.  We also work closely with many return to work providers.

NDIS/NDIA: If you’re on a NDIS plan, you may be eligible for psychology appointments under your funding. We can bill your plan manager directly, or if you’re self-managed, we can invoice you for payment.

Self-referral / Private: If you prefer to see a psychologist privately you don’t need a referral.  Many private insurance companies cover psychology to help reduce your out of pocket expense (please check your individual health fund policy).

Assessment: We have a team skilled in conducting cognitive and performance assessments to support patients understating about their strengths and weaknesses. We offer a range of assessments such as ADHD, academic assessments, Autism Spectrum Disorder assessments and learning difficulties.  We also have a relationship with Clear Health Psychiatry to ensure assessments are comprehensively conducted an in a timely manner.  Our Intake team will provide further details on pricing for the assessment.

We receive referrals via fax (08) 6313 6476 , HealthLink ID:clhpsych, email intakes@clearhealthpsychology.com and telephone (64248177).

Meet our Intake Team – The CHP Difference

The intake process involves gathering information to determine the best clinical match.

Here’s what usually then happens:

Initial Contact: After receiving a referral or reaching out to us directly, our intakes team provides details to arrange your first appointment. During this call, you’ll be asked for basic details like your name, contact information, and what you may want to gain from the sessions or would like to focus on. They’ll help match you with a suitable psychologist and walk you through your options.

Filling Out Intake Forms: Before your first session, you’ll need to complete our Intake forms. These typically include:

  • Personal Information: Your contact details, family information, and emergency contacts. The forms also explains the service, information about confidentiality and what both parties can expect from each other.
  • DASS: We asked people to fill in a DASS 21.  This is a brief set of questions that provides information around depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.  This is also a great tool to see how your symptoms have improved during therapy and can be reviewed to see what needs more focus.
  • Setting Expectations: Once you’ve completed your intake paperwork, the intake team will explain the therapist’s policies regarding appointment cancellations, fees, and what to expect during your first session.

Next Steps

The referral process is now finished, and you’re ready to attend your first session! Engaging support for your mental health is a huge step forward and can be a daunting experience, but at Clear Health Psychology we work in collaboration to ensure a welcoming and smooth process. If for any reason the psychologist is not the right fit we are happy rematch.  The therapeutic relationship is critical to the long-term success of clinical change.

We look forward to receiving your referrals and welcoming you to the Clear Health Psychology experience.

 

www.clearhealthpsychology.com.au

intakes@clearhealthpsychology.com

Telephone (64248177).

Fax (08) 6313 6476

HealthLink ID:clhpsych,