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Frequently Asked Questions
See below for answers to our frequently asked questions, and for information on what to expect in your sessions. If you have any questions that are not covered below, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for more information. See here for directions.
FAQ
Can I Book an Appointment, Or Do I Need A Referral?
You can book an appointment yourself – no referral is needed. However, if you wish to claim rebates through Medicare (up to 10 appointments per year) you will need to make an appointment with your general practitioner or psychiatrist for a referral to a psychologist. Medicare will not accept your claim unless you have a valid Mental Health Care Plan from a general practitioner or have the relevant referral information from a psychiatrist. Please book a longer consultation with your GP to ensure enough time to complete this plan. You may also consider registering for the Medicare Safety Net to obtain higher Medicare rebates after the safety net is reached.
Do I Need to Have OCD To Book an Appointment?
Not at all. Clients with any issues are welcome to express interest in booking an appointment for support. We have experience and training in working with a range of presentations, including generalised anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, depression and other mood disorders, trauma and PTSD, ADHD, eating disorders, depersonalisation and derealisation disorder, personality disorders, and more.
How Do I Reschedule or Cancel My Appointment?
You can change or cancel your appointment by emailing us at info@ocsclinic.com.au. As long as you have alerted us of any cancellations or need to reschedule with 24 hours’ notice, no fee will be issued. While we understand that cancellations are often necessary, sufficient notice gives us time to offer the appointment time to someone else.
Do You Work with Younger People Under 18?
Unfortunately, at this time we do not have a clinician who specialises in the treatment of OCD in children or adolescents.
What Is Your Appointment Fee?
Our standard appointment fee is $215 depending on the clinician you work with. Some clients will be eligible to claim a portion or all of their consultation fees directly through Medicare or their private health insurance. Medicare rebates of $93.35 (this may be higher if you have reached your Medicare safety net threshold) are available for those with a Mental Healh Care Plan. We do not provide bulk billing services due to our limited capacity. Please contact your private health insurer if you would like to know the exact rebate you will receive.
Can We Do Face to Face Appointments?
Yes. We have availability to see clients face to face in Fitzroy (Melbourne, VIC), Varsity Lakes (Gold Coast, QLD), and in East Brisbane, QLD.
What Kind of Therapy Can I Expect?
We have experience and training in the gold-standard treatment options for OCD, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). Typically, treatment will start with an exploration of your symptoms to identify the obsessions and compulsions (some can be hard to spot). Once we have identified these together, we will move into a psychoeducational phase, where you will learn more about OCD. From here, we will begin to help you shift some of the beliefs that are making the OCD so distressing. Once you are ready, we will move into "exposure and response prevention" stage of treatment, where we will collaboratively build ideas for ways of triggering your OCD within and outside of our sessions, in order to learn to resist compulsive urges. While this might sound frightening, we will never push you beyond what you are ready for and will start slowly. While you read this, you might be wondering why treatment might involve triggering your OCD. See our OCD info page for more information.
Do You Work with Other Issues?
Yes. We also understand that OCD is often accompanied by other issues, from daily life stress to other mental health concerns. Therefore, during our time working together, we are also equipped to support you with these other issues, either simultaneously, before, or after focussing on OCD, depending on your needs. To do so, we have training and experience working from other therapy frameworks including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Emotionally Focussed Therapy (EFT), Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), and more. See our services page for more information.