What To Expect - Counselling Sessions with CoastMind

Welcome to CoastMind!

You’ve taken the first brave step towards reaching out for some support to help empower yourself towards improved wellbeing. You’re already on the journey - well done!

Counselling and psychotherapy can be daunting prospects for anyone seeking assistance during a time where they feel challenged, vulnerable or otherwise uneasy.

To help you have informed consent and a good idea of what is offered during sessions, please read further.

Also included soon will be a ‘Resources’ section where Victorian/Australian consumers can access a number of alternative mental health supports, both locally, Statewide and nationally. Additionally, we have a number of free/low-cost alternative platforms, apps and other resources to be included for anyone, irrespective of location.

The Therapeutic Journey:

I’m of the opinion that any contact with a consumer/participant is the start of one’s therapeutic journey.

Research into ‘common factors’ of numerous clinical studies shows that the number one ingredient in a successful therapy outcome, is the relationship between client and practitioner. You may have had past experiences of help-seeking where things didn’t exactly ‘gel’ at the time with the professional in question - this is okay, and not a reflection on you as a person. If anything, it’s science.

Feel free to peruse our About section to get a brief handle on myself personally and professionally to get a sense if you feel comfortable in proceeding.

First Steps:

Referral

(Please note: Our referral platform is currently under maintenance; please refer to our Contact section for referral options).

Our counselling sessions begin by being well-informed on both sides, as well as ensuring safe/accurate support. Upon receipt of a Referral Form, I will be in touch via your preferred contact method to discuss support. I offer free 15-minute initial consultations to discuss working together, whilst also identifying and assessing whether any alternative services are required and/or may be a more suitable fit.

If we both feel engaging in support will be useful for you, you will then be sent a copy of our Service Agreement via email, as well as a Consent To Share Information form. Both of these are to ensure your privacy, confidentiality and rights are intact from the get-go, and help safeguard sensitive information. As well, these documents serve to give a mutual understanding of how counselling will look practically.

Booking:

From there, we agree together on an initial counselling session as per our business trading hours (Monday to Thursday, 10am - 7pm). Sessions can be conducted via secured applications such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams if conducting therapy virtually. Note that outreach appointments for in-person support are available within the Greater Geelong/Bellarine Peninsula Region, however these incur an additional travel expense.

The Next (and far less boring) Step - Counselling:

Assessment:

Our initial consultation with involve some history-taking from a comprehensive biopsychosocial point of view. This is to develop a better sense of yourself as a whole person, in-environment, and will help direct and guide our counselling practice. During this initial session, we will also discuss treatment planning, your goals/concerns/needs, etc.

As a practitioner, having trained in/spent time in modalities such as Single-Session Therapy (SST) and Solutions-Focussed Brief Intervention (SFBI) as well as many years’ experience working with acute triage/intake services, I’m confident in my capacity to provide a ‘No Wrong Door’ approach. This way, you can expect to be provided strategies, resources and recommendations from session one onwards.

You may be surprised by how much therapeutic value-add can rise from even the first session!

Counselling:

Okay. We’ve charted some goals for treatment and planning how things will look, and likely have discussed some actionable steps for our ongoing work together.

Based on your goals and identified needs, we will then engage in our working relationship together.

As a general guidelines under both Focussed-Psychological Strategies as set by the AASW, and recommendations of the Australian Psychological Society - for medium-to-moderate intensity support, one to six sessions has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of distress and increased functioning.

Should you wish to continue ongoing counselling work, I am more than happy to approach this with you. If at any stage we feel that a more acute/specialised service may need to be involved, either in tandem or as an alternative, this can be discussed. (e.g. crisis supports, public/private clinical mental health, etc).

Research indicates that a fortnightly schedule of sessions promotes an optimum level of improvement, but if life circumstances mean needing to spread this out, I am more than happy to discuss this further.

For more information on specific practice areas of professional practice, please refer to the ‘Practice Areas’ page.

For an idea on what to expect from the various modalities (therapeutic tools) which may be used in our sessions, refer to our ‘Practice Tools and Scope’ page.

Important Info Regarding Our Practice Scope:

We are not a crisis/case-management service, however can work alongside external services/assist with referral pathways with your consent. During your journey, relevant supports will be discussed and information provided as needed.

Additionally - whilst I have working history and experience in conducting formal psychiatric assessment, formal diagnosis of psychiatric conditions and mental illness are best-placed to be conducted by public/private mental health services and/or private practitioners such as clinical

See here for APS ‘Find A Psychologist’ Service.

See here for FRANZGP (Royal College of Psychiatry, Australia)’s Psychiatrist

NOTE: In both cases, should

Regarding Medicare rebates and fees - we are unable to provide Medicare rebates at this time. However, stay tuned as the process of Provider Registration under the Medicare Better Access Scheme is underway!

In circumstances of significant financial hardship, variation on fees can be discussed and negotiated. See ‘Fees’ for more info.