Once you have contacted our psychology clinic you will be emailed some online forms to complete before your first session. All online forms must be completed few days before your first appointment to ensure we have all the administration work completed before your appointment and to help you and your psychologist understand the nature of your difficulties and how to best help you. If you do not have ability to complete online forms you will be required to attend your first appointment 30 minutes earlier, so you can complete the forms before you sit down with your psychologist. This will save valuable time at the first initial consultation. If you have trouble with completing the forms that's okay your psychologist will support you with this.

For your initial consultation please make sure you bring your

1. Medicare card

2. A copy of the Doctors' referral letter

3. Your Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP) or Mental Health Treatment Review

** As an alternative to brining in hard copies of your referral letter and MHTP, you can ask your GP to forward these to our clinic at admin@bloomhealthclinic.au before your first appointment.

The plan is not required if you are referred by a third party who is paying or you are using your Private Health Insurance. Otherwise you will be responsible for total cost of the appointment.

Before your therapy session begins, it is normal to feel nervous, worried, emotional, hopeful, or even excited about your appointment. The first appointment is about getting to know each other and for your therapist to learn about your world. It is also an opportunity for you to familiarise yourself with the environment, your therapist and the counselling process, and decide whether they will be a good fit for you. It is important that you feel our approach to therapy is suited to your individual needs; therapy is most effective if you feel there is an alignment in values and if you feel a sense of safety in the therapy space and with the person you are working with.

Bloom Health Clinic is unique in this sense as our Client Care Team are trained and guided by intuition to match you to the right therapist; we have 4 therapists on our team, all with diverse personalities and approaches. If at any stage during your therapy process, you do not feel your therapist is a good match for you, we welcome your feedback, and can discuss shifting you to a different therapist on the team, to ensure that your experience is a safe and positive one.

When you arrive, you will be welcomed by a calm and quiet waiting room where you are able to enjoy a soothing cup of organic tea while you wait for your practitioner.

When ready, your therapist will invite you into your therapy room, and engage with you in a relaxed, conversational way, to explore what has brought you to therapy, and ask about your concerns. This appointment is for you to have an opportunity to tell your story, and to have someone be present with you to hear and hold space for your thoughts, feelings and experiences. Your therapist is trained in meeting you at your pace, so you will not feel forced or hurried into talking about anything you are not comfortable to in your first session, or any of your sessions.

During your first session, you may wish to ask questions relating to what to expect, and how your therapist can best support you.

If you are a parent and are bringing your child to counselling, the first session will typically involve meeting with just you, or you and your partner (without your child present) to discuss your concerns. This first session is needed to gather important background information about your child and discuss how we as a team can best support them.

Yes, Bloom Health Clinic provides Telehealth and telephone services to clients. The fees will be the same as Medicare and private health appointments. Please notify admin via email ahead of time if you wish to book or change an existing appointment to Telehealth/telephone.

Your Psychologist is NOT able to offer a crisis or immediate response service. In an Emergency Dial 000, Lifeline 13 11 14 or the Acute Care Mental Health Team on 1300 767 155 or (07) 3825 6000 (24 hours). We can only work with clients within a scheduled appointment times and are unable to provide treatment or therapy by text message or email or telephone.

You can find further crisis support on our crisis support page, please click here.