AAPi Director Carly Dober featured in a story on Channel 9 TV News and online about the popularity of telehealth for psychology appointments and spoke about the need for better access to mental health care.
During the pandemic, around 30 per cent of Medicare-funded mental health appointments happened virtually, but demand remains high - this year the figure is nearly 22 per cent.
"Wait lists are sometimes half a year to a year and that means people are getting more unwell and more sick when they need treatment... COVID-19 exacerbated cracks in the system," she said.
"The Australian Association of Psychologists says more needs to be done to improve accessibility - pointing to the Federal Government's decision to halve the number of Medicare-funded mental health appointments to 10 a year.
"They want those to be reinstated, as well as Medicare rebate to be increased to $150 a session. And they say 8000 provisional psychologists are ready to treat patients if they could, which would help reduce the backlog," the article said.
"It's not evidence-based for complex mental illness to have to ration your treatment but that's what people have been doing which has again made them more unwell," Carly said.
The story ran on Channel 9 TV news in Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin and also online. Watch and read it here.