A number of AAPi members are featured in a media article today about the mental health crisis, to coincide with Mental Health Month.
The article references the report by the McKell Institute commissioned by the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi) finds demand for sessions has grown by 70 per cent year-on-year on average since the pandemic began.
McKell Institute's senior policy analyst Marni Lefebvre said unless barriers such as cost, availability and access were addressed, the gap between supply and demand would widen.
“Waiting doesn’t help people with mental health issues, it exacerbates the problem,” she said.
Lefebvre believes the long-term solution is a stepped mental health program. “That means that people with more complex needs are given more attention and more sessions,” she says. “For the time being, allowing provisional psychologists to offer the Medicare re- bate would alleviate some of the supply issues.”
Claire Trevitt, from Holistic Psychology Services, said the main issues were access to services and affordability and she wanted to see the Medicare rebate increased so people can afford the treatment they need.
"We want to be able to provide services to people who really need it and people who don’t have the financial means, but in private practice it’s very difficult because the Medicare rebate doesn’t allow that.”
Trisha Nowland, from Gordon, said the system is under-resourced.
“It’s not uncommon for mental health professionals to end up having to take on some kind of part time role generating an income so they can work as a mental health professional,” she said.
“The Medicare funding is not adequate or covering our costs. I also work in a telehealth role where they could originally bulk bill, but they have had to shift to a co-payment model because the business is not viable just on Medicare fees.
“The costs are going up but clients’ capacity to pay is going down, leaving more people vulnerable.”
Dave Low, from My - Resolve, said he is often contacted by people who are unable to make a booking to see a psychologist in person.
“We have a network of psychologists all over Australia, but I think people prefer to talk to someone who’s close to where they live if they can,” he said.
Read the full article here or online here.