Finding a Child Psychologist in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs

How to find a child psychologist in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, what to look for, what to ask, how referrals and Medicare rebates work, and what it costs.

To find a child psychologist in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, ask your GP for a referral and a Mental Health Treatment Plan, then contact practices directly to ask who has availability for your child's age and concern. There is no central waitlist, so the practical work is ringing around and asking the right questions.

Most practices in the area, including ours in Randwick, take referrals directly from families as well as from GPs and paediatricians. Below is what actually distinguishes one option from another.

What to look for

• Registration with the Psychology Board of Australia, which you can verify yourself on the AHPRA public register
• Genuine experience with your child's age group; working with a six-year-old and a sixteen-year-old are different jobs
• Experience with your specific concern, whether that is anxiety, behaviour, school refusal, grief, or a neurodevelopmental question
• Willingness to work with parents, not only the child
• Willingness to liaise with the school, which is often where the change has to happen
• A clear answer about wait times and what happens if the fit is not right

Registered, clinical, or provisional

All three are registered psychologists and all three can see children. Clinical psychologists have completed additional postgraduate training and supervised practice in clinical psychology, and attract a higher Medicare rebate. Provisional psychologists are completing their supervised training under close supervision, and their fee is substantially lower with no Medicare rebate.

For straightforward presentations, a registered or provisional psychologist working under good supervision is often an excellent option, and more affordable. For complex or long-standing difficulties, the extra training tends to be worth it.

Referrals and Medicare

You do not need a referral to see a psychologist. You do need one if you want a Medicare rebate, and it has to come with a Mental Health Treatment Plan prepared by your GP, paediatrician or psychiatrist. The plan gives your child access to a rebate for up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year, in their own name.

It is worth knowing that you cannot use your own Mental Health Treatment Plan to claim rebates for your child. Each person needs their own.

Questions worth asking when you call

• How soon can we be seen, and is that the same clinician throughout?
• Have you worked with this age and this concern before?
• How do you involve parents in the work?
• Will you speak with our school if we consent?
• What is the fee, what is the rebate, and is there an after-hours surcharge?
• What happens if my child does not click with the clinician?

The last question matters more than it sounds. Fit with a child is not a nicety, it is the mechanism, and a practice that has a sensible answer for a mismatch is one that takes the work seriously.

What it costs

Our therapy sessions run for 50 minutes. Clinical Psychologist sessions are $310 with a $149.05 Medicare rebate, leaving $160.95 out of pocket. Registered Psychologist sessions are $290 with a $101.55 rebate, leaving $188.45. Provisional Psychologist sessions are $120 with no rebate. A $15 surcharge applies to weekday appointments after 5pm and all weekend sessions.

Fees differ between practices in the Eastern Suburbs, and higher is not automatically better. Ask what you are getting for it.

Practical things that decide whether therapy actually happens

Parents underrate logistics, and logistics are what cause therapy to stop. A clinic you can reach after school, parking or a bus route that works, and an appointment time that does not require pulling your child out of the one subject they like are all part of whether a course of therapy gets finished.

We see children at our Randwick rooms and by telehealth, and families come to us from across the Eastern Suburbs. If you are choosing between two good options, choose the one you can get to on a Wednesday afternoon in winter.

Where we work

• Child and adolescent therapy at Ivy Psychology
• Psychologist in Randwick
• Psychology in Coogee
• Psychology in Kensington

In summary

Start with your GP for the referral and plan, then ring two or three practices and ask about availability, experience with your child's age and concern, parent involvement, school liaison and total cost. Verify registration on the AHPRA register. Then pick the one you can realistically get to.