Brief Psycho-Education Telephone Consult for Parents/Caregivers

This limited service is for Parents/caregivers who would like some brief advice/recommendations either while they are waiting for therapy to begin (the consult is usually available within one week of submitting your request) or while they are deciding whether they want/need/are able to start a therapy process with their child/teen

It consists of:

  1. Parents/caregivers completing a comprehensive questionnaire about their situation, their questions, challenges and needs prior to the telephone consultation
  2. A "one-off" 30 minute telephone consultation with one of our senior psychologists (Kirrilie Smout only at this point)
  3. A post telephone survey for parents/caregivers to complete to set a plan in place.

    It is important to be aware that this brief (30 min) telephone consultation is not a therapy session.

    The "one off" consultation is different from a therapy consultation in the following ways:
  • It is only suitable for parents/caregivers and not children/teens themselves
  • Due to time constraints and the nature of the service, parents/caregivers will not be able to provide more than very brief /basic information about their situation within the phone-call itself but instead provide their info to the psychologist in the questionnaire before the phone-call. 
  • There is not time or space for the parents/caregivers to discuss and reflect on the emotional challenges for them in managing the situation.
  • There is not time or space for the psychologist to to provide extensive details about the specifics of their recommendations 
  • It is a single consultation only, and not an ongoing service

So what does the phone consultation process consist of? 

The psychologist will spend time reading the information you provide, prior to the call.  

They will then spend around 5-10 minutes of the phone-call clarifying the info provided in the questionnaire.

The next 20 minutes is spent doing the following:

  • Providing an overview of the kind of work/strategies which a psychologist would usually do in our clinics when working with a child/teen with those challenges/in that situation
  • Providing 2-5 recommendations about the general approach parents and carers might take and be able to do/say which would usually be helpful in that situation
  • Providing information to parents/caregivers about what can usually be expected for children/teens in the same situation/facing the same challenges and how/if things resolve/change over time
  • Providing an overview of various options and services going forward and which might be available in SA

After the phone call, the parent/caregiver is sent a survey (please allow around 10 minutes) for them to answer questions about what they plan to do next and what was helpful/not helpful about the service.  Although this happens after the call, this is a required part of the process as it ensures we are offering a service which makes a difference to families.  Thankyou for your understanding about this.

It should be noted that we are sorry but this service is not suitable for parents/caregivers who:

  • Have significant safety concerns  for their child or are concerned about issues related to suicidality or potential abuse (please contact emergency services or crisis services)
  • Have questions regarding family court, custody or access issues. Please note we cannot make recommendations about these matters
  • Are unable to fully complete the online questionnaires (we can't provide the consultation unless this is completed)
  • Are unable to complete the post telephone call questionnaire (a required part of the process)

Cost: $175 for the process - including 30 minute telephone session, supply and review of pre and post call questionnaires.

Unfortunately, unlike our face to face services, this consultation is not covered by Medicare, or private health cover.  For those families experiencing financial hardship, we recommend our face to face services or state based government mental health services.

If you have read the above information, and would like to request a telephone consult, click below to fill in the survey.  Once we have received it, a psychologist will review your request and determine whether it is suitable for a brief consultation and our practice manager will contact you to let you know the outcome.

If accepted she will then arrange a time (usually within 72 hours) for the phone call  and to organise payment. Please be aware that some requests are not suitable for a phone consultation and in order to not put you a risk for further harm, the psychologist will instead email you to direct you to other services.