Brisbane South Psychological Therapies Program

All clients must be socioeconomically disadvantaged, in addition to one of the below contributing factors:

• Identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and/or questioning
• Cultural and Linguistically Diverse
• People with disabilities not accessing psychosocial supports through NDIS
• Being a child under the age of 12 years, who has been, or is at risk of, developing a mild to moderate mental illness, childhood behavioural or emotional disorder
• Experiencing perinatal depression/anxiety
• Living in a rural and remote community
• Experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness

Being at risk of suicide or self-harm - the client has had thoughts about hurting or killing themselves in the past 4 weeks but is not at immediate risk

• Face to face, onsite and home visits
• Phone or web-based consultations
• Group therapy.

• 6 sessions within up to 6 months for those not referred under Suicide Prevention or Self Harm
• 12 sessions, as determined by clinician and client, within a 2-month period for those referred under Suicide prevention or Self Harm stream
• 1-2 referrals

• Cognitive-behavioural therapeutic strategies
• Behavioural interventions
• Skills training
• Interpersonal Therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Narrative Therapeutic Strategy
• Psycho-education (including motivational interviewing)
• Group Therapy
• Art therapy
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
• Play therapy
• Family therapy

The service accepts referrals from general practitioners, psychiatrists, paediatricians, community-based organisations (provisional referrals).

How to refer:

1. Complete Psychological Therapies Referral Form ensuring client meets core eligibility requirements:

• Resides in Brisbane South PHN region
• Socioeconomically disadvantaged (e.g. current Health Care Card)
• Benefit from short-term intervention
• Clinical Mental Health (MH) diagnosis
• Has/working toward Mental Health Care Plan.

2. Send the form to Wesley Mission Queensland or Head to Health Intake Service via Fax or Secure Messaging.

3. Client will be contacted for completion of intake/assessment process.

4. If not eligible, intake team will contact the referrer suggesting alternate supports.

5. Once approved the client will be allocated to a service provider who can meet their individual needs. The provider will communicate regarding the client’s commencement, disengagement and exiting from the service.

Communication to referrer:

Referring GP will be advised once service commences and receive a summary report at the client’s exit from service.

Phone: 07 3151 3840

Fax: 07 3539 6445

Both require the completion of a Mental Health Care Plan. The Psychological Therapies Program is for people who could not otherwise afford the cost of psychology, including gap payments through Better Access, meet defined target group populations, and would benefit from short-term intervention.

Clients who have the capacity to pay and can readily access psychological services or do not identify with a target group population are ineligible for this program and should continue to be serviced under Better Access arrangements.

Once the referral has been accepted, the provider aims to see the client within 10 working days or in the case of suicide prevention, within 3 working days. Any delays in the commencement of the service will be communicated to the referrer by the service provider.

Any allocation delays will be communicated to the referring GP by intake staff. Clinical responsibility for clients referred will remain with the GP until seen by the psychological therapies’ services.

Target clients are detailed on the next page however the following clients are NOT eligible for this service when the primary reason for referral. i.e. the client would not benefit from short-term psychological intervention:

• Clients who are clinically suited to ‘lower intensity’ or more acute complex services
• People experiencing chronic, severe mental illness
• People with a primary diagnosis of a Personality Disorder
• People actively experiencing psychotic, bipolar/manic symptoms
• Adults and children with an intellectual disability who do not have the capacity to participate in psychological therapy
• People requiring cognitive assessments and/or reports
• Children experiencing developmental and learning disorders, (including Autism Spectrum Disorder) as a primary diagnosis
• People experiencing Dementia, delirium, or tobacco use disorder as the primary diagnosis
• Duplication or replacement of existing services/funding i.e. client is eligible for other funded services.