Frequently Asked Questions

The fee is $250 for a 50-minute session. You can receive up to 10 Medicare rebates in the calendar year if you are eligible for a mental health care plan which can be obtained from your GP.  You can receive you to 40 Medicare rebates if you have an eating disorder plan. The current Medicare rebate amount is $93.35 so the gap fee is $156.65 per session. Reduced rates are available on a discretionary basis.

Private health insurance can be used for psychology sessions depending on your level of cover – please check with your provider.

Mondays: Level 7, Suite 11, Dymocks Building, 428 George Street, Sydney 2000

Tuesdays: online sessions only

Fridays: 5 Perry Street, Lilyfield, 2040

Further details can be found here

You can message me and find all of my contact details by clicking on GET IN TOUCH. You are welcome to text, message, call or email me.

My email address is moragcounselling@gmail.com

My phone number is 0401 613 620

Life can be very challenging and dealing with challenges alone can be difficult, overwhelming and cause suffering. If you are struggling with your emotions, thoughts or certain behaviours are causing you problems then therapy can help.

Talking with a professional can be very powerful in changing your mood and mindset. It helps by giving you a clearer understanding of your problems, identifying specific thoughts or behaviours that may be maintaining them and how to implement change. 

Therapy is particularly recommended if your emotional or psychological difficulties impact on your ability to function well at work, socially or in relationships. Even if your difficulties are not significantly impactful, people come to therapy to understand themselves better, for personal growth and to improve the quality of their lives.

Therapy is one option to help you with your mental health. Different things work for different people so it may be about giving therapy a go and seeing if you find it helpful.  

• Psychologists are well trained in the depths of mental and psychological health. They have theoretical understandings and use this to guide them in therapy. Psychologists are knowledgeable about evidence-based practice using therapies that have been found to be effective in research studies.  Their in-depth understanding means they approach your issues in a very considered and informed way.

• Due to psychologists' deep understanding of human thoughts and behaviour and their neutrality to the situation, they can be empathic and non-judgemental.

• There are specific boundaries around the sessions to enable you to feel safe and have clear expectations (e.g., boundaries relating to session time, contact out-with sessions).

• In the session, the focus is all on you and there can be specific goals that you are both working towards.   

The first few sessions will involve getting to know you well, your current difficulties, goals for therapy and your background. You will then be given a questionnaire and we will discuss the schemas identified and your coping styles. I will make links to your childhood needs, schemas, coping styles and your current difficulties.

In sessions, we will work through times when schemas have been activated, when you engage in repeated patterns and how to navigate this differently. I may draw on cognitive strategies (e.g., challenging thinking), behavioural strategies (e.g., what could you experiment with doing differently), experiential strategies (e.g., the use of imagery or empty chair techniques where different parts of yourself have a dialogue and those parts are represented by chairs) or use the relationship to provide a different experience. We will work out what your underlying needs were in the situation and how to meet them. 

The therapy will be tailored to you so there may be different emphasis on structure and strategies accordingly.  Your goals for therapy are important and will be reviewed to ensure that we are staying on track with what you are hoping to achieve.    

The first session will involve getting to know your current difficulties and goals for therapy. I will provide some education on cognitive behavioural therapy and on the difficulties that you have. Diagrams will be drawn to link your thoughts, feelings and behaviour and we will identify vicious cycles that you might be in. Together we look at ways of breaking the vicious cycles – this could be through thinking about it differently or experimenting with new behaviours.

The therapy is collaborative, has a structure, is goal focused and requires doing work outside of the session so that you practice what is learnt in the session.

Yes, all information that you disclose in your session is confidential. I am bound by the Australian Psychological Society’s ethical guidelines which includes protecting clients’ privacy by not disclosing the contents of therapy. There are three exceptions to this confidentiality rule:

1.      If there are any safety concerns about yourself or the safety of others that you are in contact with.

2.      If your information is subpoenaed by a court of law.

3.     If there is a legal obligation to disclose information regarding involvement or knowledge of a criminal offence that has not been brought to the attention of the police. 

Therapy is an investment of your time, money and energy and you will find the more that you put into it, the more that you will get out of it. A good starting point is to keep regular appointments, prioritise it and show commitment to the process. Doing the between session work, helps you transfer what is being talked about in session to your daily life and you will see quicker progress. Journalling your thoughts and feelings, as well as reflections from the session can be very helpful in guiding your journey.

I encourage you to be as open and honest as you can with me. If you are finding it difficult to talk through any issues, I encourage you to voice this so that I can support you and we can work through it together. Growth and achieving mental health goals takes time, effort and patience so be kind to yourself during this process.

Mental Health Issues

Some good self-help information and workbooks on: Anxiety, Assertiveness, Appearance Concerns, Bipolar, Body Dysmorphia, Depression, Disordered Eating, Health Anxiety, Panic, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Self-compassion, Self-esteem, Sleep, Tolerating Distress, Worry and Rumination at https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself

Complex Trauma

https://blueknot.org.au/

Attachment/ Relationship Difficulties

 ‘Attached’ by Dr Amir Levine and Rachel SF Heller, 2012 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9547888

Schema Therapy

‘Reinventing Your Life’, by Jeffrey Young, Ph.D. and Janet Klosko, Ph.D. (1994) https://www.schematherapy.com/id202.htm

 ‘Breaking Negative Thinking Patterns’ by Gitta Jacob, Hannie van Genderen, and Laura Seebauer (2015) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24344283-breaking-negative-thinking-patterns?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_35

‘Breaking Negative Relationship Patterns’ by Bruce A Stevens and Eckhard Roediger (2016) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31317037-breaking-negative-relationship-patterns

Good mood clinic podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-good-mood-clinic-podcast/id1517279412