Services
PRA Psychology offers counselling services for children, teenagers, families, adults, older persons, couples, employees, and organisations
Key Features
- Counselling; assesment and treatment using clinical psychology approaches; employee assistance; workers’ compensation; and performance coaching.
- Choice of over ten male and female Psychologists of all ages.
- Our Psychologists have either a minimum of ten years experience and/or are mature aged and have substantial life experience.
- Our Psychologists are registered with the Psychology Board of Australia.
- Flexible hours including standard working hours, week nights and Saturday mornings.
- Friendly, warm, and calm environment.
Medicare
All PRA Psychologists are registered with medicare to provide services under the new Better Access program. For more details about this program please visit the Australian Psychological Society website .
Anyone with a diagnosed mental disorder such as depression is entitled to 10 sessions per calendar year. To obtain a rebate you must see a GP before your first session and obtain a mental health care plan and referral. The referral is at the discretion of the GP and as mentioned above there must be a diagnosed mental disorder. When contacting us to arrange an appointment, please advise the name of the GP who referred you and if you are being referred under this scheme.
Counselling Services
PRA Psychology provides a range of counselling services for individuals, groups and organisations. These services include the following:
Assessment services
- Clinical psychological assessment
- Mental health diagnostic assessment
- ADHD testing
- IQ Assessments
Clinical and counselling services:
Including Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness therapies, EMDR, Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), and Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISDTP) for a range of problems including but not limited to:
- Adjustment to injury
- Adjustment to physical health issues
- Stress management
- Anxiety disorders
- Trauma
- Depression
- Grief & loss
- Anger management
- Substance misuse/Addictions
- Sleep problems
- Conflict with staff
- Bullying & harassment
- Interpersonal and relationship issues including marital therapy
Performance Psychology.
Tailored to help with optimal sporting and business performance. This is not rebatable under medicare. Sessions can include the following:
- Developing an Optimal performance mindset
- Overcoming Performance anxiety
- Understanding what motivates you and affects your motivation
- Overcoming Perfectionism and unrelenting standards
- Honing Performance Attention and Mindfulness
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- EAPs are work-based intervention services aimed at the early identification and / or resolution of both work and personal problems that may adversely affect performance.
- Issues that commonly impede optimal performance include stress, depression, interpersonal conflict, relationship difficulties and substance misuse.
- Issues that commonly impede optimal performance include stress, depression, interpersonal conflict, relationship difficulties and substance misuse.
- EAPs are provided by external consultants who are independent of the company.
- The cost of stress alone includes absenteeism, decreased efficiency and productivity, increased accidents, staff conflict, staff turnover, lowered morale and increased compensation claims.
- An effective EAP is tailored to meet the needs of the organisation. PRA will liaise with your key staff to develop a program that best meets your needs.
- Contact Wendy our Practice Manager for details at
wendyrushton@praconsulting.com.au
In-house training programs (by negotiation)
Packages can be developed for 2, 4 and 8 hour training periods. Presentation topics include:
- Stress management
- Anxiety management
- Understanding and managing Depression
- Coping with change
- Alcohol and drug awareness
- Conflict resolution
- Communication skills
- Team building
- Balancing work and leisure
- Workplace bullying
- Workplace wellbeing
What is anxiety and how can seeing a Psychologist help?
Firstly, having anxiety is a normal human experience. Anxiety is not bad for you in its intended form, that of preparing us for danger or a difficult situation. It is therefore not achievable to cease having anxiety. Words like stress, nerves and fear are commonly used to describe feeling anxious. Anxiety symptoms are believed to be triggered by what is known as the “fight or flight or freeze response” (FOFR). This is an automatic response to danger (both real and perceived) and results in the releasing of chemicals into the body causing a range of anxiety symptoms. However, the FOFR is problematic when triggered by situations that pose us no real danger such as walking into a room and fearing judgement. In other words it is your thinking that creates most of your anxiety.
Common symptoms of anxiety include body sensations such as increased heart rate, excessive sweating, trembling, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and muscular tension; thoughts such as excessive worry about one or more issues, fear of losing control, fear of dying, fear of fainting, underestimating your ability to cope, and overestimating the chances of a bad event happening; and behaviour such as avoidance of sensations and places that lead to feeling uncomfortable or anxious.
Psychologists can help you by providing a range of treatments including Cognitive-behaviour therapy, Mindfulness therapies, Schema therapy and Hypnotherapy. Within these approaches we can provide the following:
- Education about anxiety and how to best respond when anxious.
- Teaching you skills to manage the anxiety including breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, and mindfulness.
- Teaching you how to change the way you respond to anxious thoughts including defusion, mindfulness and thought challenging.
- Teaching you how to confront fear and anxiety using approaches like graded exposure.
- Improving your lifestyle so that it compliments lowering anxiety and managing it better.
- Liaising with your GP to rule out any physical causes of anxiety and to arrange medication if required.
What is depression and how can seeing a Psychologist help?
Depression lasts longer than sadness and the blues, and commonly reduces one’s pleasure in life and is more disabling than mere sadness. Clinical depression is the term often used to describe depression that impairs a person’s functioning and quality of life. The cause of depression is a matter of debate but generally speaking it is believed to be a combination of biological factors (eg genetics, chemical imbalance, medical conditions), psychological factors (eg thinking patterns, personality traits) and social factors (eg relationships, social support, life events).
The most common symptoms of depression are: depressed mood (feeling depressed, sad, flat, unhappy), teariness, appetite and sleep problems (usually a decrease, sometimes an increase), reduced pleasure and interest, reduced energy and motivation, poor concentration, irritability, indecision, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, self-criticism, suicidal thinking, and reduced sex drive. Anxiety symptoms are frequently experienced in combination with depression. There are numerous types of depression (eg Major Depression, Dysthymic Disorder, Adjustment Disorder) and subtypes (eg single episode, chronic, melancholic) and these can be further discussed with your treating practitioner.
Psychologists can help you by providing a range of treatments including Cognitive-behaviour therapy, Mindfulness therapies, Interpersonal psychotherapy, and Schema therapy. Within these approaches we often provide the following:
- Education about depression and how best to respond when depressed.
- Teaching you skills to manage the depression including mindfulness, exercise and activity scheduling.
- Teaching you how to change the way you respond to depressive thoughts including defusion, mindfulness and thought challenging.
- Improving your lifestyle so that it compliments lowering depression and managing it better.
- Improving your relationships and social supports and resolving interpersonal conflicts as required.
- Exploring unresolved emotion regarding past and present difficult events.
- Increasing your sense of meaning in your life.
- Liaising with your GP to arrange medication if required.