Fees, Rebates and Referrals
Fees for Dr Joanne Thorburn: Please contact reception on 03-8593-9598 to discuss our current fee schedule. Those clients who have a valid and current GP referral may be able to obtain a Medicare rebate currently being $137.05. Alternatively, you may be able to claim a rebate from your private health insurers, we recommend you make contact with them directly to ascertain if you are covered for psychology under your policy. Private clients and After hours sessions (5pm onwards or weekends) are charged at a different rate and can be provided by reception.
NDIS plan managed clients are charged at the current NDIS rate of $214.41 per hour/session.
NDIS self managed clients are charged at $270.00 per hour/session during regular business hours and $300.00 per hour/session after hours (after 5pm or on Saturdays).
NDIS funded reports are charged at the above hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours taken to complete report. NDIS funding reviews incorporating adaptive assessments are charged at a minimum of 3 hours and require at least 4 weeks advance notice.
Fees for provisional psychologists are $150.00 per session, with no Medicare or private health rebates applicable. Provisional psychologists can provide services under a Care in Mind referral from your GP and to NDIS participants who are self and plan managed.
Sessions are 50 minutes.
The following assessments are available for clients of all ages, generally behavioural and educational assessments are mainly conducted in school aged children, but adults may also be assessed using a variety of assessment tools.
Cognitive Assessments: Cognitive assessments are utilised to assess a person’s intellectual abilities. The fee for a cognitive assessment is currently $1500.00 plus gst (i.e., $1,650.00) this fee is inclusive of initial session to obtain background history, testing session, testing materials, scoring, interpretation and reporting, feedback session to discuss results, potential diagnosis and recommendations. Adaptive assessment incurs a small additional fee to rule out intellectual disability and can be provided by reception.
Behavioural Assessments: Behavioural assessments are utilised to diagnose conditions such as ADHD, ODD and other challenging behaviours. The current fee for a behavioural assessment is $1500.00 plus gst (i.e., $1,650.00) and is inclusive of one school visit to observe child (if required) along with liaison with school staff. Fee includes all assessment questionnaires, detailed psychological report and feedback session to discuss results, possible diagnosis and recommendations.
Educational Assessments: Educational assessments are utilised to assess and diagnose possible specific learning disabilities (previously known as Dyslexia). The current fee for an educational assessment is $1500.00 plus gst (i.e., $1,650.00) and is inclusive of initial appointment, school liaison and possibly visit to observe in child in school environment if required, assessment, comprehensive report and feedback session to discuss results any potential diagnosis and recommendations.
Autism Assessments- children:
Child autism assessments are available with referral from your child’s paediatrician and/or G.P. We utilise evidence based tools such as the MIGDAS, and ADI-R in accordance with Australian clinical guidelines for autism assessment. The current fee for a child autism assessment is $1,500.00 plus gst (i.e., $1,650.00) and is inclusive of a session with parents/carers/teacher to obtain background information, the assessment session with child (this may be more than one session depending on the child’s individual requirements), comprehensive report and feedback session with diagnosis and recommendations. Please note, if your child has not had a cognitive assessment within 2 years prior to an autism assessment this may also need to be conducted first, if so the total cost of both the cognitive and autism assessment is $3,000.00 plus gst.
Adult Autism Assessments: Adult autism assessments are available to those people who have not been previously assessed during childhood and have been recommended to undergo assessment. The current fee for an adult autism assessment is $1,500.00 plus gst (i.e., $1.650.00) and this fee includes an initial interview with client and a family member that can report on their development during childhood and to obtain background information, assessment, comprehensive report and feedback session to discuss results and recommendations.
No Medicare rebate is applicable for most cognitive, behavioural and educational assessments.
Some Medicare items in respect to Autism diagnosis only apply to children under the age of 25 years (with paediatrician’s or G.P. referral).
There is no current Medicare rebate for Adult autism assessments when a person is aged 26 years or over at present.
The NDIS may fund some assessments, please discuss with your NDIS support coordinator of LAC (planner) to confirm if you are able to utilise your plan for this purpose and obtain approval to utilise funds for this purpose.
Please note: NDIS plan managed participants seeking cognitive, behavioural, educational or Autism assessments are charged at hourly rate of $214.41 multiplied by the number of hours that are required to conduct assessments (generally between 10 and 12 hours minimum), background and any feedback appointments, the scoring, interpretation of results and the write up and provision of a comprehensive psychological report and may also incur a travel charge if our practitioners are required to travel to them to conduct assessments. Self managed NDIS participants are charged at the hourly rate of $270.00 multiplied by the number of hours taken to administer and complete assessment and write up the psychology report.
Payment Plans are available (a minimum of $250.00 per session until full balanced is paid). Report is not issued until full payment is received.
Psychological reports will not be commenced until full payment is received and reports/results are only released on receipt of full payment.
Please note reports generally take 4-6 weeks minimum from the time full payment is received and pending receipt of all assessment results from other parties if required. Your psychologist can advise an expected completion date.
You don’t need a referral to see a psychologist; however you will need to pay the full amount of your sessions if you don’t have a referral.
If you have a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP or psychiatrist, you will be eligible for Medicare rebates for up to 20 sessions – see here for more information.
Dr Thorburn currently sees patients from private fee paying, NDIS participants (Plan managed and self-managed only), and Care in Mind (speak to your GP about a referral under this funding if you are struggling to pay for psychology sessions) and other funding bodies.
Please note: Dr Thorburn does not accept referrals from Worksafe Vic, VOCAT or TAC.
All of our practitioners at Embodied Psychology can provide services to Care in Mind clients (you require a GP referral to access this funding and be eligible to meet criteria for this support) and NDIS (plan and self managed participants only).
Please call reception to check if we are providers for your particular referral prior to booking a session.
Is Embodied Psychology right for me?
If you don’t feel the psychologist you have commenced with is the right fit for you, please speak to our reception staff or practice manager and we can schedule you a session with another one of our psychologists.
We welcome clients from all diverse backgrounds and welcome LGBTQIA+, clients of all abilities and neurodiverse clients along with those from different cultural backgrounds.
At Embodied Psychology we have clinical, and provisional psychologists. Provisional psychologists are in their final years of face to face training before obtaining full general registration.
You are welcome to search for your practitioner’s details on AHPRA.
Hours and location
We are open 9am-5pm Tuesday to Friday. After hours appointments may be available from time to time depending on your needs – please discuss with your psychologist.
Please note our clinicians are offering both face to face sessions and telehealth.
We are located at 157 Railway Avenue, Laverton, directly across the road from Aircraft railway station. There is on street free 2 hour parking located in Railway avenue. Clients who require a disability parking option should advise reception at the time of booking.
Policies
If you need to cancel or postpone your appointment, please give the psychologist at least 48 hours’ notice, otherwise you will be charged a cancellation fee. Less than 24 hours notice of cancellation or non arrival for session on the day of appointment will result in the full cost for the session being charged (this applies to teleheatlh sessions as well and Medicare rebates do not apply for cancellations).
Clinicians at Embodied Psychology do not provide medico-legal reports or correspondence for previous, current or future legal action. Please note that any requests for involvement in legal matters will not be accepted or engaged in. By consenting to receive services at Embodied Psychology you are acknowledging this policy and will not request a report or letter for the purposes of legal action or court matters, and understand this cannot be provided as part of your attendance or services provided by our practice.
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic and shift to increased use of Telehealth services you acknowledge that sometimes sessions may be disrupted by technical issues that are outside of your clinician’s control. This may include NBN or phone connection disruptions of either client or practitioner. All clinicians will wait for a period of 15 minutes from the scheduled commencement time of an online telehealth session for you to arrive. If you do not arrive within that time or have not contacted reception asap to advise you are having technical issues your session will be terminated and a cancellation fee charged.
With phone sessions, one attempt will be made to call you at the scheduled session time. If there is no answer we will leave a voicemail requesting you make contact with reception within 15 minutes of the commencement time of your session. If voicemail is not available and the phone system allows it, we will send an SMS requesting you call reception within 15 minutes if you wish for the session to go ahead. If reception is contacted, a further attempt will be made to call you. If this is unsuccessful again the session will be terminated and you will need to make contact to reschedule. If you do not contact reception and do not answer your phone when your clinician calls, a cancellation fee will be charged.
Please contact reception on 03-8593-9598 within 15 minutes of your session commencement time if you are experiencing technical issues with a telehealth or phone session. If no contact made this will be viewed as a non attendance and a cancellation fee will be charged.
By consenting to receive services at Embodied Psychology you are acknowledging our zero tolerance to abusive, aggressive and inappropriate behaviour towards staff and psychologists. You acknowledge that should you engage in any verbally or physically abusive behaviour towards psychologists and staff your services will be terminated and alternative referral options will be provided to you. Furthermore, if required police will be called to provide assistance should anyone engage in abusive, aggressive and inappropriate behaviour towards staff occur whilst on site at the clinic.
At Embodied Psychology we take the safety of our younger clients seriously. We abide by all Australian and Victorian legislative requirements in respect to child safety, including the reporting of any reasonable belief we may hold, that one of our younger clients (under the age of 18 years) may be subject to any form of abuse. We also take seriously our vetting procedures for new and existing staff, which includes initial and ongoing detailed reference, working with children, character and national police checks.
In light of the recent Royal Commission into institutional abuse held in Australia, we acknowledge that along with all staff connected to Embodied Psychology, it is the responsibility of all Australians to protect and ensure all children are safe. We will continue to review our policy periodically to ensure we are operating in accordance with National guidelines.
Should you have any concerns for the safety of a child please report to Victoria Police or Child Protection office: Western Metropolitan- 1300-664-977 or after hours 13 12 78.
We appreciate that at times we may not meet your expectations. In the first instance we would ask that you discuss your concerns with your psychologist. If you are still unsatisfied, please arrange to speak to our principal psychologist, Dr Joanne Thorburn. After speaking to Joanne, if you continue to remain unsatisfied, you may be able to seek advice and support from the following agencies: Health Complaints Commission Victoria, phone: 1300-582-113, Australian Psychological Society, phone: 03-8662-3300, or AHPRA, phone: 1300-419-495.
