Request an appointment

If you are interested in making an appointment with the psychologist for assessment or therapy services, please complete the referral request form. This form helps us gather important information about the services you are seeking, the issues to be addressed, and basic details about your child (e.g., name, date of birth).

Please note that completing this form does not guarantee an appointment. All referrals will be screened to ensure they are appropriate for our services. You will be contacted regarding the outcome of your referral request.

What's involved in seeing a psychologist?

initial consultation (sessions 1 - 2)

Parent(s) meet with psychologist

Understanding your child's needs is crucial. The first session involves collecting background information and hearing your insights and current concerns about your child.

Often, a second session with just the parent is needed to go through a form called the ASUP (Dr Ross Greene/CPS), which helps identify a child's lagging skills and the expectations they're having trouble meeting. This helps narrow down what to target in intervention.

after the initial session

Forms

You will receive digital forms for signing, including:

informed consent
privacy statement
service agreement (NDIS clients)

Service-specific forms:

pre-therapy rating scale (therapy/counselling only)
assessment quote (assessment only)

You may be asked to send through documentation (e.g., medical/AH reports) about your child.

sessions with the child or young person

Therapy/counselling

Play-based and creative/expressive therapeutic approaches form the foundation of in-person intervention at ABP. Integrating multisensory elements like art & craft, movement, and play aligns with how children naturally process emotions and ideas. Talk therapy without these multisensory elements may not effectively engage young children, given it relies heavily on verbal skills and abstract thinking—both of which are still developing during childhood.

Telehealth sessions tend to involve more talk-based approaches, and often the CPS model is applied, with both child and parent present. This format is especially effective over telehealth, as it encourages a direct connection between therapist, child, and parent—something that’s often challenging to achieve when a child logs on and off without a parent present.

Assessment

The number of sessions your child will need to come into the clinic depends on the type of assessment being conducted and how they respond to testing/activities.

Sometimes it may be necessary to do transition games or activities like drawing or puzzles (either before, during or after testing) to support their regulation and/or participation. If times is going to exceed one-hour, it will be likely that a second session will be booked in to complete the assessment. The psychologist will contact you following this session to arrange another time.