Confused about who best to see for mental health issues? Don’t worry, you’re not alone trying to navigate and understand the many different types of counselling and psychological support services in Australia. This article will help you better understand what your options are when it comes to mental health care.

In all mental health care professions, you will find variations and overlap with the type of work and clinical approaches the different professions have to offer. We can talk about education, regulatory/licensing mandates, qualifications, experience and techniques but this is only part of the story. Ultimately it comes down to two very important ingredients ~ your ability to connect and trust your therapist. Without these 2 ingredients, the relationship won’t be compatible. How you feel while interacting with your practitioner is vital if we are to achieve successful outcomes, and not everyone will respond to the same practitioner the same way.

The next thing to consider is what style do you think would best suits you? Are you more inclined to gravitate to a more natural holistic approach such as counselling and psychotherapy or do you think you are at a crisis point and a medical approach is warranted?  The final thing to consider is their education and level of experience. Do they specialise or excel in any particular area of mental health or do they work with a broad scope of conditions? These are all important considerations before you make any decisions, but don’t worry, you can always change your mind if it’s not the right fit for you. So let’s get into the different types of mental health approaches you can choose from.

Counsellor

Registered counsellors in Australia belong to a national regulatory body, such as the Australian Counselling Association, or the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia. Training usually involves a Bachelors Degree and a Graduate Degree along with supervised training and ongoing professional development. Counsellors study human behaviour and mental processes, while also, attempting to understand the many cultural systems that affect mental health. Counsellors use therapeutic practices combined with research to help people develop a deeper understanding of their thoughts, emotions, behaviours and the interaction of all three. A counsellor will use talk therapy to talk through concerns, gain perspective, develop coping, assess maladaptive thinking patterns, explore emotions to help achieve client set goals.

Counsellors can provide support to individuals, in group, couples and with families, provided they have some training and supervision in the area. Individuals who are generally stressed, worrying about things, low self-esteem, anger issues, having relationship issues or work-related issues could benefit from talking to an appropriately trained counsellor. It is important to keep in mind that counselling is not a government regulated profession in Australia, so people seeking the support from a counsellor should look into counsellors training, qualifications, experience, and membership of a recognised regulatory body.

Clinical Counsellor

Clinical Counsellors are similar to psychologists in the work they do, in that they are experienced working with a range of mental health issues, and use evidence-based therapeutic counselling approaches to support clients. To register as a clinical member as a part of PAFCA or ACA, standards involve ongoing supervision, ongoing professional development and a certain number of years of experience (6 years for ACA). Clinical counsellors are also trained to work with an individual’s culture systems (race, sex, gender, ethnicity, spiritual/religious beliefs, etc) use psychometrics, diagnostic and take a more holistic approach to working with mental illness. Clinical counsellors often work with other health practitioners to gain optimal health outcomes for their clients. Our Counsellor Jessie Narula is a registered Clinical Counsellor and Psychotherapist.

Psychotherapist

The goal of the psychotherapist is to help people understand their psychological history in a profoundly reflective manner by making connections between their past history and present self-beliefs that ultimately drive unconscious behaviours. For example, a child who is ignored and neglected may become an adult with low self-esteem and low self-worth.  Psychotherapy helps them understand the source of the problem by increasing their self-awareness around their deep-seated belief systems. The goal of psychotherapy is to drive change by reaching a higher level of self-awareness that ultimately gives back control to the individual. When compared to counselling, psychotherapy usually drills to a much deeper level to uncover the source and bring it to the surface.

Psychologist

To practice as a Psychologist in Australia, one must meet the regulation standards of the Psychology Board of Australia. Usually, this means an undergraduate degree, and or a post-graduate degree along with supervised experience before approval for registration. Training usually involves the scientific study of human behavioural and mental processes. Support primary takes the form of talk therapy, to provide researched based psychological tools to help people develop skills needed to cope better and relieve unwanted symptoms. There are also elements of helping clients understand the brains mechanism of how mental health is affected. Psychologists may be specialised in certain areas such as neuropsychology, forensic psychology, health psychology, child psychology or developmental psychology. Psychologists are great at supporting with a range of psychological problems, and if you are someone with a formal diagnosis, a psychologist might be a good choice. A referral can be obtained from a GP.

Clinical Psychologist

In Australia, there is a separate category called Clinical Psychologist, and this usually means they have two years of specialised training, on top of the psychologist training. They are highly skilled at supporting clients with more severe, chronic and complex psychological problems. If you suffer from a mental health condition that is chronic and persistent or been present since a very young age, a clinical psychologist might be an option.

Psychiatrist

Psychiatrist are trained medical doctors involving six years of studying general medicine, then specialising in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health illness. They have an in-depth knowledge of the links between mental and physical problems and can prescribe medications. Psychiatrists spend their time with patients on medication management and symptom management. They mostly treat people with more severe and complex mental illnesses and have the authority to admit people to a psychiatric hospital should it be necessary. Psychiatrist and psychologist often work together, as a psychiatrist might make an assessment and diagnosis then refer patients to a psychologist for ongoing psychological treatment in the form of talk therapy.  To see a psychiatrist, you would first need to acquire a referral from a GP.

Life Coach

To be a life coach in Australia, there are no standards for training or regulation. This means anyone can call themselves a life coach so always best to check their credentials before consulting one. Life coaches generally help people work towards their personal goals, not necessarily related to mental health.