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Frequently Asked Questions
We hope you find what you need on this page. We are constantly adding
information that will be helpful to all our clients.
Should there be a topic or information that you are unable to find on the website, please let us know and we will be sure to add it for future reference.
Payment Policy
PAYMENT POLICY
• Appointment Confirmation: Your act of settlement / payment confirms your first appointment with us.
• Time Limit: Payment for your Initial Session is required 48 business hours in advance of / before your first session time unless payments occur through a third party eg: Insurance / WorkCover / NDIS. Business hours excludes weekends and public holidays. For example, 48 business hours from a Tuesday 2pm session is 2pm the preceding Friday.
• Payment Details: All clients are required to save current payment details on a secure payment system called Tyro Health in order to start / continue with any Blue Flame Wellness Services.
Tyro Health uses stringent data and security protocols for storing payment details. Once your bank card details are entered into Tyro Health, they are tokenised which means they are not visible to anybody within our practice or at Tyro Health. If payment details need to be altered or updated, they must be completely re-entered as a further security measure, as tokenised payment details cannot be edited.
If you would like to learn more, please follow the link: Tyro Security.(https://www.tyrohealth.com/security/)
• When are Payments Deducted for the Session?
1. All 'Face to Face' Sessions are deducted at the start time of the session.
2. All Telehealth Sessions are deducted during the morning of the session day unless payment details are not saved online, then we will send through the link for payment which is required 24-48hrs before commencement of session.
3. All After Hour Sessions are deducted during the morning of the session day.
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Before cancelling an appointment, consider if a Telehealth appointment is an option for you.
We ask that our clients give us at least 48 hrs notice (business).
Rationale Behind Our Notice Period:
- A good timeframe allows us to fill the appointment with another client on our waitlist. Most clients need time to discuss and make plans with work or home to be able to say yes to an appointment.
- Psychology and other Therapy services all over Australia are under immense pressure as the need for therapy is much greater than the number of clinicians and therapy hours available. Due to this great need, session availability is highly valued, and we want to avoid wasted opportunity for someone to receive help.
- Another good point to think on is the task of filling a late cancellation. This requires significant time & resources from our administrative staff who can spend quite a number of hours each week contacting clients on our waitlists and working on appointment schedules.
- Blue Flame Wellness charges a Late Cancellation / Did Not Arrive fee recommended by the Australian governing body for Psychology (APS) for all psychology practices.
- The Office of Fair Trading states that a business is within its rights to charge a cancellation or “no-show” fee for appointments, so long as this has been communicated to a new patient or customer before making the appointment. Our Cancellation Policy is not just on this website but in every 'Appointment Confirmation' email, 'Appointment Reminder' email and in the intake form clients fill out and sign.
A late cancellation, a late rescheduling or failure to attend is a loss to three people:
1. The Client who is delaying their therapy progress.
2. Another Client who has been on the waiting list for an extended period of time.
3. The Clinician who set aside the time in their calendar, spent time preparing for the session and now experiences lost income.
Fee Structure:
Less than 48 hrs (business):
incurs a 50% administrative fee of the current session price.
Less than 24 hrs (business):
incurs a 100% administrative fee of the current session price.
Not arriving for your session (DNA):
incurs a 100% fee of the current session price.
Please note, business hours are Monday-Friday and does not include the weekends or Public Holidays.
Example: if you would like to cancel your appointment on a Monday at 1pm without incurring a charge, you will need to make the cancellation on the previous Thursday before 1pm. This is considered to be 48hrs of a business week.
Blue Flame Wellness policy further states:
- Our clients are responsible for managing their own bookings / appointment schedule. Blue Flame Wellness does try to remind clients regularly to book sessions if needed but in the end cannot be held responsible for monitoring regular bookings on behalf of clients. The onus is on the client to make and keep up regular bookings according to their needs.
- Clients receive multiple reminders of upcoming sessions, i.e.: a confirmation email and a reminder email from Blue Flame Wellness for each appointment. This is not a requirement but rather a courtesy that we extend to our clients.
- Clients are welcome to ask us to email their appointment schedule at any time.
- All outstanding fees need to be fully paid no less than 48 hours (of the business week) before the next appointment or the result will be the cancellation of the upcoming appointment.
- Due to legislation, under no circumstances can we submit a cancellation administrative fee to Medicare, Workcover or your Private Health Fund.
- Should a client develop a pattern of cancellations or have 2 or more late cancellations, moving forwards a sick note may be required and/or payment 48 hrs (business) before the next upcoming session.
- Should a client have 3 consecutive late cancellations or "did not arrive" sessions, all future sessions will be cancelled and the clients file archived.
Cancellations due to an Emergency / Sudden Illness:
We understand that the unexpected happens to us all.
If you are experiencing an emergency and need to cancel a session, please contact our rooms immediately to discuss it with us or leave a message and we will be able to make the relevant changes.
It will be to the discretion of management if a fee will be charged.
It is important to note that an emergency is considered to be extenuating circumstances outside of your control, which gave you no choice but to cancel your session with us. Should you be aware of your illness / emergency more than 48 hrs (business) before your session time and fail to cancel your appointment within the requested time frame, fees will still be incurred.
We appreciate and encourage good communication so should you have any questions, please reach out to us at our office via a phone call or email.
This policy will be updated regularly and available on our website and other correspondence. Blue Flame Wellness will consider any bookings made or kept after the changes / updates to act as an acceptance of the updated policy.
We appreciate and encourage good communication so should you have any questions, please reach out to us at our office via a phone call or email.
Cancellation Policy
CANCELLATION POLICY
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Before cancelling an appointment, consider if a Telehealth appointment is an option for you.
We ask that our clients give us at least 48 hrs notice (business).
Rationale Behind Our Notice Period:
- A good timeframe allows us to fill the appointment with another client on our waitlist. Most clients need time to discuss and make plans with work or home to be able to say yes to an appointment.
- Psychology and other Therapy Services across Australia are under immense pressure as the need for therapy is much greater than the number of clinicians or therapy hours available. Due to this great need, session availability is highly valued, and we want to avoid wasted opportunity for someone to receive help.
- Another good point to think on is the task of filling a late cancellation. This requires significant time & resources from our administrative staff who can spend quite a number of hours each week contacting clients on our waitlists and working on appointment schedules.
- Blue Flame Wellness charges a Late Cancellation / Did Not Arrive fee recommended by the Australian governing body for Psychology (APS) for all psychology practices.
- The Office of Fair Trading states that a business is within its rights to charge a cancellation or “no-show” fee for appointments, so long as this has been communicated to a new patient or customer before making the appointment. Our Cancellation Policy is not just on this website but in every 'Appointment Confirmation' email, 'Appointment Reminder' email and in the intake form that clients fill out and sign.
A late cancellation, a late rescheduling or failure to attend is a loss to three people:
1. The client who is delaying their therapy progress.
2. Another client who has been on the waiting list for an extended period of time.
3. The clinician who set aside the time in their calendar, spent time preparing for the session and now experiences lost income.
Fee Structure:
- Less than 48 hrs (business): incurs a 50% administrative fee of the current session price.
- Less than 24 hrs (business): incurs a 100% administrative fee of the current session price.
- Not arriving for your session (DNA): incurs a 100% fee of the current session price.
PLEASE NOTE: Business hours are from Monday-Friday (9am-4pm) and does not include the weekends or Public Holidays.
Example: if you would like to cancel your appointment on a Monday at 1pm without incurring a charge, you will need to make the cancellation on the previous Thursday before 1pm. This is considered to be 48hrs of a business week.
Blue Flame Wellness policy further states:
- Our clients are responsible for managing their own bookings / appointment schedule. Blue Flame Wellness does try to remind clients regularly to book sessions if needed but in the end cannot be held responsible for monitoring regular bookings on behalf of clients. The onus is on the client to make and keep up regular bookings according to their needs.
- Clients receive multiple reminders of upcoming sessions, i.e.: a confirmation email and a reminder email from Blue Flame Wellness for each appointment. This is not a requirement but rather a courtesy that we extend to our clients.
- Clients are welcome to ask us to email their appointment schedule at any time.
- All outstanding fees need to be fully paid no less than 48 hours (of the business week) before the next appointment or the result will be the cancellation of the upcoming appointment.
- Due to legislation, under no circumstances can we submit a cancellation administrative fee to Medicare, Workcover or your Private Health Fund.
- Should a client develop a pattern of cancellations or have 2 or more late cancellations, moving forwards a sick note may be required and/or payment 48 hrs (business) before the next upcoming session.
- Should a client have 3 consecutive late cancellations or "did not arrive" sessions, all future sessions will be cancelled and the clients file archived.
Cancellations due to an Emergency / Sudden Illness:
We understand that the unexpected happens to us all.
If you are experiencing an emergency and need to cancel a session, please contact our rooms immediately to discuss it with us or leave a message and we will be able to make the relevant changes.
It will be to the discretion of management if a fee will be charged.
It is important to note that an emergency is considered to be extenuating circumstances outside of your control, which gave you no choice but to cancel your session with us. Should you be aware of your illness / emergency more than 48 hrs (business) before your session time and fail to cancel your appointment within the requested time frame, fees will still be incurred.
We appreciate and encourage good communication so should you have any questions, please reach out to us at our office via a phone call or email.
This policy will be updated regularly and available on our website and other correspondence. Blue Flame Wellness will consider any bookings made or kept after the changes / updates to act as an acceptance of the updated policy.
We appreciate and encourage good communication so should you have any questions, please reach out to us at our office via a phone call or email.
TELEHEALTH GUIDE & INFORMATION
A TELEHEALTH GUIDE
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth allows you to consult a healthcare provider by phone or a video call.
Here at Blue Flame Wellness Telehealth allows you to gain the necessary psychological care through an online video or phone conference
Telehealth was expanded in March 2020 to ensure the safety of patients and healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why Telehealth is important?
Telehealth has been transformational to Australia’s universal healthcare program, Medicare. It has played a critical role in ensuring the continuity of care for hundreds of thousands of Australian patients. Telehealth allows you to get the health care you need, where and when you need it.
Often, Australians living in rural and remote areas need to travel long distances to see their healthcare provider. Telehealth improves their health care by improving access to timely services.
Telehealth consultations are not only convenient, they can also provide safety via necessary isolation. This is important in circumstances where you need to self-isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19 public health orders.
Telehealth at Blue Flame Wellness
Blue Flame Wellness makes use of Cliniko to conduct our Telehealth sessions as it is specifically designed to be safe and private, removing any distress our Clients might have regarding the above mentioned matters.
If, however due to some unknown reason Cliniko fails to function as expected we also offer this Service Via Zoom. We have followed all the regulations to assure that the version of Zoom we use is in line with The Australian Privacy Principles and the Law.
How does Booking for a Telehealth session at
Blue Flame Wellness work
Exactly the same as if you were to book for a Face-to-Face Session – simply call Blue Flame Wellness at (+61) 414 405 424 and request a Telehealth session. If you are unable to call us, kindly send us an email at info@blueflamewellness.com.
Payment and Connecting
If your banking details are saved on our online payment platform: All Telehealth Sessions are invoiced and payment deducted the day of the session.
If no banking details have been saved on our online payment platform: Payment is required 24-48 hrs (business) before the session commences. Our Clinic will send a payment link via a text and email your invoice to you regarding payment.
If, for any reason, payment is not yet made at the time of the session, we will process payment first and then inform the psychologist to attempt to connect for the session.
Please take note that Blue Flame Wellness holds the right to cancel the booking if payment has not been made or banking details are not saved for online payments in a timely manner.
Connecting:
At the time of your Telehealth Session, the Clinician will be waiting online, ready for you to click on and connect via the Cliniko Link sent to you. If you do not have the link or cannot find it, please contact us immediately to send the link through to you.
The psychologist will make 2 attempts to contact you and the frontline staff will attempt to call you just incase you are struggling to connect.
Each client receives a confirmation email and a reminder email (unless the session was booked less than 48hrs before the start of the session).
All Telehealth sessions are conditional to the Did Not Attend (DNA) and Late Cancelation Policy. If we are unable to reach you, we will invoice you for our current DNA fee according to the Cancellation Policy.
It is important to note that a client is not eligible for Medicare rebates if they are not on Australian soil (i.e. are Overseas) at the time of the Telehealth session.
How to participate in a Telehealth Session
at Blue Flame Wellness
After successful booking of your session, you will be getting a confirmation email from Blue Flame Wellness which includes the link for you to click on when your appointment date and time arrives.
You do not need to download any applications or programs - simply click on the link and your clinician will join you in the chat space.
Important things to remember before and
during a Telehealth session
1. Privacy
All Clinicians conduct Telehealth Sessions in a private setting / location to protect your privacy during the therapeutic session.
Your Psychologist will treat your information in confidence and with respect. Any information shared will be with your consent as outlined in our Privacy Policy.
No Telehealth Session is recorded.
We use Cliniko as our service provider for all Telehealth Sessions. All Cliniko servers are based in Australia and therefore compliant with the Australian Privacy Act.
2. Software / Data
No special software or apps are needed only the Cliniko meeting invitation link which is contained within your confirmation/reminder email.
Blue Flame Wellness will not be held responsible for any time lost trouble shooting any issues that may arise during the call unless directly a result of a malfunction of the Clinicians hardware or software. Kindly prepare for your Telehealth session by reading through the Reminder Emails for that session or by reading our Telehealth Information Page on our website.
It is recommended to check that your preferred browser is updated and current.
Data usage for the video call is covered by your service provider so please make sure you have enough data to complete your session.
3. Environment
Our recommendations for your Telehealth setting / location is for privacy, comfort and no distractions. Our Telehealth sessions are conducted the same as a Face-to-Face session so we ask that you give the session your full attention and limit or avoid doing other activities while in session. We want to ensure you get the most out of each session.
Remembering simple things like switching off a nearby television or radio is helpful to prepare your environment. Choose a room with good lighting while trying not to sit with a bright window behind you as this will create glare or a white-out and the psychologist will not be able to see you clearly.
Make sure that the area you have chosen receives good signal or you will experience interruptions during your session which can be frustrating. Blue Flame Wellness has made a sincere effort to have a reliable internet connection. However the internet can sometimes be unreliable and we cannot take responsibility for the disruption of signal or for poor internet speeds. As a result of poor connection there may be minor interruptions during a session.
4. Safety
At the beginning of each Telehealth session, your psychologist will ask for your current location/ address and contact details.
In the event that your psychologist is concerned about your safety or the safety of others, the usual limitations and protocols for ensuring your safety and the safety of other apply.
5. Trouble Shooting
If, for any reason, you need help or are unable to connect, kindly contact us immediately to work through any issues. Or you can have a read-through of this guide before your telehealth appointment. It will walk you through the following:
· Joining the call(https://help.cliniko.com/en/articles/3843932-telehealth-a-guide-for-patients#joining-the-call)
· Troubleshooting any problems that you might encounter during the call(https://help.cliniko.com/en/articles/3843932-telehealth-a-guide-for-patients#troubleshooting-your-call)
· Leaving the call(https://help.cliniko.com/en/articles/3843932-telehealth-a-guide-for-patients#leaving-the-call)
Before starting your call, you'll need to make sure you're on an up-to-date browser, otherwise you might run into some problems. Each browser has different steps for updating, but if you're stuck, please check out these guides for updating your browser prior to the call:
· Safari(https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204416)
· Chrome(https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95414?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en)
· Firefox(https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-release)
· Edge(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge)
Medicare & GP Referrals
MEDICARE & GP REFERRALS
HOW DO I GET MEDICARE REBATED PSYCHOLOGY SESSIONS?
In order to be eligible and claim your Medicare Rebates for the 10 individual Psychological Consultations per year, you would need to have 2 documents:
Document 1
An "active" Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP) created then sent to Medicare by your GP, Paediatrician or Psychiatrist.
Your Plan is kept active and valid when your GP completes Reviews. Reviews are only needed if there is a change in your Mental Health Status OR if 12 months have passed since the last Review.
You don't want your Plan to become inactive!
Document 2
A current & valid Referral from your GP, Paediatrician or Psychiatrist.
DOCUMENTS EXPLAINED
THE PLAN (MHTP) & THE REVIEW
Your MHTP does not expire however it may need to be reviewed by your doctor on occasion depending on certain factors required by Medicare. For example: a significant change in your Mental Health Status OR if 12 months has passed from the date of the initial setup of your Plan / last Review.
Kindly refer to your GP regarding more information on any Reviews of your Mental Health Treatment Plan.
It is important to note here that you do not need a Review to gain your Referral for your extra 4 sessions. However, you do need a Referral Letter for each course of sessions.
When visiting your GP for you next Review and Referral Letter, the GP may need a longer session than the standard GP session times, so mention that to the reception when booking in.
THE REFERRAL
Each eligible person is currently entitled to a Medicare Rebate for up to but not exceeding 10 psychology consultations per year.
There are 2 standard referrals:
- The 1st referral is normally for 6 sessions
- The 2nd referral is normally for 4 sessions
Each referral expires after a 12 month period.
These referrals allow you to access therapy sessions from your MHTP. Without a referral from your doctor for these therapy sessions, your MHTP will be 'mostly' inactive or asleep. In other words, to keep your Mental Health Treatment Plan active and working for you, you need a valid and current Referral. Without it, you will not be able to legally claim for your rebates.
What makes a Referral valid?
Each Referral from your doctor will need to contain the below information:
- Date of Referral
- Client's full name
- Client's date of birth
- Diagnosis
- Number of sessions required
- Stating that the referral is under a mental health care plan / an
eating disorder plan
- The GP's name and signature
- The GP's provider number
Types of Therapy
TYPES OF THERAPY
ACT was developed in the 1980s by psychologist Steven C. Hayes, a professor at the University of Nevada.. It’s an action-oriented approach to therapy that stems from traditional behaviour therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. Clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives.
With this understanding, clients begin to accept their hardships and commit to making necessary changes in their behaviour, regardless of what is going on in their lives and how they feel about it. ACT aims to develop and expand psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility encompasses emotional openness and the ability to adapt your thoughts and behaviours to better align with your values and goals. – Psychology Today
ACT emerged from the CBT & amp; Mindfulness traditions and is another ‘evidence based’ treatment.
Much of ACT’s focus is helping us to understand that the more we resist and try to eliminate negative thoughts, the more likely it is that these exact
thoughts will be reinforced and stick around. Our goal is to learn to become diffused from thoughts and commit to value-driven actions. For more
information, visit https://www.actmindfully.com.au
The founder of CBT is the late Dr Aaron Beck and is primarily present-focussed and is considered an ‘evidence-based’ treatment. It is a form of therapy that is roughly based on the philosophy that many of our
problems in daily living come from how we think about our problems. By actively identifying and challenging our basic thoughts, perceptions and
assumptions about the situations that seem to be causing us distress, CBT helps us to build more helpful thinking styles and therefore, create
behaviour change. Homework and therapy assignments are a regular part of CBT. For more information, visit https://www.cbtaustralia.com.au (https://www.cbtaustralia.com.au)
CBT is a treatment approach that provides us with a way of understanding our experience of the world, enabling us to make changes if we need to. It does this by dividing our experience into four central components: thoughts (cognitions), feelings (emotions), behaviours and physiology (your biology). – Cambridge.org (Cambridge.org)
CBT is goal-oriented and problem focused. CBT initially emphasizes the present. CBT is educative; it aims to teach the client to be his/her own therapist, and emphasizes relapse prevention. CBT aims to be time limited. -Brownbackmason.com
DBT was developed by Dr Marsha Linehan specifically to help those of us who really struggle with emotional regulation difficulties and impulsive
behaviours. Another ‘evidence based’ therapy, DBT seeks to help us embrace the ‘dialectic’ – being mindful of opposites and balancing our Emotional Mind & amp; Rational Mind. Using a very comprehensive set of skills, DBT helps us ‘build up a life worth living’ by embracing our Wise Mind. For further information, visit https://dbtinstitute.com.au
The term "dialectical" comes from the idea that bringing together two opposites in therapy -- acceptance and change -- brings better results than either one alone.
A unique aspect of DBT is its focus on acceptance of a patient's experience as a way for therapists to reassure them and balance the work needed to change negative behaviours.
Standard comprehensive DBT has four parts:
- Individual therapy
- Group skills training
- Phone coaching, if needed for crises between sessions
- Consultation group for health care providers to stay motivated and discuss patient care
How Does DBT Work?
Comprehensive DBT focuses on four ways to enhance life skills:
~ Distress tolerance: Feeling intense emotions like anger without reacting impulsively or using self-injury or substance abuse to dampen distress.
~ Emotion regulation: Recognizing, labeling, and adjusting emotions.
~ Mindfulness: Becoming more aware of self and others and attentive to the present moment.
~ Interpersonal effectiveness: Navigating conflict and interacting assertively.
What Conditions Does DBT Treat?
Dialectical behavioural therapy can focus on clients with multiple diagnoses, acute emotional distress, intense bursts of anger / aggression, moods that shift rapidly, and extreme sensitivity to rejection.
DBT was initially designed to treat people with suicidal behaviour and borderline personality disorder. But it has been adapted for other mental health problems that threaten a person's safety, relationships, work, and emotional well-being. – WebMD / Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for mental health problems, webmd.com
The most classical form of therapy, with numerous founders like Sigmund Freud, Donald Winnicott, Melanie Klein, Nancy McWilliams. Psychodynamic
therapy’s understanding of the internal conscious and unconscious world of the client has been instrumental in laying the foundations for
subsequent psychotherapies. The client’s ‘presenting problem’ is seen to be the symptom of an internal conflict with which the client is wrestling. By helping clients achieve insight, psychodynamic therapists help their clients to make more conscious decisions to build a more integrated life. For more information, visit https://www.anzap.com.au(https://www.anzap.com.au/)
The goal of this therapy is often to change an aspect of one's identity or personality or to integrate key developmental learning missed while the client was stuck at an earlier stage of emotional development. – National Library of Medicine
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is indicated when a patient's problems are linked to unconscious factors that lead to interpersonal difficulties, maladaptive ways of coping with stress, and/or distorted self-perceptions. Generally speaking, individuals with depression, anxiety, certain personality disorders, or trauma may be suitable for psychodynamic therapy.
There are several theories as to why psychodynamic therapy is efficacious as a treatment modality, including:
Making the unconscious conscious
that unconscious thoughts and feelings affect and motivate people and becoming aware of these thoughts is therapeutic. It allows the patient to better know themselves, and releasing these unconscious ideas can be cathartic
Supporting weakened ego function
psychodynamic therapy helps patient by supporting their ego function
Reactivating mental and emotional development
psychodynamic therapy can reactivate a patient's mental and emotional development, which leads to new and healthier growth. Examples include developing new ways of thinking about themselves, relating to others, and developing more adaptable and flexible coping skills/mechanisms
- PsychDB
Psychodynamic therapy is primarily used to treat depression and other serious psychological disorders, especially in those who have lost meaning in their lives and have difficulty forming or maintaining personal relationships. – Psychology Today
Through their research with thousands of couples at The Gottman Love Lab in Washington, Drs John & Julie Gottman have developed a comprehensive set if ideas, tools and skills for couples to help improve
the quality of their interactions within their relationship. They’ve developed a great app (click here to download the app) which is a really fun, helpful and insightful way of strengthening your relationship. “The 7 principles for making marriage work” is also a bestseller. For more information,
visit https://www.gottman.com
(https://www.gottman.com/)
The goals of the Gottman Method include increasing closeness and friendship behaviours, addressing conflict productively, and building a life of shared meaning together. The Gottman Method involves customizing principles to each couple’s particular patterns and challenges.
The Seven Principles include the following concepts:
1. Build Love Maps: This refers to an ongoing awareness of our partners’ worlds as they move through time: how they think and feel, what day-to-day life is like for them, and their values, hopes, aspirations, and stresses.
2. Express Fondness and Admiration: Couples who function well are able to appreciate and enjoy most aspects of each partner’s behaviour and learn to live with differences.
3. Turn Toward One Another: Conversational patterns of interest and respect, even about mundane topics are crucial to happiness. Couples who turn toward successfully maintain a 20:1 ratio of expressing interest or acknowledgment vs. ignoring conversational gambits. This is referred to as the “Emotional Bank Account.” Couples who are highly successful keep a 5:1 ratio in conflict discussions, even Turning Towards while arguing.
4. Accept Influence: Members of a couple who take the other partner’s preferences into account and are willing to compromise and adapt are happiest. Being able to yield and maintain mutual influence, while avoiding power struggles, helps couples keep a balance of power that feels reasonable and builds trust.
5. Solve Problems That Are Solvable: Couples who can find compromise on issues are using five tactics. They soften start up so the beginning of the conversation leads to a satisfactory end. They offer and respond to repair attempts, or behaviours that maintain the emotional connection and emphasize “we/us” over individual needs. They effectively soothe themselves and their partner. They use compromise and negotiation skills. They are tolerant of one another’s vulnerabilities and ineffective conversational habits, keeping the focus on shared concern for the well-being of the relationship.
6. Manage Conflict and Overcome Gridlock: The Gottman Method helps couples manage, not resolve, conflict. Conflict is viewed as inherent in relationship and doesn’t go away. Happy couples report the majority of their conflicts, 69% are perpetual in nature, meaning they are present throughout the course of time and are dealt with only as needed. These recurrent themes become part of the couple’s shared landscape and are kept in perspective, not dwelt upon.
7. Create Shared Meaning: Connection in relationship occurs as each person experiences the multitude of ways in which their partner enriches their life with a shared history and helps them find meaning and make sense of struggles.
- Written by Ellie Lisitsa, a former staff writer at The Gottman Institute and editor for The Gottman Relationship Blog.
Developed by Dr Harville Hendrix & Helen LaKelly Hunt, Imago therapy is a form of couples counselling. It helps couples understand their
conflicts in their relationships through a new lens – “conflict is growth trying to happen”. By using structured dialogues, the Imago couples therapist
helps a couple to begin shifting out of the Power struggle phase and into having a more conscious connection and partnership. Their book “Getting the love you want” is a best seller and provides a great overview of the ideas and skills in Imago. For more information, visit http://www.imagocounselling.org.au(http://www.imagocounselling.org.au/)
According to Imago Relationship Therapy, our early childhood experiences impact on our adult relationships. The way we were treated as children by our caregivers will become issues in our intimate relationships. If, for example, you were criticised by your father, then you will be sensitive to criticism by your partner. You can find yourself being triggered to such an extent that you cannot see the good things in the relationship.
Imago Relationship Therapy can help you to heal and understand your childhood wounds. Through counselling or attending one of the couples’ workshops, you can learn communication skills and the Imago Dialogue. This transformative process can lead to deep and intimate connections with your partner and save or enhance your relationships.
Imago is renowned for its dialogue technique. It focuses on building trust in relationship by teaching powerful, effective, common-sense communication skills which can quickly create a feeling of safety.
Even after just a few sessions, many couples immediately experience an opportunity to connect more deeply with their partners, helping to appreciate them more and reviving hope in their relationship.
-From the Association of Imago Relationship Therapy Australia website: www.imagocounselling.org.au(http://www.imagocounselling.org.au/)
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
EMDR is a trauma-focussed form of therapy developed by Dr Francine Shapiro. It is the gold-standard, 1 st choice, evidence based treatment, as
recommended by the World Health Organisation.
EMDR treats clients in the aftermath of a trauma to reduce trauma symptoms and reprocess the trauma so that the client can move forward and leave the trauma in the past. EMDR uses ‘bilateral stimulation’ to achieve this reprocessing. For more information, visit https://emdraa.org(https://emdraa.org/)
The Therapist will use different stimuli during session as part of the therapy process. Therapist directed lateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus but a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio stimulation are often used (Shapiro, 1991). Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal.
EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. There has been so much research on EMDR therapy that it is now recognized as an effective form of treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences by organizations such as the World Health Organization. Given the worldwide recognition… millions of people have been treated successfully for over 25 years– EMDR Institute /emdr.com
BULK-BILLING INFORMATION
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Reports/ Letters/ Assessments
LETTERS / REPORTS/ ASSESSMENTS
Are you attending the appointment as you are primarily wanting a psychological report / form / assessment to be completed?
Our psychologists first priority and main focus is on providing ethical and evidence based therapeutic interventions to their clients; reports/forms are not the main focus nor priority.
Report writing / Form completions are very time and resource intensive and as such, can significantly impact our psychologists appointment availability (which is better used for the treatment and management of our clients). If a short form / letter is required, your psychologist will complete that with you in your session time. More detailed and comprehensive reports/forms are billed for depending on the time taken to complete the report and are billed at the standard hourly rate. Unless otherwise stipulated, the invoice for this work is to be paid by the client (who can then submit the invoice to their respective Third party for reimbursement). Finally, in order for a comprehensive and well-thought out report to be completed, our psychologists require advanced notice and time - please be mindful of your Third party expectations / timelines for these types of reports and advise your psychologist in good time.
Under NO circumstances do we do a 'once off session' for a report/form to be completed.
Our Blue Flame Wellness Clinicians conduct clinical, educational and developmental assessments and provide intervention accordingly. BFW Clinicians are able to provide assessment and/or therapy reports as requested by clients for a range of requirements, including providing information to schools, medical practitioners, parents and other therapists. Clinicians are also available for teleconferencing or school visits in order to share or discuss pertinent information and intervention strategies. An appropriate fee may be charged for the provision of such services.
BFW does not offer letters, reports or assessments for court purposes and do not give opinions on custody matters.
Mental Health Apps
APPS TO SUPPORT MENATL HEALTH
ACT Companion
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CALM
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I am Sober
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Sleep School
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Headspace
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Gottman Card Decks
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Telehealth
Community Support Contactss
COMMUNITY SUPPORT INFORMATION
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