Australia's peak body for psychology the Australian Psychological Society (APS) commends the Australian Greens for prioritising mental health in their election policy platform through a range of measures that will better support Australians seeking psychological care.
APS President Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe said the Greens had acknowledged long-running APS advocacy by announcing a range of measures including lifting the 10-session cap on psychology sessions through Medicare and an increase to the Medicare rebate.
"We are impressed the Greens have recognised mental health as an ongoing and increasing priority for Australians and their emphasis on the importance of human-to-human therapy rather than digital only services.
"Today's announcement recognises the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic, natural disasters and the cost-of-living crisis on everyday Australians' psychological health and wellbeing.
"Committing to investment in this way is evidence of the Greens' confidence in the psychology profession," she said.
Dr Davis-McCabe said the Greens' commitment to removing the cap on psychology sessions was welcome.
"Since well before the pandemic the APS has been calling for an increase to the number of sessions under the mental health treatment plan.
"Providing Australians with the psychology services they need by substantially increasing Medicare-subsidised sessions will be particularly helpful for people at-risk of or experiencing complex mental health issues.
"The average number of sessions clients use is six, so there is no justifiable concern about over usage," she said.
Dr Davis-McCabe also commented on the Greens' commitment to including provisional psychologists in the Medicare scheme.
"Provisional psychologists play an important role in the mental health workforce.
"These emerging professionals are the future of our workforce, and while they typically already have at least five years training and education and are well equipped to provide services to patients, they will also need robust support and supervision from more senior psychologists. We look forward to working with the Greens to develop a support program for them," she said.
Dr Davis-McCabe said the APS was approaching the Greens announcement about peer workers with caution.
"An expanded peer workforce may be of assistance if the peer workforce roles are well defined.
"While we don't support the peer workforce entering the Better Access program, we do welcome discussions about ways to extend the mental health workforce and enhance the community's access to care.
"Our well established and evidence-based position is that we need more psychologists in Australia, and we will continue advocating for more investment to address the psychology workforce shortfall.
"There is no substitute for quality care delivered by professionally trained and registered psychologists.
"We look forward to working with the Greens to articulate the scope of practice for a peer workforce and developing and establishing a program that will ensure this workforce is supported, trained and supervised appropriately," she said.
In the lead up to the next Federal Election, the APS calls on all political parties to commit to:
-
Providing Australians with the psychology services they need, by substantially increasing Medicare-subsidised sessions, and particularly for people at-risk of or experiencing complex mental health issues
-
Increasing the patient rebate
-
Removal of the need for a GP referral for up to the initial three sessions
-
Removal of need for a GP review of the mental health treatment plan until treatment is complete
-
Remove out-of-pocket expenses for 14 to 25-year-old Australians through a new Medicare Safety Net threshold of $0 applying to these services, and
-
Scale up investment in more psychology postgraduate university places.
