Hear from Christine, our Accredited Mental Health Social Worker

It’s not easy to deal with mental health issues. If you’ve been looking into mental health support, you’ve probably come across a range of different titles: psychologist, counsellor or psychiatrist. It can be overwhelming. One title that often gets overlooked — or misunderstood — is Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW).

You might picture a social worker and think of child protection, hospital discharge planning, or crisis services. And while social workers do important work in those areas, an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker in private practice is something quite different. We are fully qualified, Medicare-recognised mental health clinicians — and we might be exactly the kind of support you’ve been looking for.

So, What Exactly Is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker?

An Accredited Mental Health Social Worker is a social worker who has completed specialised postgraduate clinical training and met the rigorous accreditation standards set by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This isn’t an entry-level credential — it requires substantial supervised clinical experience, ongoing professional development, and annual renewal. The AMHSW accreditation exists specifically for social workers who practise in clinical mental health settings. Think of it like the difference between a general practitioner and a specialist — both are doctors, but the specialist has pursued a defined area of advanced practice.

Am I Eligible for a Medicare Rebate?

Yes —  Accredited Mental Health Social Workers are recognised providers under the Australian Government’s Better Access to Mental Health Care initiative. This means that with a referral from your GP, psychiatrist, or paediatrician, you may be eligible for a Medicare rebate on your sessions.

Here’s how it works:

1. Visit your GP and discuss your mental health concerns. Ask for a Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP) and a referral to an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker. As of 2026, the medicare rebate for a 50-min session is $87.25, very similar to a registered psychologist. 
2. Book your appointment. Your GP will prepare a short report that helps guide our work together.
3. Access your rebate. Medicare currently provides rebates for up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year under the Better Access scheme.

Sessions may also be covered (in part or full) through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), some Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), and a number of private health funds. It’s worth checking with your insurer directly.

What Can an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker Help With?

AMHSWs work with a wide range of mental health concerns. You don’t need to be in crisis to seek support — many people come to therapy wanting to better understand themselves, manage stress, or work through something that’s been weighing on them for a while.

Some of the areas I work with include:

• Anxiety and worry — including generalised anxiety, social anxiety, panic, and phobias
• Depression and mood issues — persistent sadness, loss of motivation, difficulty finding joy
• Trauma and PTSD/C-PTSD — including complex or childhood trauma, and the effects of difficult life experiences
• Grief and loss — bereavement, relationship endings, and other significant losses
• Life transitions — adjusting to changes in work, relationships, identity, or health
• Stress and burnout — especially for those juggling significant personal or professional demands
• Relationship difficulties — patterns in relationships, communication, boundaries, and connection
• Self-esteem, identity, meaning of life — building a more grounded and compassionate relationship with yourself
• Career counselling – helping you to clarify your strengths, values, and goals so that you can move forward in your working life with greater confidence and direction.

What Makes Social Work Different?

This is a question I love. The short answer: context and tailoring treatment to your unique situation. 

Social work is built on the understanding that your mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Who you are, where you’ve come from, the relationships you’re in, the community around you, your financial situation, your cultural background — all of these things shape how you feel and how you cope. This is what we call a person-in-environment approach, and it’s at the heart of mental health social work practice.

Rather than focusing only on what’s happening inside your head, I’m also interested in what’s happening around you — and how the two interact. This can be especially meaningful for people whose struggles are connected to systemic pressures, cultural experiences, or circumstances that feel outside their control. This perspective also means that social workers are often particularly skilled in trauma-informed care — working gently and carefully with people whose past experiences have had a lasting impact on how they feel, think, and relate to others.

Further, most mental health social workers have extensive experiences working in public mental health services before stepping into a private practice, which means that they are equipped with strong skills of understanding and treating even very complex presentations. 

What Therapeutic Approaches Do I Use?

As an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker who also completed extensive clinical psychology training, I am equipped with a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all and a diagnostic model, I work collaboratively with each client to find an approach that suits them, i.e., recognising that you are the expert of your mental health and I am walking alongside of you on your recovery and self-actualisation journey.

Depending on what you’re working through, therapy with me might draw on:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) — the most common and most researched therapy modality, exploring the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and how they impact our daily lives
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — building psychological flexibility and a values-guided, meaningful life
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) — a highly researched, skills-focused therapy that teaches people how to manage intense emotions, tolerate distress, and build healthier relationships. It is particularly beneficial for those who feel their emotions are in the driver’s seat — reacting quickly, intensely, and in ways that are hard to understand or control. DBT works by building a set of coping skills that clients can draw on in everyday life, offering both immediate relief and lasting change.
• Schema Therapy — an advanced form of CBT that allows clients to dive very deeply into their inner world and the interactions between the inner self and the environment. This is particularly effective when standalone CBT is not working and when symptoms are long standing and entrenched. Research also shows that schema therapy is effective in treating trauma, particularly trauma experienced during childhood.
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) — a structured, evidence-based therapy that helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories that have become stuck, so they no longer trigger the same intensity of distress. EMDR is particularly effective for trauma, PTSD, and distressing experiences that have not responded well to talk-based therapies alone. Unlike many other approaches, it does not require you to discuss your experience in detail, making it a gentle but powerful option for those who find talking about their trauma difficult.
• Mindfulness-based approaches — exercises that help you develop present-moment awareness and calm and nourish your nervous system so that you become more emotionally regulated and help with improving quality of sleep/rest
• Strengths-based practice — working from what’s already working in your life, not just what isn’t

What Can I Expect from the First Session?

The first session is mostly about getting to know each other. I’ll ask about what’s brought you to therapy, a little about your background and current circumstances, and what you’re hoping to get out of our work together. You might also use this time to access if I am a good fit for your mental health needs. 

There’s no pressure to share everything at once. Many people find the first session a little nerve-wracking — that’s completely normal. My aim is to make it feel like a conversation, not an interview.

By the end of the session, we’ll usually have a clearer sense of what you’d like to focus on and how we might work together going forward.

I will also send you a self-report questionnaire prior to our first session to fill out. 

Telehealth and In-Person Sessions

I offer both in-person and telehealth sessions via video call. Telehealth has made therapy far more accessible for people in regional areas, those with busy schedules, or anyone who simply feels more comfortable engaging from home. Medicare rebates apply to telehealth sessions in the same way they do for in-person appointments.

How Do I Get Started?

If you think working with an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker might be right for you, here’s what to do:

1. Talk to your GP about a Mental Health Treatment Plan and a referral — this will allow you to access your Medicare rebate.
2. Get in touch with me directly to ask any questions or book an initial appointment. You’re also welcome to reach out without a referral if you’d prefer to self-fund your sessions.

You don’t have to be in a crisis to reach out. If something feels off, or you’ve been carrying something for a while and could use some support, that’s enough reason to start.

Click HERE to read more about Christine’s profile